Grand Theater
401 N. 4th Street,
Wausau,
WI
54403
401 N. 4th Street,
Wausau,
WI
54403
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Updated website
Multiple photos added, credited individually.
January 2018 article ranking Grand Theatre as #5 venue worldwide. Via the Grand Theatre Wausau Facebook page. 1928 photo also added to Photos Section.
https://www.wausaudailyherald.com/story/entertainment/2018/01/08/wausaus-grand-theater-ranked-top-five-theater-venues-worldwide/1012525001/
Article:
Found on Newspapers.com
This opened on November 24th, 1927, Grand opening ad in the photo section.
Updated website link: http://www.grandtheater.org/support/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwrZ24BRC098fr-OqnuMkBEiQAKQ9lgHN3H7p5nDXa8wWX-yxWBgEc2xBcDaI7kYNh2pocgx8aAv7L8P8HAQ
A list of theater architects in the April 28, 1928, issue of Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World has an entry for Oppenhamer & Obel, and the Grand and Wausau Theatres at Wausau are listed as that firm’s designs, confirming the claim of the Marathon County Historical Society.
The source for the name of the architect currently listed for this theater, Wayne Schoupke, is apparently David Naylor’s 1987 book “Great American Movie Theaters” (at least I’ve been unable to find any other print sources using that name that are cited on the Internet.)
However, a web page from the Marathon County Historical Society about Wausua architect William Oppenhamer attributes the design of the Grand to his firm of Oppenhamer & Obel (Irving Obel.) Historical societies can be wrong, of course, but so can authors of books. (The historical society web site is weird, so I can’t link the page directly. Search Google with these three words, including the quote marks: “Oppenhamer, William” Marathon …his page should be the first result.)
There is an architect named Wayne Schoepke (note different spelling of the surname) currently practicing in Wausau. Perhaps Schoepke was the architect for a renovation of the Grand, and Naylor just got his notes garbled? I’ve been unable to find any period references to an architect named either Schoupke or Schoepke, but there are many old references to the firm of Oppenhamer & Obel (including one, from 1921, about a theater they were designing, to be located in Rhinelander, Wisconsin,) so I’m inclined to think the historical society got this one right, and Naylor got it wrong.