Marathon County Public Library

[1] MCPL has branches in Athens, Edgar, Hatley, Marathon City, Mosinee, Rothschild, Spencer, and Stratford.

Residents could purchase a membership to the club and the right to check out books for $3 per year or 25 cents per week.

[6] In 1879, the Pine Knot Literary Society donated its library to the Ladies Literary Club of Wausau, who managed the collection under the same subscription arrangement until 1897, when the Wausau Free Public Library was established.

[7] At this time, the city of Wausau agreed to appropriate five percent of its license fees each year (between $600 and $1,750) to purchase books for the library.

[5] By 1904, the library collection had moved several times – from the basement of a bank to a store building – and had no permanent home.

[5] On July 5, 1904, the Wausau City Council adopted a resolution to accept a gift of $25,000 from steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to construct a library building.

[5] On July 11, 1905, the library board accepted plans designed by architect George W. Maher and began construction.

[14] It operated out of the Wausau Public Library for several years before moving to the Marathon County Courthouse Annex in 1951.

[16] The library operated 15 library stations in the county, including in the communities of Athens, Brokaw, Edgar, Marathon, Norrie, Rothschild, Spencer, Stratford, Unity, Halder, Radar Base (in the Town of Harrison), Gad Community Center (Town of Bern), Cherokee (Town of Hull), and Mount View Sanitorium and the Nurses' Home.

[18] Between 1929 and 1969, the number of borrowers at the Wausau Public Library doubled each decade and the auditorium and kitchen were reappropriated for bookshelves and programming areas.

[21] The county had inadequate facilities and the majority of Wausau Library patrons were not residents of the city.

The building had cracked plaster, leaking roofs, drafty spaces and rotting rafters.