Gibson Girl 1910

 

Gibson Girl-ish caricature captured for use as a postcard, ca. 1910.  As we've seen in previous posts, pennants on postcards were popular adornments with communities' names inscribed within. Please see:  http://menashabook.blogspot.com/2013/06/felt-pennant.html. This one happens to combine several tropes of the time- the pennant along with the ingénue, atop a rendering of what is assumed to be her local institution of higher learning.

Sabre Lanes

March 29, 1964, Appleton Post-Crescent

When it was built, Sabre Lanes was touted as the finest bowling establishment north of Milwaukee.  With its popularity, Sabre added those additional eight lanes to the facility the very next year, 1965.

Marker Hunt

A lot of history is resident in the Fox Valley, as evidenced back in 1964 during this "marker hunt."  These pages illustrated Menasha's contribution to the many markers and monuments that commemorate the important happenings around the state.  Multiply that by hundreds of communities across Wisconsin and I can see how an accurate rendering of the tally was necessary.  I believe most of these can still be seen today, though I fear for the future of the Wisconsin Central plaque that once was attached to the Hotel Menasha.

Easter Parade of Savings

March 25, 1964, Appleton Post-Crescent

Well, actually this was the Gala PRE-Easter Parade of Savings, but the calendar caught me napping last week.  As a result, I didn't provide the "countdown" coverage to Easter this blog has been known to give in past years.  From Easter basket goodies to floral arrangements to new Easter duds, Valley Fair had your holiday covered in 1964. 

Marina View

This appears to be a postcard produced soon after the new marina was completed in the late 1980's.  You can see the old Bank of Menasha (at this time, with a different name- either Security Bank or First Wisconsin Bank of Menasha) as well as the old Left Guard restaurant building across Main Street from the First National Bank.  Based on the signage and the marina opening date, I'm dating this photo to be taken around 1987 or 88.

P.V. Lawson, Part Two

May 9, 1965, Appleton Post-Crescent

As detailed here, Mr. Lawson wrote prolifically on history, focused mostly on the Fox Valley. His works spanned the time from before the French arrived, through the era of New France, the era of territorial Wisconsin, and up to his contemporary life time. His writings included monographs, books, academic journal articles, and newspaper articles. But Lawson's greatest work I feel was The History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin:  Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People.   It can be read online in its entirety.  Part I is located at:    http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.Oshkosh1908v1 and Part II is at: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.Oshkosh1908v2.  It's a good read and a great reference.

P.V. Lawson, Part One

May 2, 1965, Appleton Post-Crescent

This two part article is a good insight into Menasha's renaissance man, Publius V. Lawson, Jr.  In his 67 years, Lawson was labeled many things- attorney, politician, businessman, author, historian, lecturer, inventor, and six term mayor of Menasha.  In the "Hall of Heroes," should Menasha ever have one, his name would be riding near the top along side the likes of Curtis Reed, Elisha D. Smith, George Banta, John Strange, William Gilbert, George Whiting and many others who made Menasha the pride of the Fox Valley.  I'll provide part two of this feature in tomorrow's blog post.

After the Fire

March 23, 1936, Oshkosh Northwestern

Some of you have asked, where did the high school students have classes, now that the school had burned down?  This blog post answers that, as well as detailing the faculty's losses, some having covered an entire career and others even more painful and stupefying, as with the loss of Mr. Chapitis' thesis research. I can only imagine what that feels like. 

Eighty Years Ago Today

March 21, 1936, Oshkosh Northwestern

Eighty years ago today, the old Menasha High School was destroyed by fire, and for a time classes met of necessity in various public buildings. Two years later the new, Georgian-Colonial structure on Seventh Street was dedicated. Built during the administration of the late Superintendent of Schools, Frank B. Younger, the new school cost $600,000 and, at the time, housed, in one unit, the Vocational, Junior, and Senior High Schools. In addition to classrooms it provided a completely equipped gymnasium, a theater, a swimming pool, and facilities where students could learn printing and the manual arts.

Valentine Landgraf

Last week, I published an illustration of the Landgraf Hotel.  It was one of those idealized pen and ink lithographs that always seemed to feature horses or a trolley passing by- very Currier and Ives stuff.  Above is a photograph of the hotel I featured back in 2012.  I came across the published obituary for the namesake of the hotel after the fact but I have decided to feature it today.  While I am always intrigued by the histories of our esteemed citizens, sadly and too often, the news of their passing doesn't always give a good accounting of what they accomplished and they become just a shorthand name for a building.  I came across this accounting of his life through an online genealogical site, for which, the author claims him as an ancestor.  I thought you might enjoy learning a bit more about Valentine Landgraf.
Note to readers: the Dr. Forkin mentioned in the story was my family doctor and delivered me into this world in 1956. 

_______________________________________________________

Death Ends Long Life/Val Landgraf, Proprietor of Hotel Landgraf Dies Suddenly/In Business 44 Years/Death Came Almost Without Warning at an Early Hour Saturday Evening--Funeral Tuesday 

          Valentine Landgraf, proprietor of the Hotel Landgraf and one of Menasha's pioneer businessmen, died suddenly Saturday evening at about 8 o'clock at the Luedtka Turkish Bath parlors on Main Street where he had gone earlier in the evening in accordance with his regular custom. Death was due to heart failure, from with Mr. Landgraf had been a sufferer for some time.      
          Mr. Landgraf spent the early part of the evening about the hotel in jovial conversation with members of his family and guests at the hotel and left for the bath rooms apparently in good health. Only a few minutes after entering the private apartments at the bath parlors, he was engaged in conversation with Mr. Leudtka when he staggered and fell to the wall, where his body was supported by the proprietor until assistance arrived. Dr. Forkin was summoned but death resulted soon after his arrival. A thorough examination revealed that Mr. Landgraf had suffered an attack of heart failure which had resulted in his sudden demise. Members of the family were notified and the remains were removed to the family apartments at the hotel.      
          Valentine Landgraf was born in Germany, June 20, 1842, and came to America when only four years of age, settling with his parents at Richfield, Wis. Here he attended the public school until he became a boy eleven years of age when he went to Milwaukee to complete his education. At the age of 16 years he went out with a party in a prairie schooner and crossed the then almost unknown western country to Idaho. To tell of the experiences of his western trip was one of the most favorite traits of the local host and he often spent hours in going back to the trials and hardships of his boyhood days.      
           After spending nine years in the west, Mr. Landgraf returned to Menasha and on Nov. 22, 1867, was united in marriage to Miss Emma Brugger, of Richfield, the sweetheart of his childhood, at the home of the bride's sister in Milwaukee.      
           Soon after arriving here, Mr. Landgraf purchased the property at the corner of Main and Tayco streets and during the past forty-four years has been engaged in the hotel and grocery business in this city, making him one of the oldest, if not the oldest, of the city's active business men. In the course of these years, he has received many flattering offers from would-be purchasers but these were all politely but firmly denied as Mr. Landgraf continued to live out his long life in Menasha in his own contented way. He served several terms as a member of the city council, having been elected to the office of alderman from the Second Ward and he was also a charter member of the Germania society of this city.   
           Deceased is survived by his wife, one son and three daughters as follows: Alex Landgraf and Miss Ida Landgraf, of this city; Mrs. Card Garrison of Detroit, Mich., and Mrs.Harry Gunderson of Sheboygan. One brother, John Landgraf, of Milwaukee, also survives. The funeral will be held from the family apartments at the hotel, tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock, Rev. Kleinhans officiating. Burial will be made at Oak Hill cemetery.
Published October 16, 1911

The "Pacer"

March 17, 1959, Appleton Post-Crescent

 

I remember our household being blessed with the GE Pacer, tank type cleaner.  If I recall correctly, the thing was a ghastly yellow and white and was quite heavy, or so it seemed for this little boy lugging it around.  

Snow Bound

 

March 16, 1959, Appleton Post-Crescent

 

Unlike some parts of the country where this kind of event is more than devastating, Menasha school kids only got the morning off due to this storm.  Such hardy stock we Wisconsinites are. 

1,500 Chairs Per Day

from The First City of the Lower Fox River. Menasha, Wisconsin, its trade, industries, inducements to capitalists, and its pre-eminence as a manufacturing, residence, and educational city ([1887])

Mr. E. J. Heule, a resident of Sheboygan Falls, became an apprentice in the chair trade at an early age and later partnered with Herbert Bemis in this chair factory until its demise in the early 1890s.  It's assets were bought up by the Menasha Wooden Ware.

Have You Got Lots of Snow Now?

We've seen this postcard used before, and in a black and white setting, and with a different message.  (http://menashabook.blogspot.com/2015/04/get-to-work-old-pal.html)

Sad, yes, but the handpainted blue sky over the Memorial Building provides a minor respite from the weather and unfortunate news. 

That Other Hotel

from The First City of the Lower Fox River. Menasha, Wisconsin, its trade, industries, inducements to capitalists, and its pre-eminence as a manufacturing, residence, and educational city ([1887])

The old Hotel Menasha downtown gets all the attention, but this other major accommodation at Main and Tayco was just as important to the city's history. 

We first encountered this hotel in 2012:  http://menashabook.blogspot.com/2012/06/landgrafs-hotel.html. 
"Built by Valentine Landgraf, a saloonkeeper who had arrived just five years earlier from Montana, the Landgraf Hotel's first section was built in 1871 at the intersection of Tayco and Main Streets. In 1877, he added on to the building and in 1880, he bought the building just east of his property to complete his hotel.   In its prime, the hotel had 30 rooms, was gas-lighted and steam-heated. The hotel ran free buses to meet all trains and also offered a billiards room and a grocery. On this space, the Brin Theater was built around 1928."

For the Polka Purist

March 26, 1975, Appleton Post-Crescent

Somewhere in that window of time when the original ShopKo on Hwy 47 closed and the new one opened, this appeared.  In and of itself, this advertisement proves to be a time capsule of early 1970's popular music, but at the risk of flirting with blasphemy for this part of the state, I had to chuckle at the wide selection of polka music available.  Yes, polka music.  And for the record, I had a Panasonic cassette tape recorder just like the one in this ad.  Ah, good times.

Future of the Fox

Another in a series of articles about the future of the Fox River, as presented by the Appleton Post-Crescent of August 29, 1976

Pee-Wee Cagers

March 28, 1973, N-M Northwestern

 

It must have been an early spring, this day in 1973, when the local kids on Oak Street put away their winter pursuits and brought out their basketball for a little two-on-two competition.  One can't help thinking that a bit more of the nice weather will lead to baseball gloves and roller skates as well.

More MacKinnon

One thing just leads to another. Our forays into baseball and Satchel Paige last week led to speculation about Captain MacKinnon's involvement in unknowingly naming the Menasha Macs baseball team by virtue of his ownership of a championship bull.  

In 2014, I introduced you to a great architecture blog about Oshkosh architect, William Waters by my friend Richard Nebel.  His entry on the MacKinnon mansion on First Street is a must read: http://williamwatersoshkosharchitect.blogspot.com/2014/04/mac-kinnons-menasha-mansion.html

Menasha Mac

 August 7, 1856, Menasha Advocate

 

Reader Don Nussbaum provided this news article in response to yesterday's story about Satchel Paige visiting Menasha in 1963.  Don pondered the origin of the name "Macs" for the team and while I always thought the team was called the Macs as shorthand for Menasha Athletic Club, the evidence he provides here that perhaps it is named after this bull, IS intriguing, to say the least.  I challenge other blog readers to proffer their suggestions.

Also, Paige's team ended up beating the Macs in extra innings, as evidenced by the article below:

Sounds like it was an exciting game.

Touring Team

June 9, 1963, Appleton Post-Crescent

What with spring training games beginning this week, I found this little item from June of '63 that brought a smile to my face.  Imagine, seeing the great Satchel Paige in the ol' hometown. 

Credit for the Mileage

From 1886 comes this historical postcard detailing mileage credit for the Menasha Chair Company on behalf of the Milwaukee and Northern Railroad.  The Milwaukee and Northern was the predecessor of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific, also known as The Milwaukee Road. The chair company was later subsumed by the Menasha Wooden Ware.

Since 1893

By the time this matchbook was produced in the 1960's, the John Strange Paper Company had had a long history in Menasha.  see:  http://menashabook.blogspot.com/2012/06/john-strange.html 

In 1969 Menasha Corporation merged with the John Strange Paper Company, creating the Appleton Manufacturing Division and a majority interest in the Wisconsin Container Corporation, later to become Menasha's Solid Fibre Division.   In 1981, the firm was sold to US Papers, and in 2002, to Sonoco.