A Manitowoc Mash-Up

Reading Time: 5 minutes

I was reminded, as I visited my mom last week, about all the posts I’ve written over the years about Manitowoc, Wisconsin, the town I grew up in. 

Here’s a mash-up of some of them from the past few years, with links to the original posts.  Each one of the original posts was written as a 5-minute read, so be aware that if you start linking, you’ll be here a while.  I think though, that if you grew up here or are interested in a little information about this unique place, you’ll find the time well spent. 

On July 7, 2022, I wrote about one of my favorite places in town from the time I was in kindergarten until about half way through my 4^th grade year.  It was a teeny tiny branch library that seemed magical to me at that age.  The building is still there on Washington Street.  I drove past it last week and marveled about how such a small place can produce such huge memories for me.  The post, called Uniquely Portable Magic, still makes me smile today.  Perhaps, if you love reading as much as I do, you’ll find it’ll bring a smile to your face as well. 

In 2023, the week before Christmas, I was really stuck for a blog post idea.  I recalled living across the street from the tinsel factory when we first moved to Manitowoc in my kindergarten year.  Researching for a post about aluminum Christmas trees back in the 1960s helped me uncover a treasure trove of information about the aluminum industry in Manitowoc.  It was astonishing how much I didn’t know even though I spent 3 of the worst weeks of my life working for Mirro Aluminum after I graduated from high school. 

Those aluminum Christmas trees are worth a hell of a lot of money as collector items today.  And an organization called Evergleams on Eighth celebrates them by putting them on display throughout Manitowoc every holiday season.  You’ll find that post, called Shiny, Prickly Christmas Memories, originally published on December 19, 2023, linked here.

The following week, on December 22, 2023, I published another short post called More Manitowoc.  In my research for the aluminum industry, I ran across some other crazy and interesting information that I thought my readers would find fascinating.  I had a bit of a personal connection to some of the information in that post because my dad claimed that when a piece of Sputnik 4, (Sputnick 1 was the world’s first artificial satellite) landed in Manitowoc it hit his car, or he saw it land, or there was a hole in the street he found (or something).  I don’t know whether any of that was true (probably not), but dad told a good story back then.  There’s no current evidence to support his story.  Still, it made a good blog post, combined with the world-wide reputation and prevalence of Manitowoc Ice Machines in hotels and motels.  You’ll find that post linked here. 

When I was visiting Manitowoc in October 2023, my brother Denny met a fascinating guy with a historic boat and compelling story.  He arranged for me to meet him and tour the boat.  That led to a blog post called Crazy Coincidences Leading to Utopia, published October 3, 2023.  Here’s a link to that post. 

And finally, one of my favorite posts of all time, Clean Underwear and Ibuprofen, a memory involving the Rollaire Skating Rink, published on this blog on March 12, 2024.  Here’s the link.  You will see from reading the post that I originally wrote it more than 10 years ago.  It was just one of those memories that is so intensely vivid and joy inducing that I still love reading it over and over and over. 

I loved growing up in Manitowoc, and I still love visiting there.  Last week when I was there, I had the use of mom’s car and drove all over town.  So many places triggered visceral reactions of “the good old days”. 

I drove north on Lakeshore Drive and saw the Manitowoc skyline in a way I never saw it before. It’s more interesting than I might have ever imagined it.

I drove past Lincoln and recalled with fondness all the time I spent working on the High Tower Flashes when the newspaper and yearbook offices were actually in the tower.  Now the tower is no longer used because of safety and structural concerns.  I had a very brief conversation with Biff Hanson (Lincoln Class of ’74, now President of the Manitowoc School Board) when I was there in June 2026, and he said they were exploring ways to upgrade Lincoln High School.  I was glad to hear that.  Lincoln was built and opened in 1923, remains in use and is the oldest standing high school building in the state.  In 2017 Architectural Digest named Lincoln the most beautiful public school in Wisconsin.  It is, indeed, beautiful. 

But Lincoln High School isn’t just a beautiful building.  Its graduation ceremony is renowned for its uniqueness and beauty as the traditional ceremony takes place in an outdoor bowl on the grounds and the graduates are attired in colorful formal wear.  There are no statistics kept on how many schools wear caps and gowns or something else, but I haven’t heard of any others where the graduates dress up like they’re going to prom. It is truly an experience to attend graduation at Lincoln High. 

In my driving I remembered how 8^th Street and 10^th Street were one-way in opposite directions for most of my life.  Because I’m not there all the time, I had to retrain my muscle memory to look BOTH ways before crossing one of those streets.   And I recalled, with great fondness, that gas was 25.9 cents per gallon shortly after I got my driver’s license back in 1970.

I love Florida, I’ll never move back to Wisconsin.  It’s a fabulous place to visit and smile at all the memories of growing up there, the Midwest town where some of the people I love most in the world still live. 

P.S. A lot of you asked about my mom. She’s good, still loving life at Angelus Senior Living, but is beginning to feel her age (92) a bit. She’s decided to stop driving and gave her golf clubs to my sister-in-law, Marlene. She’s still got that great personality, zest for life, and sunny smile all the time though. I want to be like her when I grow up.