With the fifth anniversary of the blog coming up on Sunday, I thought it appropriate to go back in time, if you will, and revisit some past postings. This one is from 2014...
This postcard proudly features the new Menasha High School at Seventh and Racine Streets. Designed by the Green Bay firm of Foeller, Schober & Berners, the Menasha High & Vocational School was built between 1936 and 1938. Plans for the construction of a new high school were underway prior to the March 1936 fire that destroyed the existing high school building. Indeed, in July 1935, an application, complete with sketches, was filed with the Public Works Administration (PWA) for a grant amounting to $270,000 for what was anticipated to be a $600,000 building. Fourteen months following the submittal, and exactly six months after the fire, the Board of Education received in September a letter approving the funding. The Maurice Schumacher Company of Minneapolis was the low bidder and construction began on December 1, 1936. Approximately six weeks later, a labor strike occurred, which was settled on February 4, 1937. Because school equipment was lost in the 1936 fire, an additional $38,000 in funding was requested from the PWA. The final inspection of the four-unit complex occurred on February 19, 1938. An open house, which was reportedly attended by over 14,000 persons, was held between March 25-27. Actual dedication of the building occurred on Commencement Day, June 2, 1938.
The school exhibited a style known as Colonial Revivalism, incorporating Georgian detail with a neoclassical auditorium.
source: HISTORICAL & ARCHITECTURAL RESOURCES SURVEY, Aug 31, 2009 Prepared for: Menasha Landmarks Commission by: HERITAGE RESEARCH, LTD. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin 53051
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