Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from me to you.  This will be my last post for 2016, as I take some time off to be with family and enjoy the season. I hope the last 12 months have been good to you, but if not, my wish is that this holiday season will help you salvage some good of what's left of the year. 

Enjoy your families and your time off, and give thanks for what you have. I will strive myself to remember the real meaning of Christmas, for as someone once told me, if Christmas isn't found in our hearts, if won't be found under a tree. 

I am thankful for you, my dear readers who have kept up with me all these years.  I so greatly appreciate your support, your contributions, and your friendship.  Let's share some more Menasha memories in 2017.  See you then!

Bike Winners

December 24, 1964, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

What a thrilling Christmas it must have been for these two kids to walk away from the Brin with these bikes.  Firefighters and kids have always been a great combination so it was especially great that the Menasha Fire Department put on this annual Christmas party at the Brin theater. 

Movin' Down the Street

December 28, 1963, Appleton Post-Crescent

Not sure why this building was being towed to the Jersild site in Neenah, but I suspect it simply belonged to the construction company that oversaw the Menasha garage project and was needed now at the new job site.  Still, it makes for semi-humorous filler for the newspaper and...this blog.  (Some days, this is the best I got.)

Huron Christmas Carol

The "Huron Carol" (or "Twas in the Moon of Wintertime") is a Canadian Christmas hymn (Canada's oldest Christmas song), written probably in 1642 by Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie to the Hurons in Canada. Brébeuf wrote the lyrics in the native language of the Huron/Wendat people; the song's original Huron title is "Jesous Ahatonhia" ("Jesus, he is born"). To this day, the song is a common Christmas hymn in Canadian churches of many Christian denominations. It is also found in several American hymnals, to include those of the Episcopal Church, the United Methodists, and Evangelical Lutherans.

Wet, Packin' Snow

 

December 21, 1966, Appleton Post-Crescent

As the newspaper said, there was nothing like "packy" snow, as we called it, necessary for well-formed snowballs and snow forts.  It was the lifeblood of northeastern Wisconsin kids in all eras, I believe. 

Storytellers

December 21, 1969, Appleton Post-Crescent

What better time of the year than Christmas to have had a conference devoted to story time for children?  Christmas is rife with storytelling opportunities. At least in this day and age, storytelling seems to be a dying art and how many other venues are there where kids are exposed to someone telling them a story than at the library or in schools?  Sure, we read books to our kids at bedtime, and there's the occasional experience of a guide telling us something of note during a museum trip, perhaps.  But too often our default position has become the isolated one-on-one experience in front of a computer, TV, or tablet. Few of us have forgotten the magic of sitting in a group, while being told an engaging story, be it in Kindergarten or at the library. 

Alleys

December 12, 1965, Appleton Post-Crescent

During one of Menasha's many periods of renovation and innovation comes this idea: what if we created more parking for the downtown businesses by eliminating buildings on Broad Street?  This was the era of the "New Menasha Committee" designed to get things rolling again for the downtown.  Despite the "sprucing up" of the rear entrances, it was what it was...an area not ready for primetime, so to speak.  Not necessarily the greatest view from Broad Street, but just the way it was. 

Memories of Early Day Farm Living

December 12, 1959, Oshkosh Daily Northwestern

It's always nice to come across a reminiscence like this, as it dates back to the late 19th/early 20th century.  I cannot imagine walking 12 miles one way to Menasha with a wooden yoke over my neck, buckets of berries dangling on either side.  But such was our forebearers' lot in life.

Old and New

December 12, 1965, Appleton Post-Crescent

A bit misleading, this caption.  Yes, the names match but the columns are of the old version of the FNB.  We all know the new bank was built a few doors west of this columned version in 1964.

There It Goes!

December 11, 1939, Appleton Post-Crescent

As in other years when residents saw the destruction of longtime landmarks like the old Wooden Ware by fire, or the razing of the old Gilbert smokestack, so these citizens saw yet another landmark fall.  Despite the reluctance of the oldtimers in seeing city icons disappear, ii can also bring forth new economic growth, albeit somewhat delayed at times.  The next year, Banta bought the land and used it in later years for the expansion of its Ahnaip Street plant. 

Santa Comes

November 30, 1963, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

It's a holiday tradition to this day, when Santa travels around Menasha on his fire truck.  Not a very good photo, to be sure, but the bond between the jolly old elf and the little boy is apparent. 

Holiday Center

December 13, 1966, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

In yet another blatant ad masquerading as a news story, comes Menasha Hardware of 212 Main Street, Holiday-style.  As related here before, I spent more than my fair share of time at this store, usually in the guise of getting parts for Dad's aging lawn mower, a bright orange push mower (wish I remembered the brand name) that seemed to need a new spark plug every year without fail.  I don't recall ever buying Christmas items here but obviously, Mr. Van Vreede had that taken care of. 

Happy Holiday Gifting

 December 7, 1967, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

Almost fifty years ago now, it was that time of year when the downtown stores would be open late for your holiday shopping.  And with personalized, courteous service and plenty of free parking through the New Year to ease your yearly chore.  What could be better?

Drill Team

I get the impression from this 1968 article that that was the first year for the Menasha High drill team.  Considering that the author literally explained the whole idea to the reader as if they'd never heard of it before, I suspect I'm right. 

Guests of the Rotarians

November 22, 1928, Oshkosh Daily Northwestern

This is an interesting item about the Menasha football banquet 88 years ago.  The emphasis was on sportsmanship and being physically and morally "clean," the way Coach Calder put it.  I doubt any coach today would consider his role for the team was anything BUT winning, whereas the cadre of yesteryear were of the ilk that football (and other sports) was an adjunct to the total scholastic experience, not the end all and be all we've seen it evolve into over the years.  They seemed to have a higher plateau for the players under their direction and were interested in "molding men of strong moral character."

Side note: The "Chauncey Depew" mentioned in the story was an attorney for Cornelius Vanderbilt's railroad interests, president of the New York Central Railroad System, a United States Senator from New York from 1899 to 1911, and a famous orator of the time, back when that kind of thing mattered. 

War Prep

November 22, 1940, Appleton Post-Crescent

  

President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR), like most Americans, wasn't eager for the US to enter a global military conflict. But unlike the ardent isolationists, he also figured it was inevitable. Even though America didn’t officially join World War II until December 1941 right after Pearl Harbor, FDR started preparations in 1940.  The news articles above reflect some of the goings-on in Menasha in that era. 

And Now We Are 3

November 25, 1968, Appleton Post-Crescent

We talked about this location back in 2013:  http://menashabook.blogspot.com/2013/10/on-waterfront.html.  I always enjoyed the tipsy fish logo, from an era where comic drunkenness was more socially acceptable.