Your Town Wausau: The history of Grand Theater

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) - If downtown is the crown of Your Town Wausau... The Grand Theater is its crowned jewel. For 95 years it’s been the city’s center of entertainment. And a whole lot more. With its marquee lighting up and looking over The 400 Block.

This familiar structure is actually the second building on that site. The first was the Grand Opera house built in 1899. It stood for about 30 years until it was decided they wanted something better.

“They wanted a clean slate. They wanted architects out of Green Bay, Oppenheimer and Obel to essentially have a fresh [site] to work from, so they decided to knock down the building and rebuild it again,” said Grand Theater Executive Director Sean Wright.

And that brought us to the look we pretty much have today, with its detailed 1920s opulence. The Grand Theater has hosted broadway shows, concerts, movies and a lot more. But it’s not just an entertainment space, it’s a gathering space... Which has been the goal from the start, even in the first building.

“It also has this long-term significance of community space for all these other things. Lectures, fundraisers and community productions as well,” explained Ben Clark from the Marathon County Historial Society. But nothing, not even classic buildings beat time. And as the end of the 20th Century was getting closer, it looked like the lights at the aging Grand might go dark for good. But people in Wausau were not about to let that happen. In the mid-1980s the community raised $2-million to polish it back to its glory and upgrade its technical systems.

Then in 2002, a $13-million fundraising effort lead to adding a bigger stage space and backstage space. Along with the place to more easily drop sets, costumes and props. That’s key to having those big-ticket traveling Broadway shows keep Wausau on their calendars.

Twenty years ago is also when a Great Hall was also built-on next to the 1,208-seat theater. Because, while 1,200 seats may be intimate for a Broadway-level theater, that’s a lot of people to pack into the entryway of a Broadway-level theater. Trying to cram in that very small historic lobby for 30 minutes before a show or 45 minutes before a show on a Wisconsin winter night is not exactly the best way to do it. People in Wausau continue to make sure this historic place continues to make history with fundraisers, buying tickets and volunteering to keep the Grand Theater as grand as ever. The generosity of the community is the reason the grand theater is here.

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