And just like that it is time for our last WHAT of Historic Preservation Month! Today we head downtown to Jefferson Street- 413 Jefferson Street.
This stone English Revival was built in 1939. It has arches, a steeply pitched roofline, and its front elevation is asymmetrical – which are all typical of the style.
Charles and Carl Helke built this place as Wausau’s very first funeral home. In fact, Charles was one of Wisconsin’s first licensed embalmers. It all began when Charles and Carl started a furniture and woodworking business in 1874. That business was located on 4th Street where the Filmore is today. Since many of the skills for furniture making and coffin making are the same, it was a natural extension to start a funeral home.
The Helke Funeral Home called the building home until about 1981. At that time it was purchased by the Prehn Dental Practice.
The Prehn family boasts several generations of dentists in Wausau. The very first was Delos Prehn in 1921. Since then Delos’ son Don and grandsons Ronald and Fredrick joined the family practice.
Prehn Dentistry remained in the building until about the 2022.
