Object of the Month – March 2009




160-year-old wood fragment
tells tale of Twin Cities’ rivalry

Back in 1940, steam shovels excavating for an expansion of a Kimberly-Clark mill uncovered the remnants of the old Neenah lock, built back in the late 1840s by Harvey Jones. As a newspaper account in 1940 stated, “The sturdy timber walls of the locks, in an excellent state of preservation, have been uncovered. Huge wooden pins hold the timbers together and the walls appear as they did many years ago when the locks were abandoned and filled in.”

The Neenah lock was a private venture by Harvey Jones, undertaken after the Federal Government decided to build its long-awaited lock on the Menasha side of Doty Island. The land south of the Fox River – what is now downtown Neenah – was purchased by Harrison Reed of Milwaukee, at the urging of James Duane Doty. But Reed had no money, so he gave a half-interest in the land to a New Yorker named Harvey Jones in return for the money needed to complete the purchase.
To the surprise of Reed and Doty, Jones showed up in Neenah to be a hands-on participant in the venture! Reed didn’t get along very well with Jones, and he and Doty didn’t want Jones to benefit from a government canal. Reed’s brother, Curtis, acquired the land north of the River in what is now Menasha, and they deceived the government inspectors to approve a canal and lock on the undeveloped north channel of the river rather than on the already-bustling Neenah side.

Thus the Neenah-Menasha rivalry was born.