| A CN container train splits Broad St. and approaches Ceape Ave. as it heads northeast via former C&NW rails at Oshkosh, WI on 30 Apr. '18. Train had two locomotives, CN 2404 and CN 5425. The interesting and historic brick industrial facility at 32-36 Broad St., was erected by Oshkosh’s J. A. Day & Co. in 1870. The flour mill was built for George M. Wakefield, et al., to replace the earlier Oshkosh City Flouring Mills, which stood here until destroyed by fire on 17 May ‘70. That large, old, wooden flour mill (built in ‘56) had been purchased by A. S. Trow & Co. in ‘69 (Wakefield was a partner in that company). When the current facility was completed in ‘70, it became known as the Wakefield Mill, or Wakefield’s Mill, operated by the Wakefield Bros. It continued to be referred to as the Wakefield Mill until at least ‘95, operated by Woodford, Foote & Co. in ‘76, and then Foote Bros. & Co. from about ‘77 until ‘90. It operated as the Foote-Cornish Milling Co. from ‘91 until about the end of 1900. There was an adjacent grain elevator during some of its service as a flour mill. It was home to the Wisconsin Pulp Plaster Co. circa ‘04-‘07. The Baker Paper Co., founded in ‘99, moved into the facility in Aug. ‘14 and owned it until ca. ‘93. It is currently home to the Oshkosh-area United Way, et al. Numerous windows have been added or modified over the years and a partial fourth story was removed at some point after ‘19. In the foreground, a lonely reminder of when the north bank of the Fox River teemed with industry and commerce. I didn't know this section of track was still here, until a kindred railfan recently posted a photograph of it (thank you Richard H.). The 2013 bascule bridge over the Fox River, built to replace the 1899 swing bridge, is partially visible background right. |