Outagamie County, WI - "Half of Downtown NL Built By One Man"
       
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Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives
Subject: newspaper article "Half of Downtown NL Built By One Man"
Submitted by: county coordinator 
EMAIL: jmmarasch@aol.com
Date Submitted: 15 March 2000
       
Source: New London Press newspaper article from Bicentennial issue, undated.

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               Half of Dowtown NL Built By One Man
     Walt Schoenrock built half of downtown New London.
     That's a pretty bold statement, but when you look at his credits it's not far from the truth.
     Now retired, Schoenrock lives in the house where his wife was born at 503 Wyman St. The fine wood on the
wall creates the proper atmosphere for talking with New London's master builder.
     He was born and raised in New London and remembers the way it was.
     "When I was 15 or 16 I started to work for my father.  I remember wooden sidewalks at the First State Bank. 
As kids we used look for money under the sidewalk," Schoenrock said.  "I remember one man had a cart with two
wheels and he used to replace planks in the sidewalk."
     When Schoenrock was 15 or 16 he started working for his father.
     The first building he worked on was Cline-Hanson.
     Retracing his accomplishments after that would be like drawing a map of downtown New London.
     He was involved in building the Coast to Coast Store, the Post Office (which Schoenrock owns), the Curwood
plant (which he was also instrumental in getting here), Reickmann's Store, the Golden Hour Lanes, TV Pliance Store,
Pichelmeyer's Drug Store, the Wisconsin Finance Corporation office and Sport-O-Lectric.
     Schoenrock also remodeled part of the old city hall -- which he says is in as good a shape now as when it was
built.
     Schoenrock remodeled the First State Bank building, remodeled and built an addition to Cristy's, remodeled and
rebuilt the Lee Store turning it from three buildings into one, put an addition on Markman's Store, remodeled the GrandTheatre, built an addition to Piggly Wiggly, did some remodeling to Belott's Hardware Store, remodeled the Ben Franklin
Store and remodeled Cristy's youth shop.
     During the depression Schoenrock built the county asylum and also built homes in order to keep his two key
employees busy.
     Schoenrock says he has no idea how many homes he built during those years.
     Also after the depression, Schoenrock built Hatten Park Stadium.
     He was instrumental in laying out the entire project.
     "We had to figure out how many train carloads of stone were needed for the park -- it came to 180,"
Schoenrock said.
     Schoenrock said that the 10 foot high fence on the northeast side of the ballpark is actually 20 feet tall - half of
it is under ground.
     "I had a real sense of pride about those days, but didn't make much money," Schoenrock said.
     One factor makes all of Schoenrock's building experiences all the more amazing -- all the buildings were of his
design.
     "Today they call it turnkey," he said.  "You do everything and make it ready for someone to move in -- then you
turn the key over to them."
     Schoenrock is glad he's done with the grind now.
     He remembers how the construction business has changed -- in some ways for the better,.
     "In the old days very little work was done in the winter, now there's no reason to stop," he said.
     "But today the buildings are better built," Schoenrock said.  "The materials are better too.  There's just no
comparison.  "
     While Schoenrock's days of building are over his tradition will be carried on.  A son and a grandson are
architects.