Memorial Day 2021

I repost this every year.

The VFW in 2013 said it well.  I cannot improve on this:

Many Americans have forgotten the true meaning of a holiday that we as veterans hold so close to our hearts. For too many, Memorial Day now signifies nothing more than the start of summer and is celebrated with holiday sales. Trips to the lake and shopping extravaganzas have replaced memorial visits, remembrance ceremonies or simply put, a day to reflect upon all of the luxuries—like freedom—that we as Americans enjoy daily.  

As proud veterans, we know the true meaning of Memorial Day. 

On Memorial Day, we honor our fallen comrades of the United States military in the form of remembrance. And with that, comes a deep sense of appreciation for both their selflessness in protecting the land of the free, and for their sacrifice in ensuring it stays that way. 

Each and every American owes a great debt to the courageous men and women who have given their lives to protect our way of life. While giving back to the extent they deserve is impossible, today, we merely attempt our repayment in the form of remembrance. We dedicate this day to them.

As we go about our activities, we should take the opportunity to not only remember the sacrifices of our fallen and mourn their departure, we should celebrate the spirit with which they served and reflect upon their contributions in making America, truly, the land of the free.

Whatever you do today, be safe.

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I'm taking a break from the blog for the next week or so.  I hope to be back on the case by June 8th; see you then!

Memorial Day Ceremonies, 1934

May 18, 1934, Menasha Record

With Memorial Day coming up on Monday, we offer the line of march for the Twin Cities' Memorial Day parade in 1934.  This was at a time when they could have the last surviving Civil War veteran from the area preside over the festivities.  A mere five years earlier, there were five survivors, so time was of the essence.  

Painless!

May 18, 1895, Saturday Evening Press

Odontunder!  The wonder of the dental age!  1906 chemical analyses of this Odontunder later revealed that the anesthetic mixture contained cocaine, carbolic acid (phenol), and resorcin (a “chemical cousin” of phenol).  It was also known as Dr. Stoughton’s Wonderful Pain Obtunder, also known as laughing gas.  But this was an age when cocaine was in Coca Cola so should we have been surprised?!

      Above slide courtesy of the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.

An Argument for Temperance

 

May 6, 1891, Oshkosh Northwestern

Life in Menasha couldn't be all band concerts and Straw Hat days.  This sad story of a broken family makes a compelling argument for the temperance movement, a social phenomenon if there ever was one in the 19th century.  With anecdotes such as this promoted in area newspapers and repeated by orators, is it any wonder the movement was espoused by the likes of Menasha's generous benefactor, Elisha D. Smith:  https://menashabook.blogspot.com/2017/06/temperance-pledge-1861.html and John Strange:  https://menashabook.blogspot.com/2012/06/john-strange.html.  Click the hyperlinks and see how serious these gentlemen really were.  

My Apologies

May 18, 1934, Menasha Record

My most heartfelt apologies for allowing us to miss Straw Hat Day.  Perhaps we can have a do-over this weekend, in spite of it being Memorial Day weekend.  At least in this advertising contest, Menasha gets top billing, unlike today when everything is "Neenah-Menasha."  An understandable move for a Menasha-based retailer.  

"Autoist" Revisited

May 26, 1908, Menasha Record

Several weeks back we discovered this term for one who drives an automobile, but me, being a words kind of guy, just couldn't let it go.  Back in April, we highlighted an article from 1925 which featured the term, but today we find a reference from some 17 years earlier.  Some more research in the newspaper archives finds the term used as late as  1945.  I found the article below from 1899 and it appears to be the first usage of the word.  I promise this will be the last word on this.

February 22, 1899, Buffalo Commercial

Leander Choate

May 13, 1908, Menasha Record

We first featured this boat back in 2018: https://menashabook.blogspot.com/2018/09/ride-valley-queen.html.  It was named after Oshkosh businessman, Leander Choate and was the second boat named after him.  In later years, it was renamed as the Valley Queen and burned in 1922.  It's compelling to realize what excitement was generated in the community by the addition of a new excursion craft.  From the description, it must have dwarfed other boats and that fact alone might have intrigued the populace.

Every Dime Helps

 

This early 1950's ad from the height of the polio crisis shows how even local businesses were effectively inserting themselves in humanitarian causes.  By 1955, the vaccine would be available to an eager public.   Following a mass immunization campaign promoted by the March of Dimes, the annual number of polio cases in the US fell from 35,000 in 1953 to 5,600 by 1957.  By 1961 only 161 cases were recorded in the United States.  Remarkably, all those dimes given over the years in countless ways contributed to the research that made it all possible.  

Science Fair

 

April 5, 1971, Twin City News-Record

April 1, 1971, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

As reported yesterday, the eighth grade science fair was the albatross around my neck, but somehow we persevered.  I could have sworn I had featured this before, but after nine years, the memory grows dim at times.  If nothing else, I remember we made the mistake of not using permanent markers on our posters, and since we used water in a tube to help measure the shock waves, you can imagine what that did to our presentation.  Despite how bad that must have looked, the judges saw it differently, to our relief.

Spring Art Show

May 7, 1975, Twin City News-Record

Most of us have been on both ends of this transaction, either being the nervous student, looking for parental approval at what we created in class, or the proud parent, ready for anything.  For me, I remember the eighth grade science fair at St. Mary's where my partner and I took third place with our snappy project, "Shock Waves of the Atmosphere."  Sometime, I'll have to dig that one out.  

Hurdling Towards Victory

April 24, 1964, Twin City News-Record

Cool action photo taken at the track meet.  Straight-on view shows the determination and concentration on the face of our record-breaking competitor.  

April 24, 1964, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

Here are the final results of Menasha's victorious day.  Friend of the blog, Bob Smarzinski had an awesome day as well.

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Dear readers, some of the postings in the various Facebook groups have gone awry lately; it is some problem with the link to the blog which is rejected by the Facebook guardians for some strange reason.  Additionally, over this last weekend, I received seven separate emails about seven different postings I had made to the blog in early March, saying they had violated "community standards" because they contained malware!  But then, the next day, the blog gods emailed me again, saying they had now restored them because their assessment had been wrong.  To date, these posts have NOT been restored, though I have their promise that they will be.  Something is definitely weird going on, so your patience is very much appreciated as I work out these bugs.

The "Bank" of Menasha

                                                                                          

May 20, 1905, Menasha Record

This premium opportunity at the bank is literally the “Bank” of Menasha, or as they refer to it, a self-registering steel safe.  I don’t know what “self-registering” means but it looks like it separates the coins.  By the way, two years later, the cashier became the bank's president:  http://menashabook.blogspot.com/2013/09/julius-h-fieweger-sons.html

Sports Report

May 17, 1909, Neenah Daily Times

Today, the blog brings you the sports report, specifically a May day in 1909.  While the baseball report didn’t exactly recap the action as we would know it today, it still provided whimsical details of the time.  And as for the track meet, it sounded like a disaster in the making, what with a flooded track and various no-shows who failed to report.  It’s a wonder they even declared a winner under those conditions. Maybe the driving park was ill-suited for the activity at hand.  

Cornerstone Laying

March 31, 1956, Appleton Post-Crescent

A little Googling shows that $14,270 in 1898 is worth $455,396.96 today, but still, that amount seems miniscule for the building that was produced.  

March 19, 1898, Neenah Daily Times

Nice words about the library from our friends to the south of town.  Over the last nine years, we've featured countless articles about the library.  Just put the term "library" in the search box and many blog entries will appear.  Reminisce about the long ago time when the public library was a showplace for the downtown area.  

Hank's

May 21, 1983, Appleton Post-Crescent

May 1983 brought us this bio of a longtime Hank's bartender.  Hanks' had a long history but as of summer 2019, I know its time had come and gone and the building was vacant.  A little research reveals the structure was built in 1900 and had been a saloon of one sort or another since at least 1905.  In fact, the site is so historical that the Wisconsin Historical Society even had a listing for it.

Banta History

May 6, 1985, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

A great idea, if you ask me, to outline the history of the namesake of the school in which the play is actually being performed.  The photo and caption seem at odds with itself but I'm sure all was explained how the teenage Banta is shown with his later wife in the photo.  Perhaps Ms. Maring is playing a younger version of Ellen Banta and we just don't know it.  Still, it looked like an entertaining production.  Wonder if anybody videotaped it?

Deep Infrastructure

 May 23, 1979, Appleton Post-Crescent

Here's something you don't see, getting down and deep with bridge maintenance, featuring unusual views one often doesn't get to see.  Unlike the Racine Street and Tayco bridges, the Washington Street bridge likely comes in third in the hearts of Menasha minded people, though we'd suffer greatly without its span to help us along our way towards Neenah.  Oh, those plates and rivets...its like a Bachman-Turner Overdrive album cover, minus the gears. There he goes again, showing his age.  (Some of you will know what I'm referring to.)

What's Happening at the Valley

May 16, 1947, Menasha Record

More fun on the screen with the Three Stooges and an assortment of cartoons to entertain the kiddies.  Plus who wouldn't miss the chance to bring home a new member of the family to Mom and Dad!  Please, Mom, can't we keep him?!  

A Kindly Feeling

May 16, 1947, Menasha Record

Obviously, a slow news day at the Menasha Record but still, a nice human interest story to highlight a benevolent grandma who looked out for some nameless Boy Scouts.  But then, old ladies like this have been doing stuff like this since time immemorial.  Pennies, yes, but still, a nice gesture with her heart in the right place.

Whiting Fire

In light of the very recent Whiting Paper Mill fire, I invite you to the following link to remind yourself of some history of the mill:  https://menashabook.blogspot.com/2012/08/whiting-paper.html.  The mill was resident at this location since 1882 and in 1888, was the site of the most tragic disaster in Menasha history when a boiler exploded killing 16 and injuring countless others.  A simple search of the blog using the term "Whiting" will bring you even more in-depth information than I can provide here, to include the sad details of the explosion.  More than likely, you've already seen the fire pictures, so let's feature a happier time at the mill.   

Bobo's Bad Habit

Last week I featured a photo of the St. Mary's marching band from the 1968 Renard.  This photo comes from the same yearbook and it caught my attention because I was intimately familiar with the above subject, named Bobo by Sister Mary Evelyn, stalwart biology teacher for many years at the school.  Now, my experience with Bobo came some five years later during sophomore biology class.  During a lesson on the 206 bones in the human body, the fire alarm bell sounded and we all dutifully left the classroom and the school, assembling someplace down the line on the sidewalk, a good ways away from the school.  When we returned to the class and the lesson, Sister Evelyn opened the locker which housed Bobo and discovered Bobo with an unlit cigarette between his teeth.   Needless to say, Sister Evelyn was not pleased as the class erupted into the largest guffaw you could imagine.  And pleas for the culprit to expose himself went unheeded.  Thankfully, she didn't punish the whole class, but somehow restored a modicum of calm as she took the offending butt out of his teeth and went on with the lesson.  We never did find out who did it, and I often wondered what a better prank it would have been if it had been a lit cigarette that Bobo was smoking, though that might have put poor Sister Evelyn over the edge. With all the strictures of that parochial environment, one tended to take his joys in little things like that.  Someday, I'll tell you the tale of how one particular priest took exception of my classmate's singing before class "Lydia the Tattooed Lady," a song featured in the Marx Brothers' movie, "At the Circus."  Yup, I was the guy who had taught him the song, but I didn't get in trouble.  I mean, come on, in a place like that, you have to be aware of what you can get away with.