Sawdust City

(First Image) Outdoor view of the Paine Lumber Company. The image was taken looking north and east from the Bridge over Sawyer Creek. The Fox River is at the far right. Logs are frozen in the creek, also known as Boom Creek. Stacks of sawn lumber are visible along the shore north shore of Sawyer Creek. Children are playing on the ice.

 

(Second Image) Interior view of the Badger Lumber Company. Men are seen assembling “Martha” tables. Formerly the Campbell & Cameron Company, Badger Lumber and Manufacturing Company started in 1915 by B. H. Boyton. The plant burned down January 3, 1923 and was rebuilt that year. They manufactured furniture: kitchen tables; ironing boards; smoking stands, etc. In the late 1930s they began making dinette sets. Joseph F. Robineau had started Dearborn Company in Chicago and bought Badger in 1923. Stanley Thomas “Tom” Ginsberg took over the company as president in 1967 and became president of Dearborn in 1978. The company closed down in 1982.

Learn more about the history of lumber in Oshkosh at the Oshkosh Public Museum.

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