| Additional Information: | Wall material: painted pressed tin. From c. 1910 to 1920 Der Deutsch Pioneer newspaper was printed here.
2018 survey write-up: Although purported to have been originally built in the 1880s, this two-story building achieved its current appearance, with its pressed tin exterior and ornate metal cornice, in 1907, as identified in the decorative parapet. The building is entered along its side (west) elevation or from the one-story wing to the rear. Both street elevations include regularly placed, paired, double-hung sash, while the Jefferson Street façade includes a pair of narrow windows at the center, one on each floor.
In 1907, German-born Paul F. Stolze remodeled an existing circa 1880s structure at this location with an exterior of pressed tin. The building was, thereafter, used as a bookbindery and printery. Stolze was the son of Gustave Stolze and it was the elder Stolze that first established the bookbindery in Wausau. Born in Germany, Gustave learned the trade in his homeland; however, upon his 1881 arrival in Wausau, he first worked as a carpenter and as a cigar maker (the latter of which he also learned in Germany). The bookbindery and printery was first set up at 7th & Washington streets, across the alley from the subject structure. Paul joined his father in the business (resulting in the name Stolze & Son) and, in the late 1890s, Gustave purchased Der Deutsche Pionier, a German language newspaper that was founded in 1881. Gustave died in 1899 and son Paul maintained ownership of the newspaper until selling in December 1916/January 1917, at which time it merged with the Wausau Wochenblatt. In 1907, the bookbindery and printer moved to the subject building, where it remained until circa 1980. Thereafter, the building was home to a clock shop. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Mary & Jim Forer, "A Trip Back in Time," Valley View Magazine, Jan. 20, 1982, p. 6.
(B) Date in parapet.
Citations for 2018 survey information below: The 1884 Sanborn map does not cover 7th & Jefferson; however, the 1891 Sanborn map does depict a structure at this location (identified as August Radant’s Machine Shop). Notably, however, the machine shop in 1898 was noted as a 1-story structure (however, that could have been an error, since the building is identified as two stories in both 1891 and 1904—by that latter date the building was identified as the cabinet shop of Janke & Weise), Sanborn Fire Insurance Map--Wausau, Wis. (New York: Sanborn Map Company, 1884, 1891, 1898, 1904, 1912). Notably, the local paper, in its end-of-the-year summary of construction did identify construction of the subject building—identified as “Paul Stolze’s Book Bindery”—at a cost of $2,500. However, there is also a note in a 1996 article regarding the building (see following footnote) that there was a fire in the building in the early 1900s; that fire could have partially destroyed the building, resulting in its “reconstruction” and a cost of $2,500 (a cost that is consistent with the construction of another store building that same year).
“Papers Merge,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 9 January 1917, 1/6; E.B. Thayer, ‘The Newspapers of Wausau,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 9 August 1922, Golden Anniversary Edition, Section 4, 1, 2/1-2; “Still Active at 90 Years In Printery Establishment,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 17 March 1959, 4/1-4, includes photo of Paul F. Stolze; “Paul F. Stolze Dies at Age 92,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 22 January 1962, 4/3; Peter J. Wasson and Ann Ditscheidt, Fire Damages Historic Building,” Wausau Daily Herald, 25 July 1996, 4/1-3. |
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