| A CN local parallels River St. and the Fox River Navigation Canal after servicing U.S. Paper Mills Corp. (out-of-frame to the left) at Menasha, WI, on 27 Dec. '18. I’m not sure who these rails originally belonged to, the MILW, SOO, and C&NW all had access to this small industrial island for many years. This portion of what is now River St. used to be Canal St. The former historically ran parallel near the southern side of this island, along the North Branch (Menasha Branch) of the Fox River. The latter ran parallel along the northern side of this island, along the Fox River Navigation Canal. At some point in the late 1990s or early 2000s, part of River St. was vacated to facilitate expansion of what is now TC Transcontinental, Inc. (part of that expansion can be seen beyond the locomotive). That facility was originally home to the Menasha Printing & Carton Company, formed in 1917 through the merger of two older, neighboring companies, the Menasha Printing Co. and the Menasha Carton Co. Acquired by Marathon Paper (later Marathon Corp.) in '27, it became the Marathon Div. of American Can Co. in '57. James River Corp. acquired American Can in '82. At some point it was acquired by Bemis Co., who sold it to Exopack Holding Corp. (Sun Capital Partners, Inc.) in '10. At some point it became Coveris, until its purchase by TC Transcontinental, Inc. in '18. The remaining portions of the two streets were combined to form the current River St. Simply Incredible Foods, 198 River St., Menasha, WI, as well as the former joint MILW/SOO swing bridge over the canal, can be seen at right. Simply Incredible Foods purchased the defunct Menasha Municipal Utilities (Menasha Utilities) plant in Jun. '14. Some ground-hugging steam generated by the facility adds some interest to the scene on this already overcast day (obviously, some viewers may not share my assessment of and enthusiasm for the scene). |