Your Town Wausau: The history of the Landmark building

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) - The Landmark building has been a part of downtown Wausau’s history since 1924. Originally named Hotel Wausau, the Scott Street staple has undergone some transformations in the last 100 years.

In the early years, Wausau was largely a frontier outpost until the early 20th Century when travel became popular. Before that, it was mostly a logging town.

Ben Clark is an archivist and historian for the city of Wausau. He said during those days hotels really didn’t exist.

“When the city became a spot for conventions and other gatherings, the need for accommodation was clear,” said Clark.

“The guy who starts it has a chain of hotels across the Midwest. There’s the Hotel Milwaukee and the Hotel Cincinnati, places like that. And so that’s where the name kind of comes from,” said Clark.

That hospitality experience has a lot to do with the longevity of the building.

“Obviously the inside has changed quite a bit but the exterior is more or less as it was back in the 20s and it was a pretty impressive building for what it was as a hotel,” said Clark.

At the time it featured a two-story lobby with a fountain, a coffee shop, a restaurant and a ballroom.

“They also had like a cocktail lounge and a lot of extra touches that sort of made it a much better experience for people who were going to be coming to Wausau,” Clark explained.

When the highway moved, business dwindled. Ray and Marie Goldbach bought the building to make it into affordable housing in 1968.

“Most of the people who know it today, know it as apartments because I think by the 60s, 70s you start to see that shift happening,” said Clark.

The inside’s been under renovation for its tenants, but t the building remains a jewel of Wausau’s architecture.

“You can look at the skyline of the city of Wausau – everything’s changed. But that’s one of those consistent things. You can look at pictures going back, and there’s the Hotel Wausau.”

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