Celebrating more than 100 years of history. In 1907, a group of business leaders gathered to begin an organization that would “advance the general welfare and prosperity of the Oshkosh area.” The group was diverse. It included manufacturers, retailers, bankers, a doctor and a real estate broker. The Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce incorporated in October of that year, under the leadership of its first president, George Paine, of the famed Paine Lumber Company.
Through the years, the Oshkosh Chamber changed its name numerous times to reflect mergers with other, similar organizations. It never left its focus of advancing community development for Oshkosh’s businesses and residents. Highlights of this community development include:
- Campaigning for the Fox Valley’s first permanent airport in 1927. That airport, Wittman Regional Airport, later became a mecca for aviation when the Experimental Aviation Association (EAA) built its headquarters to Oshkosh.
- The Oshkosh Chamber worked diligently to bring EAA to Oshkosh. Today, EAA attracts visitors from around the world to AirVenture, a one-week fly-in convention.
- EAA also was the impetus for many aviation-related businesses to move or begin operations at the airport, which has, in effect, become one of the city’s industrial parks.
- In 1960, the Oshkosh Chamber established Chamco, Inc., the city’s industrial development corporation.
- In 1978, what is now the Oshkosh Area Economic Development Corp. was formed to assist the retail and service sectors.
- In 2000, the Oshkosh Chamber shared the cost of developing a Downtown Master Plan, which has led to creation of Opera House Square, development of Leach Amphitheater and riverfront redevelopment efforts.
- In 2004, the Oshkosh Chamber earned its first 5-star accreditation, the highest a chamber of commerce can achieve, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber was reaccredited with 5 stars in 2009.
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