Moving Along

from the 1941 Renard, St. Mary's High School yearbook

With this post, let me wish you a Happy Weekend!  I'm taking the blog on hiatus for the next week, but I'll be back on Monday, August 19th.  Thanks for your support!   

 

St. Mary's Marching Band

 

This photo is from 1939, but this band marching on Second Street was familar to Menasha residents for generations.  Living at the end of this block, I saw the band extensively during my growing up years, not to mention having two brothers deeply involved.  And how cool was that?  I had a parade marching right past my front door numerous times during the year!  Didn't every kid? 

City Circle

This photo dates itself to about 1963/1964 by the empty lot across the street from the Bank of Menasha.  That was the site of the soon-to-be-built First National Bank which was completed in 1965. 

St. Mary's From the Air!

We've seen a similar photo before in this blog.  We take such things for granted now, but with the advent of aviation in the early 20th century, aerial photography was a novelty and having a photo of one's home town was a big deal. 

This aerial photo was featured in a 1939 supplement entitled Hi-Daze.  This yearbook of sorts was put together by St. Mary High School seniors and sold to students for 50 cents.  With a paperboard cover, it was not as extensive as the yearbook, The Renard, but focused more on academics than extracurriculars. 

Points of interest- the recently removed water tower at Second and Manitowoc and the rail yard between Third and Fourth Streets. 

Second Grade 1909

Going through some things of my parents I came across yesterday, I found this old photo, clipped from The Nightmare, the shop newspaper for the employees of the George Banta Publishing Company.  I think it came from an issue from the mid-1960s.  I wondered why until I got to the fourth row and discovered my Aunt Leona Voit as a girl.  Despite her name being misspelled as Voight, I recognized her face, even though I don't believe I'd ever before seen a photo of her as a young girl. 

Evidently, per the caption, many of her classmates became Banta employees, which explains why The Nightmare published it, not to mention that it's just a great snapshot of the times regardless.  As for Aunt Leona, she went to nursing school in Chicago, worked there for many years, and later moved to California in retirement. 

As expected, the last names of many of these students match the names of some of my classmates some sixty years later.  How many do you recognize?  Maybe a relative of yours is here. 

Boat Harbor

As we drift into another weekend, let's unwind along the Fox River and enjoy the ambience of a relaxing summer's day.         This postcard from 1945 promises just that.

Wooden Ware Oil Room

 

In our "odd buildings around town but I never knew what they were" department, we offer this structure at 388 Ahnaip Street. 

The Menasha Wooden Ware oil room was constructed sometime before 1891 as part of the Doty Island yard acquired in 1886. Included in the 85-acre purchase, the oil room was used for storage of products such as naptha and resins later mixed and boiled, probably as a wood preservative. The Doty Island yard, which stretched across Washington Street to the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, was laid out on slough land covered over by sawdust, shavings, and waste from the pail factory. The grounds were surrounded by a high board fence, securing hundreds of four footstock piles and iron-clad storage sheds. These facilities, joined to the mills by a wooden bridge across the river, contributed towards making Menasha Wooden Ware's local operations one of the largest manufacturing sites in Wisconsin. 

The yard was later sold to Marathon Corporation (now James River Corporation), upon which it built a carton plant and parking lot in 1947. The mills and offices associated with the Doty Island yard have since been destroyed.

The Menasha Wooden Ware Oil Room, was a significant facility in the preparation of lumber for barrels and tubs and is situated near the original terminous of the Lawson Canal.   The building is architecturally significant as one of a limited number of industrial structures in Menasha that have maintained integrity of site and structure.

Our thanks to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory Citation

Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory
Historic Name: Menasha Wooden Ware Oil Room
County: Winnebago
City: Menasha
Reference Number: 59524