DOWNTOWN! Part Three

The 100 Block of North Main Street

"Fish fowl flood Water lily mud My life"  ~Lorine Niedecker

If I were to say to you "the 100 block of North Main Street," would you know where I meant? Me neither. If I said, "the corner of Sherman Avenue and North Main," you might have a better idea, but you wouldn't know which of the four corners I was talking about. Neither would I. But if I said "the corner where the Lorine Niedecker poem is painted..." Aha! Then you'd know exactly where I was talking about. This photo, (above) looking south, shows the northern-most building on the 100 block of North Main Street, formerly Honey Bear's Tavern (as well as many others over the years!) And this begins the subject of Part Three of my DOWNTOWN! blog: The 100 block of North Main Street. The Lorine Niedecker mural is relatively new (as I write this). It's only been up for a few years. To the left (circular inset) is a photo taken back in the 1970s or 80s, before the poem was painted. And I believe -- correct me if my memory forsakes me -- but before that, there was a Pepsi ad painted on this wall which read, "Say Pepsi Please!" (Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?) The image to the right is computer generated, based on my memory, but I will certainly be on the lookout for an actual photo from that era. Currently this building houses The Filling Station Bar and Grill.

The East Side of the Street : the 100 block of North Main

Above is a 1960 view of the 100 block. On the extreme left of the photo, you can see the front of the building where the Loraine Niedecker poem is painted, the current Filling Station. Next to that, where the sign says "Eat" is The Eat-Mor, (I already made the joke elsewhere in this blog that "Mor" must've come later.) And of course the old Uptown Theater and the old Sears Store, both of which remained well into the 1970s.

Fun With Mouse-Overs #1

Mouse-overs are images that change when you roll your mouse over them. In this blog you will find several images that you can roll your mouse over and view Before and After shots of the same scene, 100 years apart. (This is about the only internet "trick" I can do.) (I'm over 50, dontchyaknow!) Those of you using them newfangled hand-held "Smarty Phones" I have no idea how these images work. I'm not part of the "Touch-Screen" generation yet... For now, use your mouse.

The west side of the 100 block of North Main today. Roll mouse over image to see similar view a century ago.

In this 2013 photo, above, you can still see part of The Filling Station to the extreme left, and the modern day Eat-Mor next to that, but this is mainly a view of the west side of the street, looking south towards the Municipal Building. Roll the mouse over this image to see a similar view over 100 years prior.

It's hard to imagine, sitting at the Eat-Mor, or The Filling Station, or Kit-Cho Japanese Restaurant, and hearing the clip-clop of horse hooves as they pull a wagon down the dirt road that was Main Street. Notice, in the rollover image, that this is a transitional-period photo with horse and wagon on the right side of the street, heading south, and one of them newfangled horseless carriages parked on the corner on the left side. Notice too that most of the stores and establishments had hitching posts out front, (someday soon to be replaced with parking meters.)

Fun With Mouse-Overs #2

Another 2013 photo from a slightly different angle. Roll mouse over this image for antiquated view.

Here's another fun set of "Now and Then" photos (above) of a slightly different angle of the 100 block of North Main Street, also looking south. See the taco truck on the right side of the bridge way down the street? Rollover this image to see similar view from a century ago.

Fun With Mouse-Overs #3

The former Wilson's store. The W above the two center windows was a Wilson's monogram.

Honestly, I don't know what the PR stands for on the balconies. (More as it develops...)

The southernmost building on the east side of the 100 block of North Main Street is shown above (I nearly got every direction in that sentence!) It was at one time the Wilson's store. Rollover this image for a view from 50 years earlier...

The rollover view of this building dates from around the late 1950s or early 1960s. The car in the photo is a 1959 Ford, so... that's what I'm basing my asumption on. Mannequins in the front display window of the building imply that this was a fashion store, but I'm unsure if it was Wilson's back then. Notice Arndt's Bakery where Kreuger Jewelry is now and behind Arndt's sign you can barely see the marquee of the old Uptown Theater. I can't quite make out what movie was playing, but maybe someday if I find a bigger photo I'll be able to read it.

And speaking of the taco wagon...

Prank photo of the Main Street Bridge taco wagon, late 1800s. 

You don't really believe there was a taco wagon on the Main Street Bridge in the 1800s, do you? Well, I had some people fooled... "But they didn't have Photoshop in 1899!" ~Anon.

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DOWNTOWN! Part Deux

North Main Street : The Other Side

Okay, we've covered the east side of North Main Street from Walgreens down to East Sherman Avenue. In case you missed it, click here: Downtown Part One. Now we're going to cross the street and look at the west side of North Main Street from Madison Avenue down to West Sherman Avenue.

Recognize this view? No? Roll your mouse over the photo to see what this view looks like today... go ahead.

The Lucien B Caswell Mansion
Where Walgreen's is now.

The above photo is an old tinted postcard from the early twentieth century. (Basically they only tinted the sky, but hey, postcards were only a penny back then. Whattaya want?) Anyway, the buildings shown are on the corner of N Main St and Madison Ave. Residents of a certain age would probably remember Gas Hut and Pizza Hut in place of those buildings, which are actually part of the old Cornish, Curtis and Greene factory complex. (Later to be known as The Creamery Package Company.) Imagine the photographer of this postcard standing in the parking lot of what is now Walgreen's, across the street from Good Year Tires, looking southwest. (Back then the photographer would have been standing on the side lawn of the Lucien B Caswell mansion, shown left.) Now imagine if the three story building in the middle left of the above photo was our very own McDonald's and anything beyond that was the Verlo Mattress Factory building. Better yet, roll your mouse over the image and you don't have to imagine any of this at all. Ah, the magic of the InterWeb.

Here's another view of the same complex of buildings, this time looking North. 
 Roll your mouse over the photo to see today's view.

The above photo shows the west side of N Main St, looking north. These are the same buildings shown in the top photo, as part of the huge Cornish, Curtis and Greene complex of factories that dominated the north end of town through the turn of the century. The farthest building in the photo above stands on the corner of N Main and Madison Ave. Today it is a vacant lot usually with a Verlo truck parked in it. Rollover this image to see the current view. (You won't see the Verlo truck. Not from this angle.)

Now, for those who are too young to remember the Cornish, Curtis and Greene Co. -- and that's probably everyone, since it ceased to exist around 1898 when it was bought by a Chicago firm called Creamery Package Company (here is a brief history courtesy of the Hoard Museum Website: Cornish, Curtis and Greene a.k.a Creamery Package Co.) -- basically the entire 200 block of N Main and part of the 100 block was all dedicated to the Cornish, Curtis and Greene/Creamery Package Company. They were manufacturers of dairy and farm equipment, including their own invention, a rectangular hand cranked butter churn, back in the late 1800s which revolutionized the dairy industry (see ad below).

1890s advertisement for Cornish Curtis & Greene dairy manufacturers

M. Levy's Dry Goods Store, where The Verlo Mattress Factory is now.

Actually, there was one building on the opposite end of the block at the turn of the century -- on the spot that is now the Creamery Package Building (Verlo) -- that was not originally part of Cornish, Curtis and Greene. It was a dry goods store on the northwest corner of N Main and W Sherman (back then it was known as Germany Street). This was M. Levy's Boston Bazaar (shown at right). That building came down in the 20s when they built the 5-Story Creamery Package Building.

The Creamery Package Company incorporates the Cornish, Curtis and Greene buildings into its operation, 1920s

Ah, now it's starting to look a little more recognizable (above) with the addition of the iconic Creamery Package Building, built in the 1920s. The Creamery Package Co was a Chicago-based outfit that bought Cornish, Curtis and Greene and incorporated their business and its Main Street buildings into its new Fort Atkinson operation. This was and remains the only 5-story building on Main Street in Fort Atkinson.

The buildings of Cornish, Curtis and Greene remained standing thru the 1960s and part of the 70s

"Hey Charlie! We just got a big siding contract!"

The Creamery Package Building was home to many companies throughout the years: The St Regis Paper Company, Badger Mills, The Hartel Corporation, VyMaC to name a few. In the 1970s, the older buildings of the Cornish, Curtis and Greene Co were razed and the arrival of McDonald's, Gas Hut, and Pizza Hut brought Fort into the fast-food and drive-through era. (I know, we already had Heth's and Mr Quick Drive Thru's, but a town becomes a real city when it has a McDonald's!) For awhile the Creamery Package Building stood vacant and fell into disrepair. At one point there were so many broken windows along its south side, the entire building was covered in aluminum siding (see left). It was through the efforts of the VyMaC Corporation and its then-president, the late David Young, that the 5-story "skyscraper" was brought back to life in the early years of the 21st century. Learn about the history and refurbishment of Fort Atkinson's only "skyscraper" at the excellent VyMaC site: http://www.creamerybuilding.com.

Today

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