Smith Park's Olden Days

July 31, 1965 Neenah-Menasha Northwestern

 

This 1965 article extensively describes the area of Doty Island surrounding present-day Smith Park in honor of its then-68th anniversary.  In another article, the Post-Crescent reported that a display with period automobiles was among the 60 or so exhibits scheduled for a festival to illustrate the era when the park was dedicated. 





Music Box Associates

November 10, 1959 Appleton Post-Crescent

 

This is another in my long running series of those self-serving newspaper stories that were never news (unless it's "news" to report on the latest merchandise brought in), but mostly advertising.  If nothing else, it gives us a sense of what businesses came and went (some faster than others) in Menasha and reflects sometimes, the social mores of the times. 

 

Personally, I do not recall this business at all and the name is intriguing for an appliance dealer.  That alone made it of interest to me. 

Banta Picnic

July 15, 1960 Appleton Post-Crescent

I can only speak from personal experience but one of the highlights of the summer for me growing up, was always the Banta picnic.  As a child of a life-long Banta employee, I thought I had the proverbial keys to the kingdom, though I know other kids had company or office picnics to attend and I'm sure theirs were just as good,.  Wish I had some festive photos to illustrate my point. 

John and Me

 

 

I'm putting this blog on hiatus through the end of this week to honor a son of Menasha- a 1960 graduate of St. Mary's, a 30-year US Air Force veteran, and my beloved oldest brother- John Galassie. 

 

John, or Jack, as he was later known, passed away on December 20th of last year.  It was his wish to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.  Due to the many services requested for other veterans, scheduling at Arlington had became quite backlogged.  As a result, his service was not available for seven months until this week.  His service is tomorrow at 11:00. 

 

As shown in the photograph above, you can see the huge age difference between the two of us- over 15 years in fact, but we spent our lifetimes erasing what distances there were between us, both geographically and socially. 

 

Jack left home after high school graduation in 1960 when I was three years old and as a boy, he was my hero, who'd come home from, what were to me, exotic places, in his resplendent blue uniform.  At the height of my GI Joe obsession, he was my very own lifelike model.  As he progressed through the ranks, I was the lucky recipient of his castoff stripes and I wore them proudly. 

 

When I was a young man, he became my mentor and as a result of his influence, I entertained ROTC as a means to finance college and eventually donned a uniform myself, though it was Army green.  Unlike his long career, my tenure as a soldier was brief, only five years.

 

As I matured, he was always there for me, though we might be separated by many, many miles.  But he was never far from my heart.  With the advent of email and the internet, keeping in contact became even easier.  Our adult years were a constant barrage of electronic communications for the distances had become too great and our paths didn't physically cross that often anymore. 

 

Sadly, to my chagrin and everlasting regret, when he passed, I had not seen him since January of 2008 when our mother passed away.  I am so thankful for the time we did spend together in her final weeks. 

 

So, here's to you, Jack.  You were my first hero and undoubtedly, my finest.  Godspeed, Big Brother. 

 

Fifth Annual Prospector Days

July 23, 1964 Appleton Post-Crescent

Readers of this blog will recall how fond I am (and was) of the Prospector Days celebrations we used to have in the Twin Cities.  I posted on it last year and touched on it a little bit in last week's post entitled "City of Opportunity." 

So, in keeping with that, I offer up a more extensive offering to get your mind to thinking of way back then, plus a few other news items.   

W.P. Hewitt

 

W.P. Hewitt

 

W.P. Hewitt was engaged as a manufacturer of wool in Menasha since 1867 as a junior member of the firm of Chapman and Hewitt. Later, he organized the firm of W.P. Hewitt and Company of which he was president until 1906 when it merged with the Menasha Mill Company. Hewitt also served as president of the Bank of Menasha from 1897 until his death in March of 1907 at age 58.

 

 

In this iconic early view of the Tayco Street Bridge, you can see the prominent Menasha Woolen Mills at what will become later the corner of Tayco and River Streets.  To the left in the background is St. Patrick's. 

City of Opportunity

July 24, 1963 Neenah-Menasha Northwestern

 

This edition of the paper, filled with advertising for Prospector Days, used that event to look back upon Menasha 50 years ago.  Citing a 1913 promotional booklet used to entice new business to the city, the news was, understandably, all good. 

More importantly, can I still get some of those clam diggers priced so affordably at $2.88?!

Happy Weekend!