| A CN local parallels Hwy. MM as it prepares to switch the Shawano Paper Mill (div. of Little Rapids Corp.), W7575 Poplar Rd., Shawano, WI, 54166 (physically located in Town of Richmond) via former C&NW rails at West Shawano, Town of Richmond, Shawano Co., WI, on 19 Sep. '20. Founded as the Wolf River Paper & Fiber Co. on 7 Feb. 1894, the name was changed to Shawano Paper Mills ca. Nov. ‘49. The facility was leased to Little Rapids Pulp Co. (later Little Rapids Corp.) in Feb. ’50, they purchased the facility on 25 Jun. ’55. The name changed to Little Rapids Corp.-Shawano Mill in ‘93, but it is still commonly referred to as Shawano Paper Mill. The area around the mill, which includes some former company houses, used to be referred to as West Shawano. It was labelled as such in the '11 county atlas (Upham & Russell Cos. Plat and Riverview Addition), the '20 township map, and the name still appears on some official property records. The paper mill stands along an approximately 2-mile scrap of the former C&NW mainline which once ran 83 miles from Green Bay to Wausau (this is the only active remnant outside of those two cities). That former main line is now the Mountain-Bay State Trail. It is an awesome bicycle ride, but I (obviously) would prefer to see trains running on it. The fence in the background surrounds the paper mill's water treatment facility, which was built upon the former site of the Shawano Brick Yard (a.k.a. Larson Brick Yard). The brick yard (owned by Charles Larson, and later his son Thomas, for most, if not all, of its existence) produced fine white or cream colored brick from 1891 until 1946. The large facility contained three kilns and its own narrow gauge railway. The paper mill purchased the property at some point after the brick yard closed and eventually demolished the entire facility, to include the Larson mansion. The paper mill's historic office building was constructed in 1901 of brick from that yard. |