Property Record
388 AHNAIP ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Menasha Wooden Ware Oil Room |
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| Other Name: | |
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| Reference Number: | 59524 |
| Location (Address): | 388 AHNAIP ST |
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| County: | Winnebago |
| City: | Menasha |
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| Year Built: | 1890 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 20092019 |
| Historic Use: | warehouse |
| Architectural Style: | Astylistic Utilitarian Building |
| Structural System: | Wood Beam |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | N |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | The Menasha Wooden Ware Oil Room was constructed sometime before 1891 as part of the Doty Island Yard acquired in 1886. Included in the 85-acre purchase the oil room was used for storage of products such as naptha and resins later mixed and boiled, probably as a wood preservative. The Doty Island Yard, which stretched across Washington Street to the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, was laid out on slough land covered over by sawdust, shavings, and waste from the pail factory. The grounds werre surrounded by a high board fence, securing hundreds of four footstock piles and iron-clad storage sheds. Thee facilities, joined to the mills by a wooden bridge across the river, contributed towards making Menasha Wooden Ware's local operations one of the largest manufacturing sites in Wisconsin. The yard was later sold to Marathon Corporation (now James River Corporation), upon which it built a carton plant and parking lot in 1947. The mills and offices associated with the Doty Island yard have also been destroyed, mostly by fires as recent as 1964. The Menasha Wooden Ware Oil Room, was a significant facility in the preparation of lumber for barrels and tubs, and it is the only surviving structure form this company's vast manufacturing operation. The Menasha Wooden Ware Oil Room is situated near the original terminous of the Lawson Canal, directly adjacent to the John Reimer house. The building is an astylistic industrial structure with a rectangular plan and shed roof. The roofing material is metal, the walls are brick, and the foundations are stone. Decorative features are limited to cornice corbeling and corbeled brick ribs suggesting pilasters. The Menasha Wooden Ware Oil Room is architecturally significant as one of a limited number of industrial structures in Menasha that have maintained integrity of site and structure. Others, such as tthe adjacent Gilbert Paper Mills, are physically more prominent but have undergone numerous alterations and additions, transforming their original massing, features, and functions. 2009--No apparent changes have been made to this building since last surveyed in 1988. |
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| Bibliographic References: | A. Sanborn Perris Maps; Menasha, Wisconsin; 1891 and 1895. Shattuck, S.F. A History of Neenah. George Banta Publishing Company, 1958. Menasha, Wisconsin. Page 329. B. Glaab, Charles N. and Larsen, Lawrence H. Factories int eh Valley. State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1969. Madison, Wisconsin. page 178. C. Shattuck S.F. A History of Neenah. George Banta Publishing Company, 1958. Neenah, Wisconsin. page 322. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |