Menasha riverfront. Parts of Whiting mill, all wooden and dried out, dated to 1880s.
Impossibly out of control when firefighters arrived
MENASHA, Wis.— A 134-year-old paper mill was destroyed like dry tinder by a massive fire overnight. There were believed to be no injuries. The mill had been abandoned since 2016. The Neenah-Menasha Fire Department was called about 7:30 p.m., Sunday, but the fast-moving fire was impossibly out of control. At dawn crews were still on site, watering down hot spots amid the ashes. The mill was on a strip of land between the Fox River Canal and the Fox River itself. The mill was built in1882 by George A Whiting and the Gilbert Brothers. Locally it was known as the Whiting Mill. The mill produced specialty products like papers for greeting cards and also construction paper. It was abandoned in 2016.
1888 carnage
The Whiting paper mill is remembered in Menasha history for an 1888 explosion that killed 16 people. The explosion occurred when firemen aimed cold water on a hot steel bleaching drum. The drum exploded. The dead included firemen and spectators. The mill was rebuilt.