Happy Easter

April 15, 1965 Appleton Post-Crescent

What more can I say?  The Valley Fair Easter Bunny says it all!

Have a great Easter and a great weekend! 

St. Mary's Interior

As we approach Easter on this Holy Thursday, perhaps it's time to see a few nice postcard interior shots of St.. Mary's. 

The Stations of the Cross on the main walls of the church are hand painted on tin and surrounded by hand carvings by William Laemmerich.  In the top photo, you can see two of them them on the two side walls.   He also carved the two side altars- The Blessed Virgin's altar on the left as pictured above and St. Joseph's altar on the right.  These all date from the church's original construction of 1883. 

1968 Economic Forecast

February 29, 1968 NM Northwestern

This favorable economic forecast was predicated on the building of the Little Lake Butte des Morts bridge and the installation of a major department store to the downtown area by 1980.  And somehow, this would lead to a more favorable outcome that what was touted for our sister city to the south?  As we all know the bridge DID develop and WAS built in the mid-1970's but the major department store never materialized, as we've documented in this blog in the past.  (Something about too many taverns downtown....)

Personally, I think the bridge, while good for avoiding a trip through Neenah or Appleton to get to US 41, was never going to be the gateway to retail commerce that these planners thought.  Short of having a major store in sight the moment drivers crossed the bridge and an angelic choir with appropriate lighting effects, it just wasn't gonna happen. 

Instead they saw Calder Stadium and eventually, a few gas stations to complement the surrounding residential area.  And then having to drive down Racine Street for another mile and a half to even find downtown?  (We all know what it's like to exit a major interstate with the promise of, say, a Subway or other chain restaurant, only to find you would have had to drive two miles into a small downtown strip to find it instead of the convenience of it being right at the exit.) 

I think that that was some high thinking on the part of these economic advisors to put those two ideas together and come up with this forecast. 

And just WHERE was this 100,000 square foot store going to go? 

“For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'.”

- John Greenleaf Whittier (American poet, 1807-1892)

Lunar Rocket

October 22, 1969 NM Northwestern



At the height of the space age and just months after we landed Apollo 11 on the moon, Schultz Brothers variety store offers this exciting four foot high rocket.  And it's just in time for lay-a-way before Christmas to excite the scientist and space explorer residing in every '60s kid, me included. 

Of course, you could always use that newfangled First Wisconsin Charge Card being heavily touted around that time.  Visa and Mastercard not accepted...which, at that time, were known as BankAmericard and Master Charge. 

Main Street at Night

Another in our series of downtown view postcards, a rare depiction of the city at night.  Those lights across Main Street date the image to around 1910. 

A Welcoming, Festive Downtown

Raiding our postcard collection once again earns us this view of downtown in the throes of welcoming conventioneers to town.  See the banners and bunting and festive flags flying off the business fronts.  Judging from the condition of the street and this lady's mode of dress, I judge this view to be pre-1910 or thereabouts since the street appears to be unpaved. 

There was a lot of civic pride and outward synergy in the city during the early 20th century that was expressed in hosting conventions and band competitions that brought statewide and even national attention.  The cover of the Menasha book, is reminiscent of this time period when the city hosted an Elks convention in June of 1910 and put its proverbial best foot forward by paving Main Street. 

Gas War

November 3, 1963 Appleton Post-Crescent

Back in the days before the American public even knew what OPEC stood for and the fatgiue of the roller coaster rides of fuel prices, there was this...the gas war.  Of course, the price of living in 1963 was a lot less, too-  my research tells me that at the time of the above article, the price of a postage stamp was 5 cents, a gallon of milk cost 49 cents and a dozen eggs was 55 cents.  Amazing. 

And equally amazing around that time was something you'd never get away with nowadays-my father sending me as a young lad to the gas station cigarette machine across the street to buy him a pack for 30 cents! 

Fish-O-Ree

 March 11, 1968  Appleton Post-Crescent

I wasn't a Boy Scout for very long but I'm pretty sure I was here with my scout troop that day!  Ice fishing was new to me as a kid but I became well acquainted that day with whatever warmth I could garner from the ice shanty and the intracacies of using red salmon eggs as bait.  And this came, after a prior weekend of hiking across the frozen surface of Lake Winnebago from the end of Nicolet Boulevard to the other side of the lake.  Needless to say, I was so happy to see Spring arrive that year! 

Stani's

January 27, 1960 Appleton Post-Crescent

June 30, 1965 Appleton Post-Crescent

 February 21, 1968 Oshkosh Northwestern

Back in the time of the independent neighborhood grocer, when Menasha was awash with small grocers all over town, Stani's held court on Appleton and Fifth Street.  In time, in its ads, Stani's labeled itself as "Menasha's friendliest food store."  I'm sure many Menasha residents would agree. 

Aerial Menasha

Continuing our series of aerial shots of our fair town, this postcard, taken from overhead near Jefferson Park reveals many landmarks, from the water utility on Broad Street and water tower on Second, to St. Mary's Church and High School, to downtown and many more.  If you know where to look, it's there. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

March 15, 1971 NM Northwestern

Here's a couple of Irish-themed items to tide you over the greenest of holidays. 

May your Irish eyes always be smilin'! Even if you're only "Irish" for a day. (Like me.)

Happy weekend!

Twin Cities Centennial

March 14, 1973, NM Daily Northwestern

January 8, 1974 NM Northwestern

In 1973 and 1974, the Twin Cities had a combined centennial celebration which marked 100 years for each as cities- Neenah in 1873 and Menasha in 1874.  The whole thing kicked off forty years ago yesterday. 

Unlike the 1953 celebration, subsequent news articles portray this centennial celebration as being less than successful.  Reportedly, there were surpluses of souvenir merchandise, for example, and expenses not being met.  Perhaps some of these problems were due to its timing, coming during the 1970s recession and the stress of the oil embargoes and gas rationing.  Remember the long lines to buy gas? 

But all was not bleak- as in many such celebrations, a time capsule was buried near St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Washington Street as reported above.  The inscription reads:

                                                      TWIN CITIES
                                                      TIME CAPSULE
                                                      COMMEMORATING
                                                      ONE HUNDRED ANNIVERSARY
                                                      NEENAH MENASHA 

                                                       1873-1973    1874-1974
                                                      TO BE OPENED MARCH 13 2074
                                                      CAPSULE CONTAINS RECORDS OF THE
                                                      N-M 100 CELEBRATION COMMUNITY
                                                      LIFE FAMILY HISTORIES CIVIC PROGRESS
                                                      TWIN CITIES CENTENNIAL INC

Thanks to Waymarking.com for the time capsule photos.

Downer College

November 3, 1963 Appleton Post-Crescent

We first encountered Downer College within the confines of my book, in the section about Elisha D. Smith, the Menasha Woodenware founder and city benefactor.  After the Downer College effort to relocate to Menasha failed, part of the land offered became Smith Park.

According to the Lawrence University web site, Downer's 43-acre eastside Milwaukee campus was sold to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1964 and 49 female students and 21 faculty members transferred to Lawrence. Forty-four of the original 49 Milwaukee-Downer students eventually earned bachelor's degrees from Lawrence, and 11 of the faculty members remained at Lawrence until retirement. Today Lawrence counts more than 1,600 living Milwaukee-Downer graduates among its alumnae.

Red Owl

February 24, 1963 Appleton Post-Crescent

Recent activity in the Menasha Facebook groups saw great interest in the old Red Owl store on Appleton Road so I'm providing this ad from 1963 for your viewing pleasure. 

I think trading stamps have gone the way of the dinosaur, but don't grocery stores still sometimes still do the dish thing...getting a piece every week?  I know in South Carolina where I live, they were still doing books/encyclopedias within the last ten years because my kids were growing up and it was an issue. 

Still keeping my eyes open for a nice photo of the local Red Owl.  

Water Street Railroad Bridge

A lot of the photographs featured in this blog have had to do with trains in some form or another.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and for a Menasha kid who liked them, I can still remember the sounds and the smells of trains passing by on a hot summer's day.  

Someone once told me that this blog is all things to all people...that one day you get a history lesson about some facet of town culture, the next day you're staring at a railroad bridge near the utilities plant.  Happy to not disappoint them. 

Lots of Great Local Businesses

July 7, 1976 Appleton Post-Crescent

In the throes of a Wisconsin winter?!  Dreaming of those summer months?  Let's travel back in time to summer, 1976 and see what the local merchants are offering....

With the Bi-Centennial fresh on everyone's minds, the Bank of Menasha is offering a patriotic souvenir, an Uncle Sam bank, during the sidewalk sale.  Just the ticket to start saving to buy one of those Twin City Savings' CDs.  Check out those rates! 

Fire up the grill with burgers from Bob's Red Owl and lounge in a lawn chair from OK Hardware.  Admire that green lawn you've cultivated by virtue of their sale on Scott's lawn products.  And if the barbecue is a flop, you can always tool on over to Dave's Burger Shanty for some cheese curds with your burgers.  End the day by firing up that Tiparillo from Captain's Korner's 11th anniversary celebration while listening to your CB radio from Tip Top. 

Isn't 1976 great?!

With Apologies to Joni Mitchell

July 22, 1953 Oshkosh Northwestern 

To paraphrase Joni Mitchell's song, Big Yellow Taxi...pave paradise (Menasha's Fox River) and put up a parking lot?    I wonder how long the City Council entertained this scheme!   

186 Main Street

This was still Beck's Meat Market at 186 Main Street, apparently sometime in the 1950's, judging from the cars.  Notice the sculptured head at the top of the building.   A long-horn steer, perhaps? 

The steer's head is long gone, but today, the Weathervane restaurant resides in this historic old building. 

The door between the meat market and the Clothes Shop next door leads up the stairs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows meeting hall in the Clothes Shop building.  In fact, to this day, you can see the Odd Fellows symbol, three intertwined rings, engraved on top of the building, as in the current photo below.  The door, if you zoom in on the b&w photo above, says "Rebekah," which was a female order of Odd Fellows.  The Odd Fellows became the first national fraternity to include both men and women when it adopted the Rebekah Degree in 1851.

Doty Island

This undated aerial shot of Doty Island clearly shows the industrial and commercial corridor following the rail lines and Washington/Commercial Streets and bordering on the water.   You can follow Ahnaip Street, jutting away from Nicolet Boulevard as it follows its way down to Gilbert's and the George Banta Company.  Theda Clark dominates the bottom corner of the island.  Notice the anchored boats dotting the water on the Neenah side. 

As in the photo of Menasha we featured a few weeks ago, the water is a dominant theme. 

Along the Fox

A view of the rail line outside the then-John Strange Company.  

Today this is a U.S. Mills, Inc. plant, a subsidiary of SONOCO which produces heavyweight and lightweight chip, core, can and tube stock. 

Movie Star Party

Women workers from Marathon Corporation hold a "Movie Star Party," in 1934 at the home of one of the workers on Milwaukee Street.  No other information given. 

photo courtesy of the Menasha Historical Society