"...with the best interests of Menasha at heart"

The Menasha Record was published in our fair town until 1949.  Mr. Clough was editor for the last 46 years of the paper's existence before becoming Menasha City Clerk forthe next  6 1/2 years after the paper's sale.  In 1949, the paper merged with The Neenah Daily News-Times to become the Twin City News-Record, as evidenced by this article from the Manitowoc Herald Times of September 22, 1949:

 

Pay attention to the final paragraph of the above article.  While this is the viewpoint of a Manitowoc editor about the Twin Cities, it's remarkable how perceptive the author is.  He knew what a lot of Neenah and Menasha residents and politicians were already thinking, and predicted the outcome of the future votes on consolidation of the two cities.   

Long Bridge at Night

The Mill Street bridge gets the colorized postcard treatment in this view from an earlier time. 

The Flambeau 400

The Chicago and North Western's most famous train, the Twin Cities 400, was introduced in 1935 to compete with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy's Zephyrs and the Milwaukee Road's Hiawathas. This train was named because it traveled the 400 miles between Chicago and Minneapolis/St. Paul in 400 minutes.

The Flambeau 400 was devised to transport the new American middle class in the Chicago area to their leisure time in northern Wisconsin. Starting in 1935, the earlier trains were called "The Flambeau," which operated on basically the same tracks as later trains did, except it skipped Green Bay and ran through Hortonville to Eland, which by 1937 was switched to run through Green Bay. In July 1949 the Flambeau was integrated with the Shoreland 400 and the Valley 400.  Between Chicago and Green Bay they were one train, past Green Bay they would be independent trains. Therefore the northbound trains would go via Fond du Lac, and southbound would go via Manitowoc.

Then starting in 1950 it received the new name, Flambeau 400, drawing its name from the Twin Cities 400.   For many years, it saw heavy tourist traffic, but by May 1968, it was losing thousands of dollars for the line.  The last Flambeau rolled out of the north woods on January 5, 1971.  Amtrak did not include Green Bay and Ashland in its initial route structure and the service ended for good on May 1, 1971, thereby ending passenger service to Neenah-Menasha as well.

a 1968 timetable shows the daily service to Neenah-Menasha

Let's All Go to the Drive-In

 

This 1981 photo looking south shows US 41 on the left and Pierce Manufacturing at the bottom of the photo. 

What finally killed the outdoor theater?  Attendance was already declining by the 1970s and the advent of the VCR and the influx of cable TV certainly didn't help matters any.  Over time, the economics of real estate had made the large property areas increasingly expensive for drive-ins to operate successfully. Land became far too valuable for businesses such as drive-ins, which in most cases were summer-only. Widespread adoption of daylight saving time made the shows start an hour later and they were subject to the whim of nature as inclement weather often caused cancellations. 

So drive-ins began to be less family oriented in a vain attempt at making sales.  New gimmicks like horror and shock programs and more adult fare filled the screens.  The last showing at the 41 Outdoor was on Sunday, September 25, 1983 and it ran a triple feature of Female Butcher, Body Snatchers From Hell, and Bloody Pit of Horror.  It was a far cry from this program in August of 1974:

Get In the Whirl

Another in our "fun in the summer" photos from days past.  If it wasn't Davy Crockett caps, it was hula hoops.  The 1950s certainly had its share of fads.  This September,1958 photo shows a hula hoop contest at the Valley Fair parking lot.

 

September 26, 1958 Appleton Post-Crescent

 

...and lots of places to buy that special hoop for the contest....

 

 

 

Wittmann's Funland

As we approach the end of summer, I can't help but remember summers past and all the fun we had at this place.  One of my fondest memories is cajoling my big brother, who was then on leave from the Air Force, to take me to this place when I was a small boy.  What more fun could I have had- having my boyhood hero all to myself for an afternoon at the greatest entertainment venue this seven year old had ever seen!  This photo from around 1965 is just as I remember it.

The Public's Morals Must be Protected!

July 20, 1932 Oshkosh Northwestern

 

Perhaps a bit late as we commemorate the end of summer, but we take notice of this ban on bathing attire in 1932.   I don't think Menasha was a pacesetter in the world of racy fashions, but the city fathers weren't taking any chances back then!  (Not sure what a "bandana costume" is.) 

I'm sure they were more comfortable with this, from years earlier, even though a portion of the public most likely thought this was scandalous at the time: