A Cold November Evening

Hello to all of my blog readers. It seems I have taken another hiatus from writing. It has been such a busy year here at the Frederick home. Molly and I have been working on our house, traveling for weddings, and spending time with family. It’s also hard to find the time since I have become the vice president of the Winnebago County Historical & Archaeological Society. The board of directors has been very busy restructuring our society and changing the way we carry out business, and I have been going to a lot of committee meetings. Tonight I thought I would make a conscious effort to get back into the habit of writing, which I enjoy doing and miss very much.

It has been a pretty good year for me in the field of history. The City of Oshkosh hired me on part-time a while back to do some research for historical markers that are being placed along the city’s Riverwalk. The experience has been phenomenal, and I am honored to have had the opportunity to leave my mark on the city that I call home. I did much of the work last year, and now this year the markers are finally placed. Another marker I helped with will be placed next year. I also hope to be involved with more of these in the future. Another project I helped the city with is still in the works….more on that later.

Oshkosh Riverwalk Historic Signage

My career change earlier this year has also opened the doors to some new historical work. I am a maintenance worker with the county, and I have access to the Winnebago County courthouse. My supervisor is looking into ways to preserve and bring back originals features of our courthouse. I have been doing some free-lance historical research of the building’s construction, which turns out to been an interesting one. It was built between 1937-38 at just over a million dollars–bought and paid for by the taxpayers of Winnebago County. In the process, I have found some amazing pictures of the building’s interior when it was completed. I don’t want to give away too many details….that’s another blog post for later.

So, there you have it. These are a few things I have been working on the past month or two. I will be more diligent and make time to blog more often. With the days getting shorter and temps continue to fall, there will be a lot more time for sipping hot tea and blogging about the many amazing histories I find every day.