Great video! I love seeing the Oshkosh Public Library doing good stuff. I grew up in Oshkosh. I moved there in 1958 and lived there until 1971 when I graduated from Oshkosh High School and went to UW Madison. My father was the director of the Oshkosh Public Library from 1958-1978.
The Athearn was also the residence for players on the Oshkosh All Stars during the 1940s during the basketball "season", inasmuch as nearly all of them did not come from Oshkosh and had no "home" here.
It's interesting you mention the urban renewal movement that started in the 60's (and continued through the 90's) when they tore down all of those historic buildings, but didn't really seem to have a plan in place for what to do with the empty lots aside from turning them into parking.
Well, in the case of The Athearn, the bank purchased the building with the express plan to turn it into a drive thru banking location and parking lot. So there was a plan, it was just a whole lot less interesting than what it replaced. But you are right, the main focus was to simply get rid of "blight".
My Grandpa (born in Oshkosh in 1938, still living there) said there was supposedly a tunnel between the Grand and the hotel. Did you come across this in your research?
I came across a lot of stories and hearsay about a tunnel. There were tunnels and basement businesses in that part of town and one could go from one building to another through these tunnels. There are various stories of people finding things in the Grand that "could be" the sealed up entrance to the tunnel, but I didn't find any definitive proof of a tunnel. The book "Oshkosh down under : basement businesses and the tunnel from the Hotel Athearn to the Grand Opera House" by Julie Johnson goes in depth in this history.
There are tunnels everywhere in downtown Oshkosh. The 3 story building behind kitz and pfeil has a tunnel in the basement. No idea where it leads but it's down there.
Great video! I love seeing the Oshkosh Public Library doing good stuff. I grew up in Oshkosh. I moved there in 1958 and lived there until 1971 when I graduated from Oshkosh High School and went to UW Madison. My father was the director of the Oshkosh Public Library from 1958-1978.
Thank you for watching and for sharing your memories!
Kind of like how they gave a waterfront front park to a defense contractor...
The Athearn was also the residence for players on the Oshkosh All Stars during the 1940s during the basketball "season", inasmuch as nearly all of them did not come from Oshkosh and had no "home" here.
It's interesting you mention the urban renewal movement that started in the 60's (and continued through the 90's) when they tore down all of those historic buildings, but didn't really seem to have a plan in place for what to do with the empty lots aside from turning them into parking.
Well, in the case of The Athearn, the bank purchased the building with the express plan to turn it into a drive thru banking location and parking lot. So there was a plan, it was just a whole lot less interesting than what it replaced. But you are right, the main focus was to simply get rid of "blight".
My Grandpa (born in Oshkosh in 1938, still living there) said there was supposedly a tunnel between the Grand and the hotel. Did you come across this in your research?
I came across a lot of stories and hearsay about a tunnel. There were tunnels and basement businesses in that part of town and one could go from one building to another through these tunnels. There are various stories of people finding things in the Grand that "could be" the sealed up entrance to the tunnel, but I didn't find any definitive proof of a tunnel. The book "Oshkosh down under : basement businesses and the tunnel from the Hotel Athearn to the Grand Opera House" by Julie Johnson goes in depth in this history.
There are tunnels everywhere in downtown Oshkosh. The 3 story building behind kitz and pfeil has a tunnel in the basement. No idea where it leads but it's down there.