Menomonie Local History

museums, mansions, & arts

Colfax Railroad Museum

The depot houses the large collection of lanterns, railroad china, and the nation's largest railroad paper-weight collection. The primary purpose of these artifacts is to show what people encountered on day-to-day activities with the railroads and how the technology changed throughout time.

500 E. Railroad Ave., Colfax

Tours Local History Museums Menomonie Local History

Historical Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts

The Mabel Tainter building includes a lavish 313-seat "crown jewel" Victorian theatre and a historic reading room. It is a premier example of a restored vintage American Theater. Take a self-guided tour to inspect the intricate hand-stenciling, hand-carved white pine archways, rich walnut, mahogany, and oak woodwork, gleaming brass fixtures, leaded glass windows, and a rare working Steere and turner tracker pipe organ with 1597 pipes.

205 Main St. E, Menomonie

Local History Tours Menomonie Local History

Old Courthouse Museum and Jail

Wisconsin's last remaining woodframe courthouse features an iron-latticed cellblock in the jail, upstairs courtroom in near-original condition, railroad room, bridges of Durand, century-old paintings, doctor and dentist office equipment, and antique appliances & tools. Open Thurs-Sun 11am-4pm Memorial Day through Labor Day and Saturdays 1-4pm Memorial Day Weekend through mid-October.

315 W. Madison St., Durand

Tours Local History Menomonie Local History

Wilson Place Mansion

Wilson Place was built in 1859 by Capt. William Wilson, a principal in Knapp, Stout, & Co. lumber company, founder and first mayor of Menomonie, and the area's first state senator. Three generations of Wilsons remade it from a colonial house to a Queen Anne-style mansion to a Mediterranean villa. Call for admission rates and tour times.

101 Wilson Circle, Menomonie

Tours Local History Menomonie Local History

Best of Chippewa Falls is brought to you by:

Mason Companies, Inc
Northwestern Bank