Old American flag preserved

By LISA M. REED, Staff Writer
NIAGARA, Wis. — A 112-year-old flag that once flew over the paper mill in Niagara, Wis., will be preserved and able to be viewed at the mill until it closes this fall.

The 45-star flag was folded in a three-point fold at the Niagara School auditorium. Members of the local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, Badger State, the United States Army and the Cretton-Tutas American Legion Post 136 were on hand to help fold the flag.

Tim Phillips, president of the Niagara Area Historical Society, said the flag was donated by the Stovenkin family who owned the mill before it was sold to Kimberly Clark.

“It flew over the Niagara mill in 1896 until 1908,” he said. “They (the Stovenkin family) took it down and kept it in the family until 2006.”

Phillips said the flag was kept in Niagara because a few members of the Stovenkin family were in the area before they donated the flag to the Niagara Area Historical Society in 2006.

“We can’t hang it up. It is very thin from whipping in the wind, rain and snow,” Phillips said.

Phillips said the historical society will make posters of the pictures taken of the flag and a wooden box with a UV treated glass top will be made for the flag to be preserved in.

Phillips said the flag will be displayed at the mill until its closure later this year.

“They are allowing us to put it up in a tasteful display,” he said.

Lisa Reed’s e-mail address is lreed@ironmountaindailynews.com.