thompsondockside.com

I am in Peshtigo, WI on Christmas Eve 2014. It is not a white Christmas. No snow. It's been raining for days. NO sun in weeks. Very dreary.

I am sitting at my desk about 300 feet away from the old Thompson Boat factory. The thought of all those wonderful wood and fiberglass boats being built in those buildings is heartwarming. Thompson moved out in 1971 when they built a new factory across the river. The buildings housed several different manufacturing operations for many years. However they are empty and abandoned now. It is a sad fate to the former home base of "Thompson" boats.

Have a wonderful holiday.

Andreas Jordahl Rhude

Imagine someone buying that building and turning it into a Thompson Boat museum? What a fitting place.

Verne

Now THAT is a cool idea. A museum in the previous factory. I wonder if the state/town would help in rehabing the buildings given that Thompson was such a big part of the history of the town. I suspect that lots of materials, photos, stories, and maybe even boats would surface as the word got out about what was be considered.

Great idea and believe me I have contemplated it. The local community would not contribute one red cent to the project, trust me. If you could get deer hunting and/or the Green Bay Packers connected somehow, then a little money would trickle in !

Andreas

Where is a will, there is a way. A subsidiary of another museum might be worth a try. Perhaps the Mariners Museum? Or even the Smithsonian.

Verne

My wife and I had the opportunity to stop by Peshtigo back in October and stopped by to say hello to Andreas and to see the old Thompson Boat factory, here's couple of pics to illustrate Andreas's point.

The roof and the walls appear to be solid. You'd be surprised how easily that building could be brought back to use.

Verne

This portion of the old factory appears to be in fair condition. It was constructed in 1949. Concrete block walls and glued laminated timber arches and wood decking for the roof framing (made next door!). A fair number of windows are broken so birds and other varmints are most likely in the building. Someone was up on the roof doing some patch work in November 2014.

After Thompson Boat moved out in 1971 the new building owner constructed about 80,000 sq.ft. of new buildings. These appear to be in good condition.

Andreas