300 E Custer Ave / 221 E Nevada Ave

Summary

Waite Grass Carpet Company
300 East Custer Avenue / 221 East Nevada Avenue, Oshkosh, Winnebago County
Date of Construction: 1910

The two two-story 20th century industrial buildings that make up the Waite Grass Carpet Factory are located north of downtown Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Founded in 1905 by F.E. and O.T Waite, the company manufactured rugs and carpets from the native wire grass that grew in the marshes of the Fox River Basin, west and south of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The company flourished for over half a century before closing down its operations and selling the factory buildings.

For centuries, the wild marsh plant called wire grass (carex stricta) had no practical use. Even today it has little use outside of its positive environmental implications; however, for some fifty years it made up the raw material for an industry that gave work to thousands of people and delivered finished products around the world. It all began in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and it started with the making of twine. Wire grass grew abundantly near the City of Oshkosh and Midwest farmers had an endless need for binder twine.

The Waite Grass Carpet Company manufactured rugs and carpets of varying sizes and with various designs from woven wire grass. Wire grass was typically considered a useless plant that grew in marshy areas of Wisconsin and Minnesota until in the late-nineteenth century when enterprising individuals looked for ways to use this abundant resource. Despite alterations, the Waite Grass Carpet Company Factory is locally significant as a campus of two industrial buildings associated with the highly-localized grass matting industry in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

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