Re-visiting my hometown: Wausau, Wisconsin through new eyes

I had the opportunity to visit my hometown of Wausau, Wisconsin on a sunny weekend that ended with a spectacular thunderstorm complete with hail. before the bad weather moved in, however, I was able to take a walk downtown with my dad, daughter, brother-in-law, niece and nephew. It was fascinating to "re-view" my hometown after reading James Howard Kunstler's books (see postscript below) on sustainable communities.

The picture above is the old Grand Theater as seen from 3rd Street, where I saw most of the movies that came out before 1984 (when I left for college). Of course, in those days the building didn't feature an odd digital marquee.

As you can see, a block of buildings has been razed and replaced with an attractive square bordered with trees. During winter it's frozen over and becomes a skating rink. (Click on any image to make it bigger.)

Looking north on 3rd Street you can see the row of storefronts across the street from the square; my back is to the section of street that leads to the Wausau Mall entrance. The street is narrow and allows angle parking. Cars simply know to proceed slowly on 3rd Street; it communicates "pedestrian area; proceed with caution."

Another block north on 3rd and you see an interesting juxtaposition: nice storefronts on the right side, and on the left ...

The abomidable First American Center, opened to great excitement and fanfare in 1974. This was back in the days before malls; kids and adults alike thought downtown would change forever with the appearance of this behemoth. Downtown changed, but not for the better. After a very short honeymoon period during which people gathered there out of curiosity, the place revealed its true nature as a modernist monster - - note the blank walls facing the street on the left side, which extends almost to the end of the block (before giving way to entrances to the below-grade "drive-up banking" lanes); the same sort of treatment faces 3rd Street, where the old bank building once provided a wonderful facing and sidewalk enclosure. When this building opened, the only thing inside worth visiting inside was Mother's Ice Cream (the first non-soft serve ice cream in town). Everything else was basically office space.

The Wausau Mall opened not long after, and it predictably sucked the life out of downtown's street. We used to await the Christmas display in the Prange's department store windows further north on 3rd Street, and the bustling scene looked exactly like the opening scenes of A Christmas Story. All that ended when everything moved into the sterile confines of the mall.

Downtown streets weren't particularly busy while we were there because of a kayaking competition and the farmer's market down by "The River District," which has been fabulously developed since the days I used to ride my Huffy to the shore and hold my nose (the Wisconsin River used to be quite pungent). Now the place is downright picturesque.

We ate lunch outside of a terrific deli situated on a portion of Jefferson Street that is basically newly created by the addition of parking ramps with commercial space on their ground floors. We sat under an overhang, and when it began to rain we were still comfortable. (When it began to hail we moved inside.) Across the street we could see an upscale bistro below the new multi-story Jefferson Street Inn.

The next day I went for a run through the old neighborhoods, which are a far cry from the stale wastelands of modern suburbia. Though certain areas are in downturn due to some rather reckless street widening (including close to may parents' house), there's still block after block of houses that come right up to the sidewalk, with real porches and alleys in the back. The old Wausau East High School is now completely renovated as condos. It's never looked better.

The real surprise came when I ran back down to the river and saw what we used to call "The Hobo Island Trestle." It's now a footbridge, and Hobo Island - - which was named such because, if you braved the trip across the trestle and didn't get squashed by a train, chances were good that you might run into a gaunt man who just hopped off the last Milwaukee Road boxcar  - - is now ribboned with lit paths and little placards to point out, for instance, the location of a lumber mill foundation.

And there's more in store. The city plans a multimillion dollar renovation of the Mall to better match the attractive streets outside, and the Plaza Mall is being converted to a mixed used commercial and condo complex at the cost of $9 million.

An odd POSTSCRIPT: I learned on the day that I left Wausau that J. H. Kunstler appeared at the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair in nearby Custer, Wisconsin that very weekend. It's very likely that I could have passed him on the streets of Wausau that he inspired me to view through new eyes.

A bit more on Wausau, including a new tower going up, in a future post ...