A blog which supplements my two books, Menasha, and Neenah and Menasha: Twin Cities of the Fox Valley
Pages
Downtown 1958
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Happy Anniversary (Belatedly)
Monday, April 29, 2024
Renaissance Man
April 30, 1898, Oshkosh Northwestern
The article above is just one of the many things Menasha's renaissance man, Publius V. Lawson, Jr. was capable of. In his 67 years, Lawson was labeled many things- attorney, politician, businessman, author, historian, lecturer, inventor, and six term mayor of Menasha.
Follow this link to get a really good overview of his life at "The Strangest Names in American Political History" blog: https://politicalstrangenames.blogspot.com/2012/05/publius-virgilius-lawson-jr-1853-1920.html
Friday, April 26, 2024
That'll Show "Em!
April 14, 1904, Menasha Record
Menasha's reputation for toughness shows itself in the confines of Chicago's lawlessness. That will teach them to fool with small town northeastern Wisconsin boys!
Thursday, April 25, 2024
How It Looks
April 25, 1878, Saturday Evening Press
Now and then some enterprising reporter from another newspaper would tour Menasha and file a report which the city fathers could then use as fodder for touting the commercial aspects of the city. This is one such story from early on in Menasha's history, as evidenced by the reporter's tour of the flour mills that we used to have. Good descriptions of what happened inside the wooden ware and the hub and spoke factory.
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Young Love
April 27, 1901, Neenah Times
This had to be the oldest wedding on record at St. John's. Just imagine, the bride and groom were born in 1827 and 1829 respectively. Wow! That's at least 16 to 18 years before the first house was even constructed in what became Menasha and only fifty or so years after the United States declared its independence from Great Britain. Oh, the stories I'm sure those two could tell!
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Earth Day
April 23, 1970, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern
With Earth Day being yesterday, I couldn't let it go unnoticed. This rather ominous photo by an unknown student illustrates the need for protection from pollutants that triggered the very first Earth Day in 1970. Today, the focus might be more on global warming or in ridding ourselves of reliance on plastics, but back then, with pollution so bad that the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire, Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson spearheaded the Earth Day efforts in the US with teach-ins and peaceful demonstrations. As evidenced here, students all over the country followed his lead, to include this creative effort at St. Patrick's in Menasha.
Monday, April 22, 2024
A Word to the Wise
April 27, 1901, Neenah Times
From a neighboring newspaper to the south comes this fair warning to young proper ladies that all is not necessarily as it seems in regards to matters of the heart. Good advice for any era.
Friday, April 19, 2024
Burglars
April 15, 1880, Saturday Evening Press
Looking back, especially in this sesquicentennial year, it is easy to romanticize the past and overlook that everything wasn't always hunky dory in our fair city. It seems the criminal element can't be forgotten as far as the Twin Cities go. Curious that the Press writer believes it's an inside job and not attributed to outsiders. I wonder what he knows. Hmmm.
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Light My Fire (Expensive Version)
April 30, 1964, Oshkosh Northwestern (Neenah-Menasha Edition)
I understand the need for destruction in this case but find it a bit amusing the amount of ceremony that went into to it, to include this photo opportunity. As if the signing of the legal documents wasn't enough, we have photographic proof (sort of) of the final disposition of the unused bonds. Today, perhaps we'd just feed them into a shredder? And take a video of it with our cellphones.
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Special Appearance
April 10, 1964, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern
I apologize for the bite someone took out of this photo but it still showcases how Menasha, once in a while, got a name brand guest speaker to entertain the students with a provocative presentation about love, sex, and marriage. And what could be more timely for high school students in the 60's than those topics? In a few short years, the decade would really start in earnest and all bets would be off. At the time of this photo, aside from The Beatles, it might just as well have been the 1950's. (With the demise of her venue as a regular part of people's routines, Miss Landers might have had a hard time getting a footing in today's newspaper-less media environment.)
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Benefit
April 5, 1965, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern
Shades of the Harlem Globetrotters, this football-style exhibition on the Menasha High basketball court had to have been a tongue-in-cheek hit, knowing how beloved the Packers are (and were). And since we were all in on the joke, it made it even more of a fun time. Why, just look at the faces in the stands. Menasha had a long history of such antics, to include donkey basketball games and semi-pro softball exhibitions, such as The King and His Court. What fun!
Monday, April 15, 2024
Waterfront
November 26, 1988, Appleton Post-Crescent
From an article devoted to the redevelopment of Main Street, comes this view we'll never see again. The then-recent demise of a local strip club led to much optimisim for redeveloping the downtown area. And as we all know, the block was razed eventually and an office building was built on the site.
Friday, April 12, 2024
Hook & Ladder Co.
June 18, 1874, Saturday Evening Press
Menasha was justifiably proud of its new civic status as a city and nothing could have said it more than having a first class fire fighting oufit to serve the community. The new hook and ladder wagon undoubtedly looked much like the illustration below which was culled from the 1879 Chicago-based Caswell Fire Department Supply Company catalogue. The catalogue's title page states: "Fire Apparatus and Fire Department Supplies of Every Description." Kudos to the city fathers for having the wagon constructed locally. I'm sure the Caswell Company would have charged more than $358!
Thursday, April 11, 2024
In Other Words, Stay Out!
June 25, 1874, Saturday Evening Press
Above, a warning to the miscreants who abuse the hospitality of the National Hotel. In other words, it's enough he can somewhat tolerate the layabouts and hangers-on within the property, he's not going to make their "stays" any easier by their pilfering. (See? Consuming this flowery 19th century language DOES pay off, lol.)
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Republics are Ungrateful!
April 18, 1874, Appleton Crescent
Not long after Menasha's first election as a newly formed city, this Appleton newspaper takes exception with the election's outcome and that's putting it nicely! It is fairly obvious the editors of this periodical wanted Mr. Curtis Reed to be the victor. I had to look up many of the sputtering epithets thrown around in this piece. Very entertaining, Appleton Crescent!
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Smoked Glass
June 16, 1909, Menasha Record
With all the hoopla yesterday over the solar eclipse, the above news item is a reminder that these things have been happening since the dawn of time, to include the era that Menasha was an entity. Despite the notice that this would occur, I couldn't find any news accounts of how great the experience was unfortunately. From the headline, at least the citizenry knew enough to not just look at the sun.
Monday, April 8, 2024
A Teacher's Farewell
Friday, April 5, 2024
Fine Fishing
Thursday, April 4, 2024
Farmer Story
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
"...and in the Very Best Style..."
April 23, 1874, Saturday Evening Press
Here's an ad from shortly after Menasha became a city. The area of Main and Milwaukee Streets, to also include Chute Street later on, was the heart of transportation for Menasha for many years. In time, the Wheeler Transportation Company would settle on Chute Street, just west of the old Menasha Furniture and evolve from a livery to a bus and truck company.