Rhinelander, WI: C&NW and SOO (Wisconsin Central) Depots and Roundhouses

C&NW Depot: (Satellite, it is now an office building.)

C&NW Roundhouse: (Satellite, since it was just two stalls, it did not have a turntable.)

WC Depot: (Satellite)

WC Roundhouse: (Satellite)

This was the trackside of the C&NW depot.

Street View, Sep 2022

The WC roundhouse.

Street View, Sep 2022

Positively Rhinelander posted

It's Throwback Thursday, and today we see an aerial image of the general area of the intersection of Pelham and Courtney Streets. This photo taken sometime in the 1950s. Alot of history contained in this one photo. 

The large plant at center is the Atlas Plywood Corperation, now the site of the Trig's  Mall. It was started as the Wisconsin Veneer Company in 1900, one of Rhinelanders early industrial plants, it produced top grade wood veneer made of birch, ash, elm, basswood, maple, and red and white oak, all procured in the Rhinelander area.

It was purchased by Atlas Plywood in 1937 and operated at its peak with 240 employees in it's 125,000sf factory on the 13 acre site. In 1958, the company shut down it's Rhinelander plant and others around the country during a hostile takeover by "ruthless financiers in the East" according to news reports of the time. Two years later was torn down, despite efforts by local businessmen to purchase the plant. 

Dr. Sheik purchased the property after the veneer plants demise, and built his clinic on it. Later the mall would be built there as well. The Shiek clinic now gone too it's place occupied by the green space in front of Trigs. Many long time residents will remember it, and the old Atlas factory. 

To orient yourself, find the still standing Chicago Northwestern Depot toward the bottom of the photo, and then you can find other buildings still around such as the Kid's Korner Pizza building, the Northwestern tavern, Mel's Trading Post , and others. Look closely and you'll see the Chicago Northwestern's two engine roundhouse in the Y railroad intersection, formerly the site of the Rhinelander Daily News building, now a parking lot. 

At the top of the photo we see old Hwy 8 winding into town, now Sutliff Ave which goes up toward the Chamber of Commerce.

What else do you recognize that's now gone? Can you spot your house in one of the adjacent neighborhoods?  Tag someone you know if you see their home. 

*Annotated photo in comments. 

Photo Courtesy of the Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce 

Andrew Roth shared

Downtown Rhinelander,  WI in the early to mid-1950s.  The C&NW depot and yard are in the lower portion of the photo.   The Atlas Plywood plant that closed in 1958 is at the end of the wye track.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Andrew's share
A 1953 aerial photo with a scale of 60,000 barely shows the roundhouse. But you can at least see its shadow. A 1964 aerial has higher resolution, but the roundhouse and plywood plant are gone by then. I noticed that the C&NW bridge across the Wisconsin river still exists, but it is now an industrial spur for CN to the paper plant. SOO's original industrial spur has been removed. [ARA001080414560]

Note all of the logs in the river next to their storage yard. What were they storing io the land? Today it looks like mainly a small pile of coal is stored there. I used Global Earth to determine that they have been storing coal instead of "white things" since 1998.

EarthExplorer: Apr 25, 1965 @ 21,000; AR1VAZP00010062

1940 Rhinelander Quad @ 48,000

In northern Wisconsin, you don't look for grain elevators, you look for wood processing plants. The plywood plant is gone, but the paper mill is still standing.

However, it may still be "temporarily" shutdown. [ahlstrom]

Positively Rhinelander posted

In today's Throwback Thursday photo we see the old Soo Depot waving to the Chicago Northwestern Depot as it passes down Courtney Street on it's way to Pioneer Park in 1991. After arriving at it's new home at Pioneer Park Historical Complex, the Soo Depot was restored to it's original floorplan and became the Rhinelander Railroad Museum. This year it hosted the annual Soo Historical and Technical Societies Convention that was held in Rhinelander earlier this month. 

A reminder that Pioneer Park Historical Complex is open for one more weekend, this Saturday and Sunday. The Food Pantry is also holding it's annual Harvest Hoedown at Pioneer Park on Saturday. Also the Hodag Farmers Market should be well stocked this time of year. With some nice weather forecasted, Pioneer Park will be the place to be. 

PPHC Photo

Andrew Roth shared

Two Rhinelander depots in one photograph.

Trackside Craig, Oct 2021