Menasha Historical Society

10/28/2026

An Old Army Trunk Tells Only Part of the Story

Some years ago, people from Oshkosh shared a rummage sale find that brought Harrison Smith into the spotlight at your Menasha Historical Society. It was a storage trunk filled with journals, letters, and photographs of a man who—without Newspapers.com and Ancestry.com—was assumed to have been a bachelor. Why else would no one keep his treasures?

As we respectfully began to replace the exhibit, online sources revealed the truth. Although apparently childless, Harrison Smith had married and, of all things, the son of Doctor Eli and Emma Smith, abandoned a trip to the South Pole in 1914. The expedition was led by Lieutenant Ernest Shackleton. In order to join the historic journey, Smith would have to become a British subject. This, of course, was a NO. Smith told the Neenah Daily Times that he would only plant the stars and stripes.

In 1915, Smith, a Princeton graduate Class of 1909, left his local job at Hardwood Products Company to take charge of its New York office. Later, he returned to the Midwest to takeover the operation of Neenah Shoe Company (begun in 1880s). In between, Smith served as a captain of the artillery in France during WWI.

In 1937, Smith married Verona Elsner. Now, Smith was the manager of Wisconsin Container Corporation (on 6th Street, purchased by Menasha Corp. in 1972). The Smiths lived at Cleveland then Keyes Streets on the Menasha side of Doty Island. At the time of his death, in April 1960, he had retired to Marathon, Florida.

His wife, Verona, was a well-known lecturer and home economist. She made her home on Keyes and died at the age of 105 at Oakridge Gardens Nursing Center in Menasha in 2006.

10/27/2026

Razing the Past

The Gollner saga began in 1925, at Gollner Grocery on Plank Road (later Ciske Brother’s Tavern and, until July 27, 1926, the Plank Road Pub). Herb and his brother, Edward, decided to build their super store at the crossroads of Third, Manitowoc Street, and Plank Road—Herb’s Food Town!

The new store was erected on the opposite side of Manitowoc Street at 746 Third Street, where Herbert Michael Gollner was born in 1897. A successful vote to rezone the property from residential to light industry was followed by the brothers initially being denied a b**r distribution license.

In 1959, when the food chains (Red Owl, A&P) had to pull their Western cranberries off of the shelf because of a weed-killing contaminate, Herb’s Food Town and the smaller family-owned stores survived the cranberry shortage because their berries came from Wisconsin.

When Herb retired in 1962, his son John took over the responsibilities. Logging in up to 70-hours a week, John’s store outlived many of the surrounding Mom-and-Pop operations. The neighborhood market offered food with choice-cut meats and household goods, such as pots and pans, basic sewing notions, health and beauty supplies and greeting cards.

But, in 1972, city officials voted to close three streets. This included Manitowoc Street, severing the artery between Third and Fourth Street to accommodate the expansion of Central Paper Company. John Gollner survived this death blow for a while; however, with counter attacks by changing consumer trends, government regulations and rising costs, he left the business in 1978.

For a time, Donald Jacobs operated Jacob’s Food Town. In the 2000s, the Nicolet building became home to the Menasha Knights of Columbus. Aside from their fantastic fish fries through the years, the Menasha Historical Society has had the pleasure of renting the Knights’ facility for our Christmas parties.

Menasha is grief stricken at the loss of the Knights of Columbus, Chef Fresh Pizza (?), Coonen’s, Manderfield’s, The Plank Road Pub, and Tony’s Tavern—all buildings suffering severely from the Tornado of 2026.

10/25/2026

The National Hotel was owned by Reuben Scott—erected between November 1868 and October 1870, and opened on Thanksgiving evening of 1870. It was 60 x 90 feet with a basement and three stories. Topped with a 16 x 24-foot observatory.

On October 23, 1901 the National Hotel—now the site of One Menasha and Faith Technologies—went up in flames. The fire was discovered around 3 A.M., starting in the basement and quickly consuming the rest of the hotel. George Reed, brother of Curtis Reed, leased the property. He and a porter aroused the occupants.

Elizabeth Smith, the 84-year-old sister of Elisha D. Smith (Menasha Wooden Ware), had a three-room suite on the second floor. She suffered from smoke inhalation and had to be carried from the building. Assistant Postmaster Charles Reed, son of Curtis Reed (city founder), was difficult to wake, as he was a deaf mute. And Menasha’s fire chief, John Zeininger, was hurt by falling bricks while trying to scale a wall.

The fire may have been started by an arsonist or an incendiary. Weeks earlier, a kerosene-soaked mattress had been discovered in the basement.

In September 1902, it was announced that a new hotel would be built by Chris Walter, Charles R. Smith of Menasha (son of Curtis Reed) and C.W. Howard of Neenah. The debris of the Old National Hotel was removed from the site in February 1903.

The new Menasha Hotel was built by Oshkosh architect William Waters between 1905-1906.

10/22/2026

The Loescher (Les-cher) Store once thrived on the corner on Main and Racine streets in Menasha. Today, it’s Club Liquor!

George Loescher moved his business here in 1908. There were renovations and additions made to the building between 1920-1922, including the brick store front and a 50 ft x 120 ft warehouse with upstairs apartments. This building was formally completed and open for renewed business on September 5, 1922.

The basement held equipment for heating and plumbing systems.

* For more about the Loeschers seach on the Menasha Historical Society FB Page.

10/22/2026

1903 Ordeal on Lake Winnebago

On September 28, 1903 some Menasha boys were thought drowned on Lake Winnebago.

Gambski brothers and cousins, between 15 and 23 years of age, left early Sunday in a sailboat for Calumet county to go fishing and gather hickory nuts along the wooded shore. A high wind was blowing from the northwest by Sunday afternoon. Competing newspapers stumbled over the names but the young men appear to have been John Gambski, John Fredrick Gambski, Frank Gambski and William Gambski . . . even the number of boys, three or four, may have been confusing because two of the young men were named John.

When search parties hunted the Calumet lakeshore, they did not find a trace. And as the gale persisted into Monday, it was feared that their boat had capsized.

Fortunately, by 5 o’clock on Monday, September 28, the boys returned home safely. But the story “Three Boys Lost in Lake” was still circulating in state newspapers through the Associated Press into early-October.

10/19/2026

Healy's Mid-Town Bowling Alley on Our Handmade Map

Bowling once was a target sport in Menasha. Today we are focusing on the Healey Mid-Town which stood at 352-354 Chute Street. The building was erected by Theodore Drucks around 1940, replacing the remnants of Wheeler Transfer & Storage and George Stein’s Printing office.

Ted Drucks laid the plans for a 10-lane bowling alley with some space reserved for the electric company. Frank DeMuese and John Healy started the Mid-Town Bowling Alleys. Then, Healey’s Mid-Town.

In later years, Howard and John Dachlete operated the business until 1973. Afterwards, the bowling alleys were called Gundi’s (1970-1980) and Butch & Di’s (1990s).

10/17/2026

Twin Schools

They were known as the “twin school houses” to some. A small brick school and the other a wood-frame school used to stand side by side on the corner of Tayco and Second streets in Menasha’s Second Ward. There was a passage between them.

Each building had a round black stove heated with wood, recalled Melanie (Martell) Resch in 1990. She wrote in her essay “A Backward Glance”:

In kindergarten . . . most of the time we sat cross-legged on the floor to listen to the teacher and for story time. My favorite was Three Billy Goats Gruff and the Troll.

The first grade had desks with seats fastened to boards which were moveable…I was lucky to sit in the rear near the stove. Our first-grade teacher was Miss Anna Lloyd. She was tall and thin, with iron gray hair worn in loops on her head. Her eyes were brown with a pleasant expression most of the time. She seldom raised her voice. We liked and respected her.

Mrs.Harry Resch believed the twin school houses were torn down in 1927 and replaced with Butte des Morts School—a bit farther north.

10/15/2026

This old stereoscope card provides insights about our early Menasha. To the far left is Old Ben (the legendary War of 1812 cannon), the National Hotel, the Fuss House (will have to look into that one), and a coffin maker on the corner. To the forefront: a planing mill for sashes and doors in front of the steamboat loanding where the first Racine Street Bridge stood. Thanks to Pete Krautkramer and Kathie Humski for identifying the elements in this picture. Photo taken by C.B. Manville in 1869 or 1870.

*For more about Old Ben search this site.

10/15/2026

Very sad to hear this, but wishing your business the best.

We have some big news to share about the future of Catch Fire Creations. ❤️

This isn't an easy post to write. Next month marks three years since we moved Catch Fire Creations into 230 Main Street, and after a lot of conversations, number crunching, and thinking about what we want the future of Catch Fire to look like, we have made the difficult decision that we won't be renewing our lease when it comes to an end. Our last day open at 230 Main Street will be Sunday, November 22nd.

Over these three years, we've learned a LOT. We've learned what works, what doesn't, and most importantly, what people love about Catch Fire Creations. We've watched the downtown businesses change around us, navigated some unexpected challenges along the way, and experienced many of the same pressures we've seen other small businesses face.

At the end of the day, our decision really comes down to the cost of keeping a permanent storefront open. We love having a place where someone can walk through the door, pick something off the shelf, sit down and create. If we could make the rent, utilities, and other operating costs work while keeping our projects affordable for the community, we'd stay in a heartbeat.

But we don't want the cost of a storefront to be the reason Catch Fire Creations ends either.

So it isn't ending. It's changing.

We're going to take the parts of Catch Fire Creations that we love and find new ways to bring them to you. We're planning to offer birthday party kits, host projects at local venues and community spaces, and bring our color station to craft fairs, markets, and other events. And as always, you'll be able to order projects through our website.

You'll still be able to create with Catch Fire Creations. You just won't always have to come to Main Street to do it.

For now, we're still here! We aren't ready to say goodbye to Main Street quite yet, and we'll have plenty more to share about what's happening between now and our final day.

Mostly, we wanted you to hear this directly from us and know that we're not walking away from Catch Fire Creations or from the idea we started with.

We're just finding a more affordable way to keep creating with you. ❤️

10/14/2026

BEFORE AND AFTER
An older drone picture of Smith Park allows us to compare it to the damage caused to the park on July 27, 2026. The before-and-after photos taken by Nick Jevne of the Menasha Historical Society provide us with a blueprint for recovery. *Be sure to read former mayor Don Merkes' message of hope in the body of this POST.