Trolley Surprise

May 15, 1912, Menasha Record

Conducted either in the interests of time or, perhaps, novelty, comes this innovative idea for a prospective bride.  One wonders about the reactions of the other riders at the sight of this celebration.  Considering the decidedly stricter mores of the time, one hopes that they were convivial.

A Grand Musical Tour

May 15, 1978, Twin City News-Record

Spring is a good time for the schools to allow their students to let their hair down, so to speak, and unleash originality and creativity for the public's consumption.  I'm sure there were many proud parents and relatives in the audence when this crew crooned for their families from the St.John stage.

The Winner

March 30, 1961, Twin City News-Record

After commenting on the third place winner of this contest yesterday, I felt compelled to include the overall first place winner.  More good sentiments towards making a better Menasha.  

Words to Ponder

May 2, 1961, Twin City News-Record

Please take a few minutes and read the essay above from the "How to Make Menasha a Better Place in Which to Live" contest.  It reads as if it could have been written today...or at any time during the last 62 years!  I bring this up, not to criticize the city, but rather to show that things do not necessarily change, despite calls for it, year after year.  It reminds me of that old trope about the writer saying that: “Children; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. They no longer rise when elders enter the room, they contradict their parents and tyrannize their teachers. Children are now tyrants.”   And then it is revealed that it was written by Socrates in 470 BC.  I think my generation was branded with similar comments in the 60's and 70's as well.

Whatever your views on Menasha are, it will always be a work in progress, just like any other city.  And no amount of griping or Neenah envy will help make it better.  With the city's sesquicentennial right around the corner, we would do well to take stock of what is good about Menasha and build upon that foundation and take pride in what we have achieved over the last 150 years.

Southpaw Pitcher

The 1952 baseball card for Dave Koslo.  We've talked about Dave in past blog posts, how he is the namesake of the Menasha ballpark and how he worked with my father later in his way too brief life at Banta's.  And as with many big leaguers of his time, he lost three years of his professional baseball career while serving in World War II as a paratrooper stationed in France.  Though his career ended before I was even born, I still knew of and about him my entire life.  Dave ended his career in 1955 played for the then-Milwaukee Braves. 

Some notable facts about Dave Koslo:  On April 18, 1947,he gave up Jackie Robinson's first major league home run, hit in the third inning.  

He was the National League ERA champion in 1949 with New York. 

He was the winning pitcher in the opening game of the 1951 World Series and the losing pitcher of its final game.

For his career, he compiled a 92–107 record in 348 appearances, with a 3.68 ERA and 606 strikeouts.

A Tale of a Pail

 

We've covered a lot of this in previous posts, but the above is a 1931 trade ad for pails manufactured by the Menasha Wooden Ware.  Pails were made until the late 1950s, and the Wooden Ware eventually became the Menasha Corporation.  Pails and kegs and other wooden storage containers went the way of the dinosaur as the industry discovered new ways to do shipping, in particular, the corrugated carton.  This linked post from 2012 shows the group of men who were, indeed, the last of the pail makers:  https://menashabook.blogspot.com/2012/07/last-of-pail-makers.html

May Day

 May 2, 1967, Twin City News-Record

While I don't understand the reference to Jim Deach, a DJ at WNAM, I can appreciate the May Pole on this, the first day of the month of May.  Perhaps Mr. Deach questioned the Fox Valley as to whether this activity happened anymore?