| A CN local passes Arrowhead Park as it pulls up to clear the north leg of the wye so it can back onto the east leg of the wye at the north end of the former SOO yard at Neenah, WI, on 24 Apr. '20. The P. H. Glatfelter Co. paper mill was the backdrop for this scene for 135 years, the oldest part of the original mill was constructed in 1874. Glatfelter purchased the mill from Bergstrom Paper Co. in 1979. Bergstrom had purchased the mill, originally Winnebago Paper, in 1904. Glatfelter moved the jobs to Ohio in June 2006, the mill stood idle for about two years until it was torn down, demolition was completed in May 2009. I was standing where the paper mill's water treatment facility had been. The corporate headquarters of Plexus, 1 Plexus Way (at left), and an Ascension clinic (originally Affinity) at 101 Main St. (at right) occupy most of the site of the old paper mill. Some people think these new buildings look nice, I think they look like crap. I abhor modern, so-called, architecture. Neenah's newest, modern eyesore, the Gateway office building (also used by Plexus), is partially visible in the background, to the left of the Ascension clinic. After razing some more cool, old buildings, construction commenced on 4 May '16 and was completed about a year later. Some of Neenah's other, bland, unimaginative, modern buildings loom in the background. There is no room for historic buildings or classic architecture in Future Neenah. Arrowhead Park is a closed paper sludge landfill. Before the landfill was opened in the '50s, the waves at the south shore of Little Lake Butte des Morts lapped at these tracks. |