WAUSAU – Marathon County Historical Society’s History Speaks program will take a look in September at the connection between Wausau and Stevens Point and how George Stevens brought the two communities together through the early logging industry.
“Stevens Point and Wausau: Sister Cities of the Pinery” will be held at 2 p.m. Sept. 30 at the Woodson History Center, 410 McIndoe St., Wausau.
From the moment the pineries opened for logging interests in the 1830s, the areas now known as Stevens Point and Wausau have been linked. Stevens, Point Brewery, and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point all have connections to their northern neighbors that run deep in camaraderie, and sometimes, in fierce competition. John Harry will highlight the shared pasts of Marathon and Portage counties and how those stories shaped the area into what we know today.
Harry is the executive director of the Portage County Historical Society. A 2009 graduate of UW-Stevens Point, Harry retired from his radio career at WYTE/Y106.5 in Plover in 2018 to pursue a master’s degree in public history at UW-Milwaukee, which he completed in 2021. While in graduate school, he was an intern at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and led marketing and programming efforts at the Milwaukee County Historical Society. He has also authored a pictorial history book about Point Brewery.
This History Speaks presentation will be recorded and available digitally on Facebook and YouTube within a few days of the live program.
For more information, call MCHS at 715-842-5750, email [email protected] or visit www.marathoncountyhistory.org.
