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Summary
National Tinsel & Toy Manufacturing Company
1133 S. 16th Street, Manitowoc, Manitowoc County
Architects: Earl Miller (1918); Edward R. Herman (1919 addition); William J. Raebner (1926 addition)
Date of Construction: 1918, 1919, 1926, 1927, c.1938-1956
The National Tinsel & Toy Manufacturing Company Building is a three-story brick building located on Manitowoc’s south side. It was constructed in phases, with the original portion completed in 1918 as a factory for the Tinsel Manufacturing Company, a Christmas tree ornament manufacturing concern owned by entrepreneur William C. Protz after he bought the Stolze Manufacturing Company, specializing in the same product, from founder Henry Stolze Jr. Protz went on to purchase the National Toy Manufacturing Company of Milwaukee, merging it with the Tinsel Manufacturing Company to create the National Tinsel & Toy Manufacturing Company in 1920. In 1923, he renamed the enterprise National Tinsel Manufacturing Company. Christmas tree ornaments were manufactured at the building from its original construction in 1918 until 1998, by which time the company had become National Rennoc (operating under an arm called Santa’s Best).
The building conveys the early industrial, labor, and entrepreneurial history of Manitowoc and is associated with innovation within the Christmas tree ornament industry. During the early twentieth century, the company was a major local industry and employer of women. The enterprise emerged from the Stolze Manufacturing Company of Manitowoc, established in the late nineteenth century by German immigrant Henry Stolze, Jr. as one of the nation’s first Christmas tree ornament manufacturers outside the East Coast. Under subsequent owner William C. Protz, also a German immigrant, the company grew to become the largest of its kind in the nation and eventually the world by the beginning of World War II. The original 1918 portion of the building and its later additions (1919, 1926, 1927, and c. 1938-1956) together communicate the growth of the company, as mergers occurred and manufacturing activities evolved, under several generations of ownership by the Protz family who secured several ornament-related patents.
Property Details
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Designations
State & National Registers of Historic Places
The State Register and National Register recognize buildings, sites, districts, structures, and objects that are significant in national, state, or local history. The State Historic Preservation Office in conjunction with the National Park Service maintains the list for Wisconsin and makes the data available to the public for research and education.
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Children with Christmas Tree
1900
Three unidentified children sit in chairs in front of a Christmas tree. Two of the children hold dolls; the third holds a push toy. The tree is decorated with tinsel, glass ornaments, candles, and ...
Christmas Tree
December 1924
A tall, lighted Christmas tree stands in the dining room of the Herbert P. Brumder family residence, 2030 East Lafayette Place. Glass ornaments and tinsel decorate the tree, and there are toys arra...
Christmas Eve
1919
A tall Christmas tree with electric lights and tinsel garland stands in the dining room of the Herbert P. Brumder residence at 2030 East Lafayette Place. Toys have been placed on the floor in front...
Two Children Posing with Christmas Tree
Portrait of a boy and girl posed by a Christmas tree. The boy is sitting on a toy horse on the left and is wearing a military style hat and holding a toy gun. The girl is poing on the right standin...
