| CN 9530 passes the historic, but unfortunately idled, Whiting Paper Co., 100 River St., at Menasha, WI, on 10 Sep. '20. 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 1886, after he bought out the Gilbert brothers. The name was changed to George A. Whiting Paper Co. in 1911. Much of the current facility was built after a devastating fire and explosion on 24 Aug. 1888. The 5th generation of the Whiting family sold the company in Mar. '14; the name was changed to Whiting Paper Co. It did not last long under the new owner. 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. The George A. Whiting Airport soon faded into history, except for the hanger, currently home to Kitz & Pfeil Ace Hardware. These rails were laid by the WC ca. 1872-4 to form a connection from the C&NW main line to the M&N, which the WC leased effective 30 Nov. '73. According to History of the Wisconsin Central, 1941, this stretch was constructed after the lease, so probably that winter or early in 1874. However, a map of Menasha dated 1872 depicts a similar connecting track, but located farther east and connecting to the C&NW bridge. |