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J IN THE PHOTO CODES STANDS FOR JAS. ELLIS WAS WORKING FOR THE FIRM OF LEROY S. BUFFINGTON. ANDREW TAINTER HAD THIS BUILDING CONSTRUCTED IN MEMORY OF HIS DAUGHTER. ORIGINALLY HOUSED A THEATER AND LIBRARY.
Andrew Tainter was born in Salina, New York in 1823. He made his way to the Menomonie area in 1846 where he quickly learned the lumbering trade. Tainter eventually joined forces with William Wilson, Henry Stout and John Knapp, to create the Knapp, Stout & Co., Company. Soon after, Tainter became the captain of a newly purchased steamboat, used to help send logs down the river. Then, in 1886, Captain Tainter's daughter died unexpectedly. To commemorate his daughter, Capt. Tainter hired Harvey Ellis to build and design a community center. The building was dedicated not only as a memorial to Tainter's daughter, but also as a reading room, free public library, community theater, and meeting location for the Unitarian Society.
The theater is a two-story, hipped-roof cube, built of local rock-faced gray sandstone, flanked by massive cone-topped corner towers, whose two-story arched window bays have thick stone spandrels and voussoirs. Heavy, too, is the low-slung arch sheltering the entry. Its archivolt is lushly foliated; its beribboned spandrels include the building date. Above the entry arch, triplets of engaged colonnettes rise between windows to support an ornate nameplate frieze that stretches across the facade. Higher still, a thick arch dwarfs a semicircular attic window and breaks through the roofline to culminate in a peaked parapet. Octagonal ventilator-turrets stand slightly behind, to either side.
The interior is as impressive as the exterior, and it remains in near-original condition, thanks to the restoration efforts of the Mabel Tainter Memorial Preservation Association. Dark woodwork dominates the reading room and lobby, and silver and opalescent-glass chandeliers shimmer overhead. In the splendid Gay Nineties theater, stenciled and gilded panels cover the ceiling and walls, and elaborate grillework surmounts the box seats, with their spindle-balustraded balconets. An ornate railing fronts the full balcony, facing the richly carved proscenium arch. The 313-seat theater retains its 1,597-pipe organ, still in working order.
The wealth that enabled Andrew Tainter to build the memorial came from his part-ownership of Knapp, Stout and Company, which from the 1850s until 1900 controlled and cut the valley’s pine. It also platted townsites (including Menomonie in 1859), attracting thousands of immigrants, and established mills, stores, banks, boarding houses, utilities, newspapers, and more. During the 1880s and 1890s, the company was the world’s largest timber concern, and many of Menomonie’s downtown buildings date from those years. In 1901, having depleted its own pinery, the company floated its last raft downriver.
Covenant/Easement: From 7/27/1978 to 7/27/2008. A 'covenant file' exists for this property. It may contain additional information such as photos, drawings and correspondence. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office.
National And State Register Of Historic Places Listings
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Interior of Mabel Tainter Memorial Theater
1975
The interior of the Mabel Tainter Memorial Theater. The Mabel Tainter Memorial building was a facility erected in 1889-1890 with funds provided by Andrew Tainter, part owner and manager of the Knap...
Interior of Mabel Tainter Memorial Theater
1975
The interior of the Mabel Tainter Memorial Theater, designed by architect Harvey Ellis. The Mabel Tainter Memorial building was a facility erected in 1889-1890 with funds provided by Andrew Tainter...
Mabel Tainter Memorial Building
1900
The Mabel Tainter Memorial building was a facility erected in 1889-1890 with funds provided by Andrew Tainter, part owner and manager of the Knapp, Stout and Co. Lumber Co. It was designed by archi...
