What can I say about this place that hasn't already been said?
We all remember the creaky floors of that ol' dime store. And if I close my eyes, I think I can also recall the smell of the place, too.
Remember when ALL your photographs came back from the photo developers with a date printed in a white border that surrounded the picture?
Here's a nice linen postcard view of the Marathon Mills in Menasha. I'm not sure what that interesting looking tower is in the left center though.
A
s covered previously in this blog, Marathon was organized in 1909 in Wausau, but didn't become a presence in Menasha until 1927 when it acquired Menasha Printing and Carton Company, a manufacturer of bread wrappers and paper containers for food. Later, printing capabilities and its own ink plant were added, making the then Marathon company the largest printer in the world.
By the 1920s and 30s, things were changing quickly in the packaging industry. This early advertisement from the 1920's reflects the Menasha Wooden Ware's reliance on new packaging solutions to take the place of wooden pails and barrels. By 1935, the barrel factory would be converted to the manufacture of toys and juvenile furniture. "Corrugated" was the new watchword.
This ad has all the earmarks of a classic Menasha Wooden Ware ad- informative text, simple graphics, and a printed border that looks like tree bark.
The above book cover reproduces a Thomas Dietrich oil painting depicting early Menasha and the beginnings of the Menasha Wooden Ware in 1856. The artwork is very reminscent of the artwork featured in my blog entry of September 7, 2012 (see below). You may recall that this print was entitled A Salute to Menasha's Pioneering Spirit, and was featured for sale at the opening of the marina in 1987.
Despite the similarities in the two pieces, the reality of 1856 is more likely reflected in the rough-hewn imagery above than in the lazy, dream-like pastels below.
This view of downtown from the late 70s/early 80s gives one a gritty view of the well-worn streets and buildings. The old library to the right, vacant since 1969 is indicative of the city before various urban renewal projects. Those initiatives changed the face of downtown, creating the marina to the west of the Hotel Menasha and razing the entire right side of this photograph. As a result, an office building and parking lot complex now fills the entire city block from Mill Street to the Racine Street Bridge.
This photo purports to be the Menasha High School library in 1938. And judging from the bare shelves, that date makes sense. This may have been snapped shortly after the "new" school was open for classes and perhaps the books hadn't yet been replaced since the 1936 fire.
Happy weekend!
Menasha Wooden Ware workers pose outside the factory in 1895. An industrious, rough looking lot, but those were the times.
Notice the young boys in the front row, to include a lad without shoes at center right, dressed like every stereotypical Tom Sawyer you've ever seen. For that matter, the fellow in the front row, a bit older, at the extreme left has no shoes either. But yet, most everyone has a hat. The ground in front of them looks littered with wood chips and other debris; tetanus is just waiting to happen.
My 21st century sensibility asks, why is a hat so important if you have no shoes? Working out in the sun makes hats a necessity, I know and social decorum of that era, I understand, made hats a requirement, but still....
