WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) — It’s back to school time for Wausau area history buffs, and for everyone curious about what happened to the old Wausau East High School.
The Marathon County Historical Society spokesperson Jane Janke Johnson says the public is invited to see what happened to the old school Saturday. “We are partnering with the developer of the facility, which is called Stonehouse Development, and they are letting us go through and do tours to the public, and they are also letting us into six wonderful apartments that they have developed, and retained a lot of the architectural integrity of the building.”
The former Wausau High School, which became Wausau East High School was originally built in 1937. Janke Johnson says the developers incorporated a lot of the original school design and equipment into the renovation. “Yeah, it’s very impressive. A lot of the old blackboards have been saved in the apartments. The chemistry display units, the tiles, the WPA (Works Progress/Projects Administration) tiles in the hallway are saved. The two WPA paintings in the auditorium lobby and the front door lobby, those were saved.”
The WPA, or Works Progress Administration was part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, and was responsible for many public works projects and community arts projects.
The East High Apartments building will have tours departing regularly between 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Saturday, and will include stories of the old WPA work, a chance to see old Wahiscan yearbooks & Skyrocket newspapers, and meet the authors of books “The Wausau Vets” and the “Early Days of Wausau Hockey.”
Janke Johnson enjoys taking part in Marathon County Historical Society events like this. “We love sharing the history, and if we can do that in a fun, informational format, it’s so much better. I get to be the lunch lady, Mrs. Trettine, so I’ll be sharing some stories about the 1951 era.”
Tickets are available at the door. It’s $10 dollars for adults, and $5 dollars for 17 and younger. Proceeds go to the Marathon County Historical Society.
(Listen to our interview with Jane Janke Johnson on our website, here.)
More online resources:
marketing@marathoncountyhistory.org
research@marathoncountyhistory.org
www.marathoncountyhistory.org
Photos of WPS tiles
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3eDLNNC1nOaakM0NGtZZGdhTkk&usp=sharing
by Tom King and Larry Lee, WSAU
