Menasha 1855

Menasha was a mere village when this map from 1855 was commissioned.  It clearly shows a few of the main roads of the time as well as the early bridge across Little Lake Butte des Morts and the light house which lasted until the 1870s.  Dendo Island sits in the north channel of the Fox River.  P.V. Lawson describes Dendo Island in his 1908 history, History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People: 

 

 

"Fire Wagon"

One of the more interesting fire vehicles you might have seen around town was the Greenbrier "fire wagon" of the Menasha Fire Department.  Featured in the July 1962 Friends magazine, the vehicle was outfitted with emergency equipment that included a resuscitator, oxygen bottles, portable generator, portable hydraulic press unit, grappling and drag hooks and other supplies likely to be needed at a fire.

(Friends magazine was a Chevrolet publication for distribution by dealers as a giveaway to promote car ownership, and articles often featured interesting places to visit in your Chevy vehicle.)

thanks to http://www.corvair.org/chapters/corvanatics/, a web site devoted to conversions of Chevy Corvair 95 light trucks and vans into "professional" vehicles

Little Butte des Morts and the Neenah River

Illustration found in Chapter 4, Ancient Works in the Basin of the Neenah, or Fox River of Green Bay, in a book titled:

This treatise was commissioned by the Smithsonian in 1855.  Mr. Lapham described in great detail the many Indian mounds he found in the area, as well as a short history of Doty Island.  Menasha at that time, was a village; cityhood was 23 years in the future.  Of interest is that the Fox River was also known as the Neenah River and the two names are used quite interchangably throughout this work.  When this stopped exactly, I don't know.

But the confusion is somewhat described in the December 1921 issue of The Wisconsin Magazine of History.  A reader asked about Neenah's origins as a name and wondered if the name came from that of an Indian girl. 

Their answer: "The word Neenah is the Winnebago word for water. The story is told that Governor Doty was once traveling with a Winnebago guide, and pointing to the Fox River, asked its native name. The Indian, thinking the governor meant the word for water, replied 'Neenah.' Doty supposed it was the native word for that river, and always spoke of the Fox as the Neenah River. Afterward, liking the name, he used it for the town. Other authorities apply the story to an engineer who was surveying for the government in the early days, and who in his report gave the name Neenah to the Fox River to distinguish it from the Fox River in Northern Illinois. But so far as we are aware, no tradition associates the name with an Indian Girl."

An 1840 map of the Neenah, or Fox River near Grand Chute

Main Entrance Fire Station

Looking at the front door of the old fire station this closely, there's almost a reverential aspect in studying the detail- the design, the old bricks, the inscriptions. Imagine the history the old station had seen through the years. This photo dates to about 1988, right before the building was demolished. At the time of its demolition, it was the oldest city hall still standing in the Fox Valley.

Booming in More Ways than One

I first discussed this book in October of 2012- The First City of the Lower Fox River. Menasha, ([1887]) Commissioned by Mayor P.V. Lawson, the booklet explained the city in a PR mode- an obvious attempt to attract new businesses but also a vehicle to showcase and gauge how much progress the city on the Fox had made since its inception some 40 odd years before.  Is it any wonder then that the sub-title to the booklet was "Trade, Industries, Inducements to Capitalists, and Its Pre-eminence as a Manufacturing, Residence, and Educational City?"    Rife with wood cuts featuring the preeminent factories and edifaces of the day, the booklet also featured selected favorable quotes from area newspapers and periodicals. 

As for that barrel and broom handle factory, it eventually became a part of a bigger concern, as Charles Smith was the son of Elisha Smith, founder of the Menasha Woodenware and he, in time, became its president. 

Government Dam

 Long a favorite of postcard manufacturers, the "government dam" was featured in many views over the years. The dam, a fixture in some form since 1849-50, controls the depth of the water flow along the Lower Fox.

Another Menasha Park View

A postcard glance towards the Fox River through the beauty of Smith Park.  Happy weekend!

1983 Menasha

In our continuing series of aerial photos of Menasha, this time we focus on the Nicolet Boulevard/Washington Street/Ahnaip Street corridors.  Landmarks evident include the C&NW depot, the armory, St. Thomas' and St. Patrick's Churches, the water tower, American Can, John Strange Paper, Gilbert's, Banta's and others too numerous to mention.  

courtesy Neenah History Flickr blog, under Creative Commons license

MWW Headquarters

I spoke of this building in my post of July 10th last year. Just before it closed in 1967, the office staff posed one last time in front of this structure before moving to the new corporate headquarters in the Town of Neenah. 

This photo was featured in the book, DImes Into Dollars, the story of the First National Bank of Menasha.

Military Orchestra of Neenah & Menasha

Though undated, this photo has intrigued me for a long time.  My research has found many newspaper references of this orchestra entertaining around the Fox Valley, to include performances at the armory, concerts in the park, school dances, etc.  The name implies that the members were also military personnel associated with the armory and Company I of the Wisconsin National Guard.  I do know they were active in the early decades of the 20th Century, but for now, their names remain lost to me in time.

Band Concert

It's hard to tell from the condition of this photo, but it must have been a nice enough day in 1912 when this band concert on the circle occurred.  One wonders if the passing automobile paused long enough to listen for a few moments.  Unless a streetcar came along, I don't expect there was a major traffic jam for his possibly having had the hesitation to move on. 

Super Seal Wrappers

 

Another trade ad for the food industry.  This time- bread wrappers, courtesy of Menasha Products, a subsidiary of Marathon Papers, 1939. 

Ladies of the Woodenware

Female employees pose at the train dock of the Menasha Woodenware.  Notice the New York Central boxcar, indicative of the Woodenware's dominance of the east coast market for wooden ware products. 

courtesy Neenah History - Flickr blog via Common License agreement

"A Better Butter Tub"

Butter, Cheese & Egg Journal, January 11, 1922

 

Menasha Woodenware advertises their spruce butter tub in a trade journal from the 1920's. 

 

Mystery Solved - Brighton Beach Chautauqua

In my blog post about last Thursday's group photo at Brighton Beach, I fancied that the figure in the center of the group was Teddy Roosevelt.  I was dreadfully wrong.  The man in uniform actually was Brigadier General Charles King, Adjutant General of the Wisconsin National Guard, West Point Graduate, and veteran of the Indian Wars.  He was in Menasha to take part in the summer chautauqua series in August of 1899.

Chautauqua was an adult education movement in the US, highly popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Named after Chautauqua Lake, NY where the first was held, Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers, preachers and specialists of the day.  For some, it was like an educational summer camp, headquartered in some resort, not unlike the Brighton Beach Hotel.  In other locales, musicians, lecturers, and personalities on a regular chautauqua "circuit" would visit, much like a travelling circus going from town to town.  By the turn of the century, however, other entertainment and educational opportunities, such as radio and movies, began to arrive in American towns to compete with Chautauqua lectures. With the advent of the automobile after 1910, and the radio after 1920, middle class Americans could now listen to or attend cultural events previously available only in urban areas and the Chautauqua movement lost popularity.

King was the son of Civil War General Rufus King, grandson of Columbia University president Charles King, and great grandson of Rufus King, who was one of the signers of the United States Constitution. He graduated from West Point in 1866 and served in the Army during the Indian Wars. Wounded in the arm and head during the Battle of Sunset Pass, he was forced into retirement from the regular army. During this time he became acquainted with Buffalo Bill Cody. King would later write scripts for several of Cody's silent movies. He also served in the Wisconsin National Guard from 1882 until 1897, becoming Adjutant General in 1895.

In 1898, he was appointed Brigadier General of volunteers and sailed to the Philippines during the Spanish-American War. The fighting with Spain was over by the time he arrived, but he assisted in the surrender negotiations.

During the Philippine-American War that followed, King was placed in command of a brigade during the Battle of Manila and sailed for Santa Cruz. He was incapacitated by sickness during the Battle of Santa Cruz, but he returned to fight in the following Battle of Pagsanjan. He took part in the final major campaigns before the fighting turned primarily to guerilla warfare.

 

He returned to the US and was active in the Wisconsin National Guard and in training troops for World War I. He wrote and edited over 60 books and novels. Among his list of titles are Campaigning with Crook, Fort Frayne, Under Fire and Daughter of the Sioux.

 

General King and his wife lived in the Carlton Hotel in Milwaukee. Commuting daily by train to Saint John's Military Academy in Delafield, he routinely sat on the porch of the Holt house on campus and told the cadets, which included his grandson, tales of the old west.

July 31, 1899 Oshkosh Northwestern

 

 The suspect photo, with General King in the center

For Your Further Reading

In this blog, we've discussed the Hotel Menasha many times.  Below is a link to the Hotel Menasha entry on a great architecture blog about Oshkosh architect, William Waters by my friend Richard Nebel. 

http://williamwatersoshkosharchitect.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-hotel-menasha.html

And a great entry on Neenah-Menasha schools:

http://williamwatersoshkosharchitect.blogspot.com/2013/02/more-schools-for-neenah-menasha.html

If you have any interest in unique architecture around the Fox Valley, this is the place for you.  Celebrating the career of famed Oshkosh architect, William Waters, there are entries about the structures he designed in area communities, along with Waters' own illustrations.  This includes Neenah's City hall, the mansions of Neenah's Wisconsin Avenue, and many other civic and residential buildings.  Please check it out.

http://williamwatersoshkosharchitect.blogspot.com/

Gilbert View

This postcard is a not often seen view of Gilbert's from 1909.  Taken from the river's vantage point, it prominently features the railroads that serviced the plant's operations.

Rough Rider

The man in the center looks a lot like Teddy Roosevelt in his rough rider outfit, though the hat doesn't look quite right.  I've searched and searched and have yet to verify that he even visited our fair city, much less Brighton Beach where, purportedly, this photo was taken. 

One wonders what captured the attention of the assembled crowd, though the young miss in the foreground seems more interested in the photographer's doings. 

Red Owl Revisited

October 14, 1958 Appleton Post-Crescent

 

Almost a year ago, March 12th to be exact, I promised you a photo of the old Red Owl, when I could find one.  This isn't the greatest, but your memory can fill in the gaps.  Just insert a red and white motif to the crude b&w photo above and you've got it!  ...Or consider the photo below, this isn't Menasha's store; it's purportedly a store in Madison, but the layout looks suspiciously familiar.

Construction began in June of 1958 and the Post-Crescent devoted a full page to the store's grand opening in October, replete with many congratulatory ads from the contractors that worked on the building.  The Hoerning's Concrete ad above is one. 

 

 

October 22, 1958 Appleton Post-Crescent

Topiary Handiwork

In what is obviously Smith Park, commonly known as City Park in the early 20th century, the clever groundskeeper of the time shows his handiwork.  The original pavilion is in the background. 

Fountain City

 

From the May 1913 issue of Public Service Magazine, Menasha is prominently featured for its new-fangled drinking fountains, or "bubblers."  While we're now used to Federal Government regulation, in the first half of the 20th century water supply and sanitation were a local government responsibility with regulation at the state level; the federal government played almost no role at that time. Still, communities across the US began to take the idea of safe, palatable drinking water very seriously.  After the discovery that water could spread diseases, the conclusion was drawn that good taste and smell alone does not guarantee safe drinking water. It led governments to begin municipal water filtration. Because of the growing amount of water treatment facilities around the world, outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid rapidly decreased in the early twentieth century. However, water fountains still contained communal "cups."  Training a stream of water into one's mouth must have been considered vulgar!  See below:

 

 

I would love to tell you where these fountains were installed around Menasha, beyond the "city park," but I have yet to find photographic evidence beyond the magazine photo above.