It’s May 1st, and that means it’s finally Historic Preservation Month!
This year’s National Preservation Month is themed “All People are Created Equal,” which highlights the importance of telling inclusive and representative stories that reflect the full history of our community.
And now we would like to highlight the Historic Preservation achievements or progress for this past year around Wausau.
This past year a small group formed to investigate the repairs needed at the Pine Grove Cemetery Mausoleum and what it would take to make the needed repairs. Keep your eye on the Grand Cemeteries of Wausau Facebook page to learn more about how you can help.
In August the Marathon County Historical Society started to build their new Archive Center between Fulton Street and Third Street. This will help house the enormous number of items and photos they have already preserved, and allow for even more to be housed there in the future.
In October, the City Council gave the final approval for the East Gate Building in Marathon Park (Youth Building) to be locally landmarked. The city council chose to amend what the Planning Commission sent, which stated that only part of the building should be landmarked. Instead going with what the Historic Preservation Commission recommended, which was landmarking the whole building.
In December, the Marathon County Historical Society started the Gary L. Gisselman Memorial Scholarship to help graduating high school seniors pursue studies in history and historic preservation (among other studies). The link below will show you how you can donate.
In March, Marathon County Historical Society began the preservation project of repairing the leaking roof at the Woodson History Center which was much needed for many years. They also worked on the Yawkey House this past year.
On April 28th, during the city council meeting Mayor Diny declared May as National Preservation Month with a proclamation presented to the Friends of Wausau Historic Landmarks
We will also like to highlight the many events that happened this past year that highlighted neighborhoods and the community. We will love to see everyone at this year’s events.
In the 8th year of Architecture Ambles we highlighted this past year’s Thomas Street neighborhood with Citizens for a Clean Wausau, Grand Avenue in Schofield, Downtown Wausau, and the Athletic Field Neighborhood.
The Marathon County Historical Society hosted for the first time this year the Historic Holiday Home Tour of Wausau, which highlighted The Henry Miller House and many more. They also hosted the first ever Old Fashioned Downtown Tours, which allowed you to drink an old fashioned while learning about downtown.
We did the second year of Tour de Marathon County in which we highlighted the cities of Ringle, Hatley, Elderon, Bevent and Mosinee with help from the people of Ringle, St. Florian Hatley WI, St. Ladislaus, Wittenberg Area Historical Society & Museum, and the Mosinee Historical Society.
This winter we started a new series of lectures highlighting the architects of Wausau’s buildings, including Phillip Dean, Oppenhamer & Obel, and Alexander Eschweiler. We also added these presentations to our YouTube channel.
The Greater Wausau Chamber of Commerce also started their project of preserving the WPS Powerhouse on Clarke Island this past year.
We would also like to thank all the people who have worked on preservation of their historic house, such as the continued work on The Henry Miller House.
With only one building being landmarked this year, which is down from last year, we hope this year we can preserve more historic buildings around Wausau. But with the many projects, education, and events going on, it was still a great year for Historic Preservation in Wausau!
https://cfoncw.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=7831
