Damakant Jayshi
It was a mixed fair at the Wausau Historic Preservation Commission on Wednesday regarding Wausau’s historic landmarks.
The commission voted to initiate the landmarking process for the Jacob Kolter house at 202 Grand Avenue, pulled the Henry Miller House at 1314 Grand Avenue from consideration, tabled a proposal on a Marathon County Home and Hospital at 1200 Lakeview Drive and discarded, for now, a move to designate a portion of the UW-Stevens Point at Wausau campus as a historic district.
The 202 Grand Ave. property is a two-and-a-half story “Italianate style house with wide eaves and elaborately carved brackets” built in the 1870s by Jacob Kolter. He made contributions to the city in other areas too, building a music hall at the corner of Third and Washington Streets, according to city documents.
Next steps in the process: more research, a public information hearing and then a vote by the Plan Commission, with a final decision made by the Wausau City Council. The property owners can withdraw the building from consideration anytime if they so choose. Commission Chair Gary Gisselman said the group aims to accommodate owner requests.
A landmarking request for the Henry Miller House at 1314 Grand Avenue was pulled from consideration at the request of the property owners.
Meanwhile, the commission tabled the nomination process of landmarking the Marathon County Home and Hospital at 1200 Lakeview Drive until next month to allow time for additional research.
Gisselman, who represents Dist. 5 on the City Council and also sits on the Marathon County Board of Supervisors, said he put the item on the agenda to get the “flavor of the commission before we took some unofficial action.” He added he will approach county officials, who have not yet been consulted, on the matter.
The Marathon County Home and Hospital is the lone surviving building on the grounds of a former Wausau asylum, according to the documents from the City of Wausau and North Central Health Care. NCHC grew out of the Marathon County Home and Hospital in the early 1970s.
The asylum itself was built in 1893 for $80,000 at the end of Sturgeon Eddy Road in Wausau, at the urging of Judge Louis Marchetti, and was called the Asylum for the Chronic Insane. Built next door to the insane asylum was the Marathon County Home and Hospital, which served as maternity and general hospital for poor residents.
According to the information on the NCHC website, the Marathon County Home and Hospital began providing care for people with tuberculosis beginning in 1910.
The building has a “barrel tile roofing and arcuated portico,” which give evidence of Mediterranean influence in its construction.
An article published in 1925 in The Wausau Pilot refers to the hospital with pride, saying it is “one of the best conducted institutions in the state.” A photo of the asylum appeared in an article on the Wisconsin Central Time News in 2018.
The Commission will write a letter of support in the Wausau River District’s fundraising campaign for the Memorial Bridge restoration. River District Executive Director Blake Blake Opal-Wahoske told the commission that such a letter could help in their fundraising effort.
According to the documents shared at the commission’s meeting, the WRD also wants the commission “to consider placing the historic elements of Memorial Bridge on the historic landmarks list to ensure it doesn’t fall into disrepair in the future.”
The commission will also explore designating a portion of the Wausau downtown area with a concentration of churches as a local historic district.
