| A CN local momentarily fouls De Pere St. (the current street signs have been lazily bastardized to Depere St.) as it services Intertape Polymer Group (IPG), 741 4th St., Menasha, WI, via former SOO rails at Menasha, WI on 6 May '18. Founded in Menasha in Dec. 1917 as George Banta Paper Co., an affiliate of the George Banta Publishing Co. They merged with Menasha’s Gebrick Paper Co. in ’19 and continued under the Banta name. The name was changed to Central Paper Products Co. (later shortened to Central Paper Co.) ca. Sep. ’20, about the same time they moved to their new location at 422 Manitowoc St., on the north side of the joint MILW/SOO railroad tracks. It’s the same facility, but the addressed changed when a portion of Manitowoc St. was vacated to allow westward expansion ca. ’76-’80. George Banta, Sr. continued on as President; George, Jr., assumed the role in ’35 after his father passed away. The facility was acquired by Alco Standard Corp., based in Valley Forge, PA, ca. 29 Sep. ’69 but continued to operate as Central Paper. The name changed to Central Products Co. at some point after ’74. Spinnaker Industries, Inc. purchased Central Products Co. from Alco ca. 1 Jul. ‘95. Intertape Polymer Group, Inc., from Canada, purchased Central Products from Spinnaker ca. 12 Apr. ’99. You don't see 6-axle units on this line very often, the last time I photographed one was 11 Aug. '14. The MILW rails crossed De Pere St. right about here, the border between the grass and gravel to the left is the approximate right-of-way. |