News: Neillsville -Wis. Pavilion  (National Register - 2012)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Steinmann, Wilcox

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 4/12/2012

Wisconsin Pavilion in National Register (Historic Places - 2012)

The Wisconsin Historical Society has announced the listing of the Wisconsin Pavilion in Neillsville in the National Register of Historic Places. National Register designation provides access to certain benefits, including qualification for grants and rehabilitation income tax credits, while it does not restrict private property owners in the use of their property.

The Wisconsin Pavilion represented and promoted the state of Wisconsin at the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, NY. Wisconsin architect John Steinmann designed the pavilion and its surrounding exhibition hall and Pruden Steel Products of Evansville donated the materials.

After the fair ended, most of the pavilions were demolished, as exhibitors were only given 90 days to remove their structures. Ivan Wilcox from Boscobel, along with workmen from Pruden steel, arrived the day after the fair closed to dismantle the Wisconsin State Pavilion.

In 1965 Central Wisconsin Broadcasting purchased the dismantled building. It was trucked to Neillsville and reassembly began in the summer of 1966 on a five-acre site on the southeastern edge of the city. The new owners hired John Steinmann to provide a cohesive design for its new use as a radio station and gift shop.

Workmen from Pruden reassembled the building, and the company duplicated materials damaged during the deconstruction. The Wisconsin Pavilion represents one of the few extant resources associated with Wisconsin’s statewide representation at a World’s Fair or exhibition and the only state pavilion that has returned to the state.

The register is the official national list of historic properties in America deemed worth of preservation and is maintained by the National Park Service in the U. S. Department of the Interior. The Wisconsin Historical Society administers the program within Wisconsin. It includes sites, building, structures, objects and district that are significant in national, state of local history, architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture.

To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org/hp/.