Pierce County Historical Assoc. looking to save Prescott’s gem, and you can help them out!

When your mind paints a picture of downtown Prescott, ultimately, it’s going to focus on the building that has been the center of activity in the bustling city center for more than 100 years. The Welcome and Heritage Center has been a symbol of the community since before the iconic clock tower was added to its cityscape. The Pierce County Historical Association (PCHA) along with one of its Chapters, Prescott Area Historical Society (PAHS) is moving to make sure it’s pictured that way for generations to come. And you can – and need to – help!

The City of Prescott currently owns the Welcome and Heritage Center, which is home to a true community treasure in the Prescott Area. The building is also the hub of community information, with the Prescott Area Chamber of Commerce as a principal tenant. The city earlier this year deemed that it no longer wants to be the building owner, citing maintenance needs like roof repairs, for starters.

Enter the PCHA and PAHS, which would like to step for-

Photo by Jack McLoone.

ward and take over building ownership. PCHA has been in existence since 1941 and is the parent organization to its Chapters and Special Interest Groups. The Prescott Chapter, PAHS, has been in existence since 1948 according to Dallas Eggers, Chapter President. PCHA exists to help keep local Chapters and Special Interest groups alive and thriving. Because the parent organization can provide insurance, legal costs, website, regulatory filings, and other technical assistance to these groups. By working together, we can achieve more!

And enter the community, which PCHA and PAHS hopes will step forward with donations to help that much-needed roof repair happen. The groups have about 75 percent of the money for that roof repair in hand, and the PCHS is hoping to take over ownership in coming weeks.

It’s a true blessing for the Prescott community. Many citizens were surprised when the council decided it no longer wanted ownership of what was the former city hall. PAHS has its museum and collections under that roof. The adjacent building that once was the Prescott Library is occupied by the Prescott Area Chamber of Commerce, which is staffed about halftime, and could be home to an additional entity that will mean more access to the wealth of community, visitor and historical information housed under that in-need-ofrepair roof.

The Pierce County Historical Association is registered as a 501(c)(3) Public Charity, meaning it can take tax-deductible donations on behalf of its member organizations. If you can help with the Prescott project, please send a contribution care of the Pierce County Historical Association, PO Box 148, Ellsworth, WI 54011 You can also make a donation online at www.piercecountyhistorical.org. Be sure to indicate the Prescott Chapter.

Nick Schommer, PCHA treasurer said. “this project in Prescott makes sense for both PCHA and PAHS. This is a building that’s on the National Register of Historic Places, and PAHS has been here for as long as I can remember and will continue to actively use this building.”

The buildings were turned over to the Prescott Welcome and Heritage Center 30 years ago when the Prescott City Hall was relocated to its new Borner Street home. “About two-third of the Welcome and Heritage Board members are members of PAHS as well. They’re almost one,” Eggers said. “We’re very close to now getting this done. Basically, the Pierce County Historical Association will be the owners of the building.”

The Prescott building hosts countless visitors throughout the year looking for community information and gives them a glimpse of the storied past of the city. Eggers notes that community namesake Philander Prescott “was a noble man.” You can learn a lot about him, and many families and businesses that built Prescott, considered an important outpost in the westward development of America.

All told, work needed to bring the Welcome and Heritage Center into the future is projected at $60,000-$65,000. The Pierce County Historical Association is willing to close on the building hoping for community funding for roof repairs. “We can do the work in phases,” said Eggers. Other work includes tuckpointing, glazing windows and other maintenance. “We need to do the roof first to stabilize the building. If we get enough donations, anything else we take in above the roof, we simply put into a separate fund for future use and we will work on the other projects as we can,” said Eggers.

There’s a lot of big things happening with the Prescott Area Historical Society now also, as they’ve forged a partnership with the School District of Prescott, where Eggers will offer insight on Prescott’s place in American history.

“People don’t realize this little burg here was basically the steppingstone to the entire Midwest,” said Eggers. Not to mention that Prescott used to have 20 hotels in the late 1800s, because steamboats would bring up to 400 visitors to the community. And also, it was critical obviously to the logging trade.

“It’s said that during the boom of the logging, the white pine coming out of the St. Croix River basically built Chicago and St. Louis,” said Eggers.

“We just hope the community knows what we do here, it’s important,” said Eggers.

The building initially was built by the Miller family and was a bank central to Prescott and area commerce, prior to city hall occupying it for many decades.

“We’re sitting in the mayor’s office,” recalled Eggers, of the back conference room behind the museum.

“This is an important building. It’s important

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to the history of Prescott, and it’s important to the history of Pierce County. We want to make sure it always is,” said Schommer. “That’s what the Pierce County Historical Association is all about.” “And preserving history isn’t free,” said Eggers. It is, though, important. Please consider a donation to the Pierce County Historical Association to help preserve this Pierce County and Prescott gem.

Photo by Jack McLoone.

The Prescott Area Historical Society shares the Welcome and Heritage Center with the Prescott Area Chamber of Commerce. The historic building is full of interesting displays and artifacts from Prescott’s past.