The Mabel Tainter Memorial Theater is a fully functional Victorian era theater with a year round performing arts season featuring nationally recognized artists.
Located on Main Street in historic downtown Menomonie, Wisconsin, the Mabel Tainter's performing arts season runs from October through May. A special holiday theatrical performance and a variety of summer programs are also offered. The Theater is also home to the Menomonie Theatre Guild, who present a season of three different shows.
The Mabel Tainter Memorial Theater is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a charter member of the League of Historic American Theatres and a designated Wisconsin Historical Marker Site. The Mabel Tainter building includes a lavish 313-seat "crown jewel" Victorian theater and a historic reading room. It is a premier example of a restored vintage American theater.
The theater contains intricate hand-stenciling, hand carved white pine archways, rich walnut, mahogony, and oak woodwork, gleaming brass fixtures, leaded glass windows, and a rare working Steere and Turner tracker pipe organ with 1,597 pipes.
The theater contains many other amenities. Originally the Reading Room was part of the Menomonie Public Library. Since the Public Library moved in 1986, the Reading Room continues to serve the public with a number of local and regional newspapers and magazines.
The Reading Room also serves as the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway Information site. There are many brochures available on Laura Ingalls Wilder, her home sites and the Historic Highway. In addition, there are Laura Ingalls Wilder books, postcards and other related merchandise.
The Mabel Tainter Memorial Theater was constructed in 1889 as a tribute to young Mabel Tainter, a lover of music and the arts, who died in 1886 at the age of nineteen. The Memorial was commissioned by Captain and Mrs. Andrew Tainter. Andrew was one of the lumber barons for Knapp, Stout & Co. The Memorial still serves today as a performing arts theater, public reading room and cultural center.
The Memorial was constructed during the grand Victorian era, and no expense was spared. The exterior of the building is constructed of Dunnville sandstone quarried along the Red Cedar River southeast of the present village of Downsville. Harvey Ellis was the building's architect. In his designs, Ellis included the Moorish style of curved surfaces, combination of arches, and handcarved details framing the main entrance.
The interior of the building contains hand stenciled walls and ceilings, marble staircase and floors, leaded stained glass windows, walnut and oak woodwork, brass fixtures and four fireplaces each built with a different stone or technique.
The Mabel Tainter Theater still contains the original Steere & Turner tracker pipe organ. The organ has a total of 1597 pipes and 28 stops. The pipes range from 2 inches to 16 feet. The organ was originally water powered, but it was later converted to electric. The organ's restoration began in 1957 and since then has been fully restored.
One of the many original functions of the Memorial was to serve as home to the Unitarian Society of Menomonie with Reverend Henry Doty Maxson serving as their first minister. The Unitarians, as well as numerous other community groups and churches including Cedarbrook Church and Menomonie Theatre Guild, continue to rent the Mabel Tainter Memorial for a variety of special events and services.
For further information about the history of the Mabel Tainter e-mail us at: mtainter@mabeltainter.com.
