The present-day Menasha Corporation began in Menasha, Wisconsin in 1849 when the company of Sanford, Beckwith, and Billings opened a factory to manufacture wooden pails. In 1852, this firm was purchased by Elisha D. Smith and managed by him for a number of years. The company was incorporated in 1875 by Spencer Mowry, Julia A. Smith, Henry Hewett, Jr., and others.
In 1880, the Menasha Wooden Ware Corporation employed over 250 workers and had two factories, three saw-mills, twenty-four kilns, and extensive paint and copper shops. The business used annually six million feet of lumber in its manufacture of wooden wash tubs, keelers, churns, butter tubs, and all kinds of pails. Although the business was very successful during the latter half of the nineteenth century, its greatest period of growth was from 1900 to 1916 when the firm owned and operated over fifty-five railroad cars to carry its products throughout the Middle West.
The first corrugated boxes were made by the Menasha Wooden Ware Corporation in 1927 after the market for wooden pails had slacked off. In 1935, the barrel and keg business was closed and the company made its last wooden pail in 1958. Today's Menasha Corporation, with over one thousand employees, specializes in corrugated containers.
