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For over 150 years, Menasha
Corporation has celebrated great success because of their unfailing
foresight and courage to develop new products, expand into new markets, and
step beyond traditional thinking.
1849 The Humble Beginnings of a
Pail Factory
Companies in many different industries were searching
for safe, efficient ways to transport their product from their
manufacturing or processing site to their customers. To meet these needs,
a small wooden pail factory is founded in Menasha,
Wisconsin.
1852 Welcome
Elisha Smith
Elisha Smith purchases the then-struggling Pail
Factory for $1,200 and runs it himself. He operates the machinery and
delivers products by horse-drawn wagon. The business grows to the point
where he hires his first employees, and sells products as far away as
Chicago.
1861 The Civil
War
The Pail Factory expands through the Civil War, supplying pails
and other wooden storage and shipping containers to the Union forces.
The Pail Factory becomes the largest woodenware factory in Wisconsin
and produces 900 barrels, 300 wash tubs, 2400 butter tubs, 300
washboards and 300 boxes of clothespins a
day.
1872 Menasha Wooden Ware
is Incorporated
The business is incorporated under the name
Menasha Wooden Ware and is now the largest woodenware manufacturer in the
Midwest, and perhaps even the United States. It employs 250 people and
continues to make pails, tubs, churns, measures, clothespins, and other
wooden products.
1899 Elisha
Smith Dies
Elisha D. Smith dies at age 72 after a brief battle
with cancer. Being one of the city’s few original settlers and the city’s
greatest benefactor, Menasha’s residents do not take the news lightly.
Flags are flown at half mast, buildings are draped in black and businesses
close their doors for the funeral. At the time of his death, the name
Menasha Wooden Ware is known across the United States.
1927 Menasha Enters the Corrugated
Business
Corrugated board had been developed in the 1870s when
the machine that produces corrugating medium (the squiggly center of the
board) was invented. By the 1920s, the use of corrugated containers by
shippers of consumer and industrial products is increasing. Recognizing
opportunity, Menasha sets up a corrugated box plant and has been producing
corrugated containers ever since.
1939 Menasha Acquires Michigan Paper Mill
Menasha
acquires a 60 percent interest in a paper mill on the Kalamazoo River in
Otsego, Michigan. The mill continues with Menasha today, and is the
company’s single largest manufacturing facility, producing corrugating
medium from wood and waste paper.
1948 Linerboard Mill is Acquired
Menasha and four
other box companies from the Neenah/Menasha, Wisconsin area jointly
acquire the John Strange Paper Company of Menasha, Wisconsin, which
operated a linerboard mill built in 1888.
1961 A Paper Mill is Built in North Bend, Oregon
A
paper mill is built in North Bend, Oregon, and eventually becomes one of
the top performing mills in the world.
1962 Name is
Changed
Menasha Wooden Ware Corporation changes its name and
becomes Menasha Corporation.
1963 MENASHA Opens a
Corrugated Box Plant
MENASHA opens a corrugated box plant in
Medina, Ohio.
1964 Box Plant is
Destroyed by Fire
A railroad employee, using an acetylene torch
to repair the track on a wooden trestle next to MENASHA’s box plant,
inadvertently sets fire to the trestle. The blaze is brought under
control, but when the glowing embers are struck with a stiff breeze, the
fire engulfs the building, destroying it.
1966 A New Box Plant Opens
A new corrugated
container plant is built in Neenah, Wisconsin, replacing the burned plant.
With the improved plant layout and equipment, operations become more
efficient.
1966 Menasha Corporation Acquires Twin Cities
Container Corporation
In
partnership with Green Bay Packaging, Inc., Menasha Corporation acquires
Twin Cities Container Corporation of Coloma, Michigan.
1969 Full Ownership is Acquired of John Strange Paper
Company
MENASHA gains full ownership of the John Strange Paper
Company, which includes a paper mill and a solid fibre container
plant.
1969 A Corrugated Sheet Plant is
Acquired
A corrugated sheet plant in Medina, Ohio, is
acquired.
1970 A Box Plant in
Lakeville Begins Operations
A newly constructed box plant at
Lakeville, Minnesota, begins operations.
1972 A Box Plant in Hartford is Acquired
The corporation acquires a
box plant in Hartford, Wisconsin. Producing corrugated containers, this
plant specializes in printing color and graphics on its boxes for product merchandising
applications.
1974 MENASHA Acquires
Crown Corrugated Containers
MENASHA acquires Crown Corrugated
Containers of Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
1984 A Corrugated Box Plant is Built
A corrugated
box plant is built in Olive Branch, Mississippi.
1989 Colonial Container is Acquired
Colonial
Container Company, a producer of corrugated containers in Green Lake,
Wisconsin, is acquired.
1991 North
Star Container is Acquired
MENASHA acquires North Star
Container, Inc., a box plant in Brooklyn Park,
Minnesota.
1994 MENASHA Increases
Focus on Point-of-Purchase Displays
MENASHA increases its
point-of-purchase display sales and correspondingly dedicates a plant to
the design and construction of product merchandising
products.
1995 Mid South Packaging and
Southwest Container are Acquired
In separate transactions, two
corrugated box businesses--Mid South Packaging of Cullman, Alabama, and
Southwest Container Corporation of Phoenix, Arizona--are
acquired.
1996 Middlefield Container
Corporation is Acquired
MENASHA acquires Middlefield Container
Corporation of Middlefield, Ohio.
2000 Package Products, Inc.
Acquired
MENASHA acquires Package
Products, Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Package Products is a
packaging/folding carton supplier to the supermarket in-store bakery/deli
market. Their SUNBRITETM brand of products is well established and sold
throughout North America.
2000 Pennsylvania Container Corporation
Acquired
MENASHA acquires Pennsylvania Container Corporation of
Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Container produces corrugated boards,
sheets, and containers.
2002 Triangle Container is Acquired
MENASHA acquires Triangle
Container, a display and packaging company headquartered in Philadelphia,
PA. Their patented Pack ‘N’ StackTM line of modular display containers
is widely used throughout the confectionery industry.
2003 United Packaging is Acquired
MENASHA acquires
United Packaging, a display company headquartered in Schaumburg, IL.
TODAY
MENASHA maintains 20 facilities in 13 states and
continues to be recognized as a leader in packaging quality and
innovation. |
