| CW 4037 was part of the consist of a CN through freight paralleling Union St. while heading south at the north end of the former SOO yard at Neenah, WI on 1 May '19. The Neenah Cheese & Cold Storage Co. facility, 434 Sherry St., stands beyond the train. It was built in 1902 after the original building was destroyed in a fire. The original 2-story brick building was constructed by Nicholas Simon in 1892, a 3rd story was added later. It was home to his N. Simon & Co., a cheese maker as well as wholesaler of butter, cheese and eggs, until he moved his company to Appleton, WI, ca. 1900. He was well-known both for the quality of his cheese as well as for making several gigantic cheeses. His largest weighed 12,361 lbs., was 8’ in diameter and 5’ thick, which he created on 15 Aug. ’11 at Appleton, WI, to be exhibited at the National Dairy Show held in Chicago later that year. By the 1950s the facility was home to the L. D. Schreiber & Co. refrigerated warehouse. A 2-story section at the rear of the building was demolished at some point. It appears to be used for storage now, and has been for quite a while. The historic Murer House, 432 Sherry St., is partially visible beyond that. It was built by Felix Murer in 1892 and is currently home to Sherry Town Station. The WC (later SOO) depot stood on the opposite side of Sherry St. from those two buildings; it was built on the north side of Sherry St. on the east side of the tracks in 1891. It replaced the ca. 1871 depot that stood at the west end of Wisconsin Ave. The Sherry St. depot was demolished ca. 1955 when a new depot was built between Main St. and N. Lake St. on the west leg of the wye, about 850 ft. to the northwest. The area between the tracks and Union St., from Main St. to Monroe St., used to be the yard. I don't know when the current, significantly larger yard (extending southwestward from Winneconne Ave.) was built, but a map from 1909 shows the yard here. |