Miss Menasha, 1928

 May 23, 1928, Menasha Record

May 25, 1928, Daily News-Times

Unfortunately, the hope and dreams of these young ladies and their supporters in Neenah and Menasha were dashed when Miss Janesville took the Miss Wisconsin crown, followed by runners-up from Fond du Lac and Oshkosh respectively.  But as they say, it's all in the game, and getting this far is often reward enough, not that winning it all wouldn't have been the better outcome.  Still, these representatives for the Twin Cities had their day in the sun.  Better luck next year!  (By the way, "pulchritude" is a fancy (and outdated) way of talking about how someone or something is good-looking.) 

Just a Day of Greater Gladness

May 12, 1922, Menasha Record

With Mother's Day yesterday, we visit 1922 and the good wishes the Bank of Menasha brings to mothers in Menasha and throughout the valley.  

Gilbert Employees

From May 8, 2013

This photograph was featured in Paper With a Presence, A Gilbert Century, published in 1987 to commemorate the centennial of the Gilbert Paper Company.  At the time of this photograph, Gilbert Paper was just 3 years old.   William Gilbert had been in business with George A. Whiting since 1881, but sold his interests in 1886 to found his own company a year later.

Aerial Menasha

From March 18, 2013

Continuing our series of aerial shots of our fair town, this postcard, taken from overhead near Jefferson Park reveals many landmarks, from the water utility on Broad Street and water tower on Second, to St. Mary's Church and High School, to downtown and many more.  If you know where to look, it's there.

George Banta

From June 25, 2012

From the Dictionary of Wisconsin biography:   

Born in Covington, Kentucky in 1857, George Banta graduated from Indiana University in 1876, and was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1878. He practiced law and sold insurance before moving to Wisconsin in 1884 as an agent for the Phenix Insurance Company of Brooklyn, New York.  After a brief residence in Madison, he moved to Menasha about 1885, staying in the insurance business until 1908, but after 1901 was primarily occupied with the George Banta Publishing Company, of which he remained president until his death. The company expanded rapidly and became one of the finest book publishing concerns in the state. In addition to book printing, the company specialized in the publications of learned societies and college fraternities, and, by 1930, it was printing some 130 periodicals. He served as alderman (1890-1891), and mayor (1892, 1895, 1902-1903) of Menasha.  An active businessman, he was president of the Central Paper Company of Menasha and a director of the First National Bank of Menasha. He died in 1935.

Menasha Lock

From June 28, 2012

The Menasha Lock is part of the historic Fox River lock system. Constructed between 1848 and the late 1870s, this system was once part of a twenty four lock system that connected the Great Lakes with ports on the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.  This hand-operated lock permits passage of boaters from Little Lake Butte des Morts to Lake Winnebago. In the early 20th century, Menasha and Neenah were among the world’s largest producers of paper. From the 1850s through the early 1900s, the steamboats, tugs, and freighters that passed through the Menasha lock fueled this industry, bringing in timber from the north and carrying paper to ports throughout the world. There is an unoccupied two story side gabled lock tender house at the lock site that is not on the National Historic Register.

The Menasha Lock has been operated continually from the 1850’s to the present. In the early 1970’s a major reconstruction occurred and steel gates were added. In 2004, the Fox River Navigational System Authority (FRNSA) was established by the State of Wisconsin to revive the system.

UPDATE:  The Menasha lock was closed in 2015 due to the discovery of the round goby, an invasive fish species populating the Great Lakes, and reopening any time before 2023 is uncertain at this time.

Jefferson Park and School

From May 21, 2012

I enjoyed our look back at ten years of the blog last week so much that I decided to extend the fun another week.  So, please enjoy these favorites from the blog's first year.

Jefferson Park was built in 1932 and 1933 as a project of the Works Project Administration.  Jefferson Elementary School, at the intersection of Second and Ice Streets, is adjacent to the park in the background of this photograph.  Completed in 1931 at a cost of $125,000, it had been built at the behest of the City Council in order to provide local employment during the Great Depression.  Its unusual styling is categorized as Tudor/Elizabethan revival.