Postcards From The Past Menomonie Preview

Greetings,

I love imagining how places looked in the past. As I walk down the street I try to picture what I’d have been looking at if I was standing in that same spot a century or 50 years ago.

My approach to taking the pictures for this book was to stand in exactly the same spot where the original photographer had stood whenthe first picture was taken. Being off by even a few feet meant that I couldn’t match the images precisely.

Sometimes finding the spot to stand was easy. It’s hard to get it wrong when recreating the pictures taken from the UW-Stout bell tower. Other times, finding the precise location was a challenge, thanks to changes in the terrain, roadways and lack of existing landmarks.

The popularity of picture postcards, beginning in the early 1900s, has left us with a wonderful record of life over the past dozen decades. Postcard photographers weren’t after artist shots. Their goal was to capture images of contemporary, day-to-day, public life. “This is what I saw today” was a common thought written on the back of these photographic time capsules.

I came across a couple of postcards of Lambs Creek Falls, but hadn’t heard of it before. That seemed odd since it’s such a beautiful and obviously popular place. And waterfalls aren’t torn down like old buildings. The falls is still there, next to Jake’s Supper Club, north of Menomonie, but because of the dam it’s now 20 feet under water. Look closely and you can see a vehicle crossing the bridge that’s there today.

The address was on the card and the same address is today prominently displayed on the professional building behind Taco Bell. The words in the panel were originally on the back of the postcard. I love that the card was published by the company supplying the motel with Pulse-A-Rythm Massaging Mattresses.

Wakanda Park is still a popular summer recreation spot. Because the water levels have changed since the older picture was taken, I couldn’t shoot it from exactly the same spot without being in the water.

Some long-time residents told me this motel was located just north of Sanna Park, but it wasn’t until I noticed the row of trees, especially the pair of pines above the auto parts store, that I was convinced I had the right spot. The words in the panel are from the back of the postcard.

The Broadway bridge appears to still have the same footings, but there’s a whole lot more water under it today. The orange buoys mark the location of the original bridge. Is any of this scene still there, under the water?

Determining the date of this scene was easy, since the postmark ended up on the front of the card. This would have been the second of the two bridges needed if you were heading north on Broadway. The dam that creates Lake Menomin is at the confluence of Wilson Creek and the Red Cedar River and there was originally a separate bridge for each.

The square church tower on the far right was my clue as to where I needed to stand to recapture this scene. Coincidentally, I had to stand in front of the current boat house to take the picture showing where the old boat house used to be. The tower in the center of the 1940s photo is the former court house. The storm water outlet along the left bank is still there, but is now hidden by trees.

This is the view as you drive south on Hwy 25 (Broadway) towards downtown Menomonie, just after the Broadway Bridge.

Figuring out where the original photographer stood and actually being able to see the scene from that location today are two distinctly different problems. Today’s view of the Broadway bridge had to be shot after the ice melted but before leaves obscured the entire scene. Only one building still remains from the original picture. Can you find it?

The current, larger dam sits a little down river from the original dam. Today’s Broadway Street bridge goes right over the site of the old mill. A portion of its foundation is still visible at the end of the lake access road (which was Broadway until the new bridge was built).

This is the scene looking north from Wilson Place, then and now. The view of the magnificent house was much more picturesque than the view from the house; residents long ago looked out at the mills and industrial part of the city.

Wilson Place, as it’s known today, has had several major face lifts over the years. It was the home of lumber baron William Wilson and later
James Huff Stout, lumberman, senator and founder of what is today the University of Wisconsin-Stout. His nephew, George La Pointe Jr. and his wite Irene La Pointe, transformed it into the height of 1930's style.

Determining the exact location where the photographer stood to take this picture was a challenge. I reshot it four times before I got the angle correct. Finally I found the spot, along the top of an overlook across the lake, but the trees on the overlook have grown so tall that the view is now obscured. I had to take the new photo at water level. Fortunately, because of the distance, it is still a pretty close match.

Downtown Menomonie can be a busy with pedestrials and vehicles. Please drive carefully, and look for a safe place to stop to enjoy the sites.

The Historic Downtown section of the tour is very walkable!

If you'd like to stroll the downtown section of the tour, your can park:

• On the street. Metered parking is free when a blue bag covers the meter.
• In Municipal Lot 6 on the corner of Hwy 25 (Broadway St.) and 6th Ave. It's across from the Raw Deal.
• In Municipal Lot 10 on Main St. just off Hwy 25. Across Main St. from Mike's Art and Design.

Unmetered street parking is available outside of the downtown area and around Wilson Park.

The Marion is still a distinctive structure, but it’s no longer a hotel nor does it house a cafe. Another postcard, picturing the Marion in the 1940s, has a sign above the side door advertising a bowling alley in the basement. The Marion, originally called the Hotel Royal was built in 1885.

The old Masonic Temple on the corner of Main and Broadway hasn’t changed much over the past century... at least not on the outside. Inside, it’s seen many different tenants and businesses over the years, including a restaurant, music store, photographer, dance studio, Christian ministry and theater group.

The door’s now a window and the window’s now a door. The actual Sanna Dairy processing factory was down along the river, where ConAgra is located today. I can’t help but wonder if the fire hydrant was moved to protect it from vehicles taking the corner too tight.

Looking north from the corner of Main and Broadway, there are a few recognizable store fronts on the right, but everything on the left has changed. At the time the “now” picture was taken in May 2015, a new, five-story, mixed-use apartment complex was under construction, seen far left in the top photo.

For many years a drug store occupied the corner across from the Mabel Tainter Memorial. That changed in 2014 when it was bought out and closed by a competing drug store chain.

At first, I wasn’t sure where this was, but when I noticed the buildings on the left, I suddenly knew where the photographer had stood; in the intersection of Main and Fourth streets, looking east and, like me 75 years later, looking out for the traffic. The banner across the street advertises the city’s centennial, setting the date of the photo as 1946.

From the front, little has changed since the Mabel Tainter Memorial opened in 1890. It no longer houses the library, but the theater is still in operation. An addition was added on the back side in 2007 as part of a major renovation, restoring it to its original splendor. Today the building is known as the Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts. Can you find the spelling error on the postcard?

The roof line along this block is the same today as it was in the 1950s. Only the building on the corner, however, still has the same business. Compare this 1950s photo to the 1940s photo on the previous page. Same block on Main Street, but it’s barely recognizable as the same place.

All too often, there are no traces left of the buildings or other landmarks in the original pictures, making it a challenge to line up the then and now photos precisely. Lynwood Hall, on Wilson Avenue near Third Street, and the Home Maker’s cottage, pictured on the next page, have both been replaced with parking lots.

This oft-seen 1890s photo of Main Street, looking west from the intersection of Fourth Street, began my quest to capture then and now pictures of Menomonie. I love how the signs help preserve history. The banner above the street says “Graven and Wilcox Boots & Shoes.”

Aside from the vehicles, a time traveler from the 1930s would have little difficulty recognizing this contemporary Main Street scene as being the same place.

The triangle building, as it’s commonly called, began as a shop for carving and selling tomb stones. The corner of Main Street and Crescent Avenue is still a busy intersection. Fortunately, the streets are no longer dirt (or mud, as the case may be).

The building on the left, with the flag, was a theater. It looks like a group of kids are checking out what’s playing. I took this picture early on a Sunday morning, before there was much traffic. Even at that, a driver in a pickup pulled up next to me, stopped, and scolded me for standing in the middle of the road without a bright yellow vest.

When the Dunn County Government Center was built on the block that was originally Wilson Park, the park was moved a block west to the site of the former court house. Today the county building and Wilson park are still next to each other, but they’ve switched places.

The original Dunn County Court House sat on the west side of what is today Wilson Park. The block with the current Dunn County Government Center was then the park, complete with a fountain and band shell. Are those the same pine trees in both pictures? Assuming that Seventh Street was widened over time, there’s a possibility they are.

The Home Maker’s cottage, on the corner of Ninth Avenue and Sixth Street, provided a setting for practical experience in home economics, a popular program at Stout. This postcard photo was taken by Louis Ehrhard, a prominent Menomonie photographer.

The changes to this block of the UW-Stout campus, across from today’s Harvey Hall, have been profound. The Dunn County Normal and Agricultural School (see page 18) was just down the street to the left.

Several of the buildings are the same, making it easy to match these photos. But most of the structures have long since vanished and change continues. Since the contemporary photo was taken, a couple of buildings along the lake front have been replaced with a large dental complex. Check out the difference in water levels of the lake.

The door being put in the Building Trades school was large enough that students could learn to build a house in the classroom and then move it out to a lot in town when finished. The building in the background was Central High School.

The Omaha train station, down the hill between UW-Stout’s service buildings and the river, in 2014 sat unused and unnoticed. Of the various pictures I’ve taken, this one frequently raised the question, “Where’s that?”

Riverside Park probably feels much the same as it did 60 years ago. One big difference, however, is the amount of vegetation along the river bank. If you look carefully at the new picture, you can glimpse the bridge, now concrete instead of steel, through the trees.

This picture was taken just downstream from Riverside Park, along the Red Cedar Recreation Trail. Present-day Bowman Hall took on a castle-like appearance a century ago because of the adjacent high school. Either the water is higher today or the right bank has eroded over time.

he Devil’s Punchbowl was originally called the falls of Paradise Valley. It’s unclear why such an originally idyllic name was changed.

It’s not known what time of year the 1915 picture was taken. The current picture was taken in late May, after a heavy rain. The falls still cascades when the snow is melting, but generally the water weeps out through the cracks in the wall, which can also be seen on the older photo. It’s obvious that it continues to erode back into the cliff.