| CN local shoves past the idled Whiting Paper Co., 100 River St., via former C&NW rails at Menasha, WI on 24 Sep. '17. The paper machines were shut down on 30 Mar. '16 after 134 years of providing quality paper products and living-wage jobs. Originally the Whiting and Gilbert paper mill, it was built along the Fox River Navigation Canal on the site of an abandoned dry dock in 1882 (1881). The company was a partnership of George A. Whiting and Theodore and William Gilbert. It became the George A. Whiting Paper Mills in ‘86, after he bought out the Gilbert brothers. The name was changed to George A. Whiting Paper Co. in ‘11. Much of the current facility was built after a devastating fire and explosion on 24 Aug. 1888. In Mar. '14, the 5th generation of the Whiting family sold the company to Tom Danz, who joined the company in 1999; the name was changed to Whiting Paper Co. When the closure was announced, he claimed the company could not maintain the sales volume needed to remain profitable. The mill produced matte board, scrapbooking and high-end art paper, and its unique Kona Paper, made from recycled burlap coffee bean bags. The George A. Whiting Airport, at the intersection of Airport Rd. and Appleton Rd. in Menasha, WI, was named in his honor because he donated $5,000 to construct the facility ca. the '20s. Reportedly, it was "Wisconsin’s finest and busiest airport" in the '30s. When the government decreed that there could be only 1 airmail port per county, they chose the airfield at Oshkosh, WI and the George A. Whiting Airport soon faded into history (except for the hanger, currently home to Kitz & Pfeil True Value Hardware). Train was preparing to head back to the former SOO yard in Neenah after servicing several industries in the Twin Cities of Menasha and Neenah. Locals have to complete some interesting maneuvers to service industries on this small island as well as the adjacent Doty Island since most of the former C&NW rails were pulled up in Neenah and Menasha. |