Wooden Ware Oil Room

 

In our "odd buildings around town but I never knew what they were" department, we offer this structure at 388 Ahnaip Street. 

The Menasha Wooden Ware oil room was constructed sometime before 1891 as part of the Doty Island yard acquired in 1886. Included in the 85-acre purchase, the oil room was used for storage of products such as naptha and resins later mixed and boiled, probably as a wood preservative. The Doty Island yard, which stretched across Washington Street to the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, was laid out on slough land covered over by sawdust, shavings, and waste from the pail factory. The grounds were surrounded by a high board fence, securing hundreds of four footstock piles and iron-clad storage sheds. These facilities, joined to the mills by a wooden bridge across the river, contributed towards making Menasha Wooden Ware's local operations one of the largest manufacturing sites in Wisconsin. 

The yard was later sold to Marathon Corporation (now James River Corporation), upon which it built a carton plant and parking lot in 1947. The mills and offices associated with the Doty Island yard have since been destroyed.

The Menasha Wooden Ware Oil Room, was a significant facility in the preparation of lumber for barrels and tubs and is situated near the original terminous of the Lawson Canal.   The building is architecturally significant as one of a limited number of industrial structures in Menasha that have maintained integrity of site and structure.

Our thanks to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory Citation

Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory
Historic Name: Menasha Wooden Ware Oil Room
County: Winnebago
City: Menasha
Reference Number: 59524