Midtown Alleys (Gundi's)

 

Gundi's Lanes, about 1985

Let's end the week with remembering this downtown bowling establishment.  Once known as Midtown Alleys, or Midtown Lanes, or Gundi's at the end (or maybe other names as well), it resided at 352 Chute Street for many, many years.    

 

 

Magic Lantern

From about 1910, this vintage slide was made to fit inside a "magic lantern," or slide projector, as it became known.

The magic lantern was a direct ancestor of the motion picture projector, for it could itself be used to project moving images, which was achieved by the use of various types of mechanical slides. Typically, two glass slides, one with the stationary part of the picture and the other with the part that was to move, would be placed one on top of the other and projected together, then the moving slide would be hand-operated, either directly or by means of a lever or other mechanism.

 

Notice that Menasha is mispelled as "Menesha" on the slide. An early advertising piece, this would be displayed before/after a movie in the theaters, proving that commercial advertisements in movie theaters are, sadly, nothing new.

 

Otto Runde's jewelry shop was located at 154 Main Street, or just past the Bank of Menasha building on the way to the firehouse.

 

 

An example of an early magic lantern.

Nicolet Blvd

As another one in a series of postcards/photographs of what was formerly known as "The Avenue," this one from the 1920's gives more exposure to the Menasha side.  Since we've seen this theme over and over, I suspect the postcard peddlers were enamored with the "street as borderline" aspect of this photo.  Plus it makes for a pretty composition.

Visible through the trees is St.Patrick's Catholic Church and the Walter Brothers Brewery. 

Howard Paper Mill

   The first paper mill in Menasha was built in 1876 on the  northern channel of the Fox River by Reuben Scott, Henry Hewitt, Jr., and other stockholders. They bought the Dutchman and Potter sawmill and converted it to the new Menasha Paper Company which made wrapping paper.
   The company made money for a year and then began to have financial difficulties. First it was leased, then went into receivership in 1879, then sold, and finally newly organized as Menasha Pulp and Paper Company. This time Hewitt and Scott were the sole owners. In 1884 the mill closed and the equipment sold.
   In 1888 a group of investors built a new paper mill on the site and Charles Howard came into control and called it the Charles W. Howard Paper Company. He then sold out to some Oshkosh capitalists who went bankrupt. In 1898 he regained the property and rebuilt and added an extensive sulphite plant so that a heavy strong manila wrapping paper could be made from hemlock logs. The mill was operated with great success until 1905 when it was sold again. It used both water and steam power and ran 24 hours a day. It even had a sprinkler system. This time it was sold to the Island Paper Company which was controlled by Duncan T. H. MacKinnon and Alexander Noble Strange. n 1905, Renamed as the Island Paper Company, the mill made corrugated paper which aggravated the citizens because of the odor which it emitted. They called it "strawboard."
info courtesy Herziger, Caryl Chandler; Pawlowski, Winifred Anderson (ed.) /Memories of Doty Island : A Link Between Two Cities (1999)

The Hotel at Brighton Beach

Handcolored postcard of the hotel at Brighton Beach, at the end of Third Street.  The Brighton Beach Hotel lasted from 1899 until 1927 when it was demolished and a private home was constructed on the grounds. In later years, the acreage was sold to a religious order of sisters for use as a retirement facility.

Interesting artistic effect in that the people mostly remain in black and white but the landscaping and roof are in color.  Although it's probably due to the limitations of the time, I've seen similar effects in contemporary movie trailers to make the people stand out or to emphasize the historical nature of the piece. 

Ice Storm 1922

 

February 23, 1922 Appleton Post-Crescent

 

Wisconsin has never been immune to the seasonal ice storm but back on February 22, 1922, the Twin Cities experienced an ice storm the likes of which it hadn't seen in many, many years.  My own mother told the story, that as a young girl, one of her first memories was of this particular storm.  Living at the corner of Second and DePere, she recounted how she witnessed the electrocution of a poor horse which had the unfortunate circumstance of being under the wires when they snapped.  For years I just discounted it as just another one of Mom's random anecdotes...that is, until I gained an interest in history and ran across photos such as these which made her story come vividly to life. 

 

 

"Menasha's Pride and Satisfaction"

February 24, 1928 Oshkosh Northwestern

 

Beginning life as an elementary school, Butte des Morts became a junior high in 1961 and then reverted back to elementary school status for the present day.  

 

 

December 8, 1963 Appleton Post-Crescent