Hank's

May 21, 1983, Appleton Post-Crescent

May 1983 brought us this bio of a longtime Hank's bartender.  Hanks' had a long history but as of summer 2019, I know its time had come and gone and the building was vacant.  A little research reveals the structure was built in 1900 and had been a saloon of one sort or another since at least 1905.  In fact, the site is so historical that the Wisconsin Historical Society even had a listing for it.

Banta History

May 6, 1985, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

A great idea, if you ask me, to outline the history of the namesake of the school in which the play is actually being performed.  The photo and caption seem at odds with itself but I'm sure all was explained how the teenage Banta is shown with his later wife in the photo.  Perhaps Ms. Maring is playing a younger version of Ellen Banta and we just don't know it.  Still, it looked like an entertaining production.  Wonder if anybody videotaped it?

Deep Infrastructure

 May 23, 1979, Appleton Post-Crescent

Here's something you don't see, getting down and deep with bridge maintenance, featuring unusual views one often doesn't get to see.  Unlike the Racine Street and Tayco bridges, the Washington Street bridge likely comes in third in the hearts of Menasha minded people, though we'd suffer greatly without its span to help us along our way towards Neenah.  Oh, those plates and rivets...its like a Bachman-Turner Overdrive album cover, minus the gears. There he goes again, showing his age.  (Some of you will know what I'm referring to.)

What's Happening at the Valley

May 16, 1947, Menasha Record

More fun on the screen with the Three Stooges and an assortment of cartoons to entertain the kiddies.  Plus who wouldn't miss the chance to bring home a new member of the family to Mom and Dad!  Please, Mom, can't we keep him?!  

A Kindly Feeling

May 16, 1947, Menasha Record

Obviously, a slow news day at the Menasha Record but still, a nice human interest story to highlight a benevolent grandma who looked out for some nameless Boy Scouts.  But then, old ladies like this have been doing stuff like this since time immemorial.  Pennies, yes, but still, a nice gesture with her heart in the right place.

Whiting Fire

In light of the very recent Whiting Paper Mill fire, I invite you to the following link to remind yourself of some history of the mill:  https://menashabook.blogspot.com/2012/08/whiting-paper.html.  The mill was resident at this location since 1882 and in 1888, was the site of the most tragic disaster in Menasha history when a boiler exploded killing 16 and injuring countless others.  A simple search of the blog using the term "Whiting" will bring you even more in-depth information than I can provide here, to include the sad details of the explosion.  More than likely, you've already seen the fire pictures, so let's feature a happier time at the mill.   

Bobo's Bad Habit

Last week I featured a photo of the St. Mary's marching band from the 1968 Renard.  This photo comes from the same yearbook and it caught my attention because I was intimately familiar with the above subject, named Bobo by Sister Mary Evelyn, stalwart biology teacher for many years at the school.  Now, my experience with Bobo came some five years later during sophomore biology class.  During a lesson on the 206 bones in the human body, the fire alarm bell sounded and we all dutifully left the classroom and the school, assembling someplace down the line on the sidewalk, a good ways away from the school.  When we returned to the class and the lesson, Sister Evelyn opened the locker which housed Bobo and discovered Bobo with an unlit cigarette between his teeth.   Needless to say, Sister Evelyn was not pleased as the class erupted into the largest guffaw you could imagine.  And pleas for the culprit to expose himself went unheeded.  Thankfully, she didn't punish the whole class, but somehow restored a modicum of calm as she took the offending butt out of his teeth and went on with the lesson.  We never did find out who did it, and I often wondered what a better prank it would have been if it had been a lit cigarette that Bobo was smoking, though that might have put poor Sister Evelyn over the edge. With all the strictures of that parochial environment, one tended to take his joys in little things like that.  Someday, I'll tell you the tale of how one particular priest took exception of my classmate's singing before class "Lydia the Tattooed Lady," a song featured in the Marx Brothers' movie, "At the Circus."  Yup, I was the guy who had taught him the song, but I didn't get in trouble.  I mean, come on, in a place like that, you have to be aware of what you can get away with.