Tainter, Mabel, Memorial Building

About this property

The Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts, originally named the Mabel Tainter Memorial Building and also known as the Mabel Tainter Theater, is a historic landmark in Menomonie, Wisconsin, and is registered on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The building was commissioned by Captain and Mrs. Andrew Tainter (whose son's house, the Louis Smith Tainter House, is also on the National Register), to honor their late daughter Mabel Tainter, who died in 1886 at age 19. The lumber baron's daughter had enjoyed music and the arts, so the building was designed to serve those areas and no expense was spared by the parents. Designed by Harvey Ellis or Edgar Joraleman, both architects in the Minneapolis firm of L. S. Buffington in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, the building was constructed in 1889. The Tainters were wanting to do something to memorialize their late daughter when Reverend Henry Doty Maxson, a Unitarian minister, arrived in Menomonie in April 1888 to organize a local Unitarian society. They were Unitarians and discussed their wish with him. They were inspired by his suggestion to create a community center that would “deepen, broaden, heighten the entire round of life” as a memorial. Construction began in April 1889 on property in the heart of the business district that had contained a livery stable that Tainter already owned. There was a brief explanation in March in the local weekly newspaper, the Dunn County News, that Captain Tainter owned the livery stable being razed, but no mention of what was going to be built. It wasn't until the end of December that the general public learned the details of the new large building on Main Street. Captain Tainter wrote a brief note to the Unitarian Society explaining his purpose - “It is my purpose to convey the Memorial building I am erecting in this city to trustees for certain public uses and purposes, among which is the tender to your society and congregation of a place for the prosecution of its educational, charitable, social and religious work. I hope to have the building ready for use on or before the middle of May next.” When this news appeared in the weekly newspaper, the editor added additional information in response to the “all sorts of speculation and conjecture respecting the character and purpose of the memorial building” since construction began. He said that while some people would have “herald[ed] in advance their purposes and plans,” Tainter “entered upon this work with his same business methods and, very naturally, he did not see any more reason to take the entire public into his confidence in this case, than he would in any other matter of business.” He added that the building will include a free public library and reading room, an auditorium, parlors, amusement rooms, dining room, kitchen, and offices.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in Dunn County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Dunn County.

More historic places in Wisconsin

Browse all historic places in Wisconsin.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

Wisconsin history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.