Property Record
144 ROSECRANS ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company Abrasives Plant |
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| Other Name: | |
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| Reference Number: | 51185 |
| Location (Address): | 144 ROSECRANS ST |
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| County: | Marathon |
| City: | Wausau |
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| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1932 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 198320162018 |
| Historic Use: | industrial building |
| Architectural Style: | Astylistic Utilitarian Building |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | Y |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
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| Additional Information: | 2017- "The core of this industrial facility consists of various metal-sided, elevator-style headhouse buildings and smokestacks (AHI 51185). A long, metal-sided gabled building extends north from the aforementioned core and it features regularly placed small windows at the roofline. A shorter, modern, metal-sided building runs parallel to the north wing and it separates the older pmts of the industrial plant from S. 1st Avenue. Fronting the plant is a one-story, flat-roofed office building (AHI 230927) sheathed with brick and trimmed with limestone. It is pierced regularly by one-over-one, doublehung sashes. The Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company (presently known as 3M) purchased in 1929 the Wausau Abrasives Company, which made sandpaper and other related products from quartz mined from a nearby Rib Mountain quarry. A multi-national corporation whose origins date to 1902, 3M’s purchase in Wausau was the company’s first business venture outside of Minnesota. 3M transitioned its ausau properties to manufacturing quartz roofing granules for asphalt shingles and constructed the core of the subject factory in 1932 – adding additional storage and crushing facilities as demand grew. Once processed, the granules were transported to another facility in Minnesota for incorporation into shingles and subsequent distribution. An office building was built in 1940. Although 3M switched in the 1950s its roofing granules from quartz to a different mineral, it continues to operate the subject industrial facility." -"S. 1st Ave: Thomas St-Stewart Ave", WisDOT#6999-18-13, Prepared by Heritage Research, Ltd. (Faltinson), (2017). |
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| Bibliographic References: | Michael Kronenwetter and Maryanne Norton, "Wisconsin Heartland: The Story of Wausau and Marathon County" (Midland, MI: Pendell Publishing Company, 1984), 39. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |