A CN container train approaches Pioneer Dr. and crosses the Fox River via the CN bascule bridge as it heads southwest via former C&NW rails at Oshkosh, WI on 11 May '19. Train had two locomotives, CN 8856 and CN 5695. The bridge was completed in Aug. '13 to replace the 1899 swing bridge. 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. 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. 1993. It is currently home to the Oshkosh-area United Way, et al. |