Property Record
600 GRAND AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Hammond Park |
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| Other Name: | |
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| Reference Number: | 221934 |
| Location (Address): | 600 GRAND AVE |
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| County: | Marathon |
| City: | Wausau |
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| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1923 |
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| Additions: | 1929 |
| Survey Date: | 20122018 |
| Historic Use: | park |
| Architectural Style: | NA (unknown or not a building) |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | 2012- This corner of Grand Avenue has been utilized as recreational space since the late 1860s. It initially developed as Brewery Park in 1867 for employees for the George Ruder Brewery (demolished). In the 1870s and 80s it became Schubert's Park, names for owner Frank Schubert, whose orchestra performed there. It was later renames Columbia Park, and by 1901, Grand Avenue Park. In circa 1923 Sue Hammond Rhea purchased the site with the intention of developing it as a children's playground in honor of her father, Wausau lumberman Benjamin Hammond. She hired noted Minneapolis landscape architect C.H. Ramsdell to design the layout and whimsical field stone structures. Ignwal S. Horgen, Wausau and Marathon County's park superintendent from 1925 to 1965, interned with Ramsdell at the time, and Ramsdell apparently gave Horgen a free hand in working out the design of the park. The park was maintained by Sue Hammond Rae's expense until she deeded it to the city in 1934. Historically, it may have also included a pool. Three structures are located at Hammond Park. The field stone-constructed, architect-designed structures include a bandstand (AHI # 50936), drinking fountain shelter(AHI # 131979), and grotto with sink (AHI #131978). The structures were installed with the establishment of the park in the 1920s. the ca. 1928 bandstand marks the canter of the park. The hexagonal structure has an asphalt-single pagoda-shaped roof that rises steeply to a pointed spire. The ca. 1928 drinking fountain shelter is situated southwest of the bandstand. The round structure displays four arched openings and also retains a pagoda-shaped roof. The fountain is sited as the center of the shelter. The ca. 1928 grotto as a round-arch shape and is situated north of the bandstand. An original sink occupies its center. concrete ans stone pathways, mature trees, vegetative screening, and several historical markers lend to the historic setting of the park. 2018 survey write-up: Hammond Park consists of four resources: a bandstand/pavilion (AHI#50936); partial stone walking path (#221934); drinking fountain and shelter (#131979) and a stone grotto-like structure (#131978)—all of which are believed to have been built circa 1923-1924. Regarding the bandstand, it is hexagonal in shape and topped with a hexagonal tent-style roof with exposed rafters and which rests on timber supports. The base is constructed of fieldstone, the wall of which is capped with stone. A five-step approach with metal railings is located along the structure’s northerly side and accesses the bandstand itself; another short staircase along the westerly side leads to the basement level. Curvilinear pathways run through the park. Although most are concrete, an original stone-constructed segment remains along Grand Avenue, within which the date of 1929 is inscribed in one of the stones. Located to the southwest of the bandstand is a circular structure that includes four round-arched openings and is topped with an asphalt-shingled, tent roof. Located at its center is a drinking fountain set on a fieldstone base. Finally, to the north of the bandstand is the round-arched, grotto-like, fieldstone-constructed structure that includes a sink within its round-arched recession. The space that is known as Hammond Park has had a history of recreational use since the 1860s. Following use as Brewery Park (in association with the George Ruder Brewing Company that was adjacent to the north), it was known as Schubert’s Park, then Columbia Park and, as of 1901, Grand Avenue Park. In circa 1923, Mrs. Susan (Hammond) Rea purchased the property from the American Products Company (which operated the brewery to the north) and developed the parcel as a playground for children. The park, which was named Hammond Park in honor of her father Benjamin T. Hammond, was planned and laid out in 1923 by the landscape architecture firm of Charles H. Ramsdell of Minneapolis. During the time the park was laid out, Ramsdell employed a recent college graduate by the name of Ingwal Horgen, who was allowed to do the layout, with Ramsdell making corrections as he saw fit. Horgen would return to Wausau in 1925 to take the position of Marathon County and Wausau city park superintendent, a position he held until retiring in 1966. Construction of at least the bandstand and fountain were completed by no later than 1924 (as well as the installation of playground equipment); it believed the grotto and sink was also done at the same time. As evidenced by the date inscribed in the pathway nearest the roadway, that was built (at least that specific section) in 1929. Early newspaper articles also reference that a stone wall was built along the south roadway (then known as Strolling Lane) and a comfort station was planned (although its construction was not confirmed). In 1925, Susan Hammond Rea donated a sculpture of ‘The Boy with the Leaking Boot” to the City and it was installed in Hammond Park. Following vandalism, it was removed and put into storage but, in 1977, it was reinstalled in the park. Six years later, however, it was moved (under the auspices of the parks department and the Kiwanis Club) and placed in the food court of the Wausau Center Mall on Forest Street. |
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| Bibliographic References: | “Architecture/History Survey: Reconstruct USH/Bus. 51 (Grand Ave.): Kent St. To Division St.” WHS project number 12-0992/MR. June 2012. Prepared by Rachel E. Bankowitz. Citations for 2018 survey information below: “New Park, Memorial to Late Benjamin Franklin Hammond to Be Presented to City,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 17 May 1923, 1/7-8; “Supervised Play and Recreation at Beautiful Hammond Park,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 27 June 1924, 3/1-2; “Hammond Park is Made Gift to City by Mrs. Sue Rea,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 5 December 1934, 1/3; Jamie Orcutt, “The History of Hammond Park,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 22 July 1977, Focus Section, 10; Information from “Architecture/History Survey: Reconstruct USH/Bus. 51 (Grand Ave.): Kent St. to Division St.” WHS Project number 12-0992/MR (June 2012), Prepared by Rachel E. Bankowitz, in WAHI.Orcutt, “The History of Hammond Park,” Focus Section, 10; “New Park, Memorial to Late Benjamin Franklin Hammond to Be Presented to City,” 1/7-8. Please note that no actual landscape plan for the park was found and/or reviewed at the time of this research. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |