Appleton's Turnhalle

I’ve allowed this blog to lie fallow for the past few years because I felt as if I’d run out of things to write about.  Recently however fellow Waters devotee, David Growth has shared new research which has renewed my interested in writing.  There are six building that heretofore were unknown to David and me, the Appleton Turner Hall, banks in Neenah and Hortonville, schools in Oconto and Stevens Point and the Vilas County Court House.   I’m eager to share my research on these structures and I’ll start with the Appleton turner hall.

Appleton, like much of Fox Valley had a sizable German population and so German culture was greatly celebrated.  The city’s Turner Hall was for many years a center for German theatre and music.  This wooden frame building was located at the north end of Superior St. and by the early 1880’s was proving to be inadequate, so plans were made for a replacement.  Property at the other end of the block was acquired and William Waters of Oshkosh was hired to draw up blueprints.  A notice in the Appleton Post of 8/23 1883 reported that the contract for construction had been let to H. G. Ashman.  On June 26, 1884, a large article appeared on the front page one of the Appleton Post heralding the opening of the new hall.  It gave a short history of the society and a full description of the building, which sat on a high foundation 60’ x 30’, the overall height of the structure was fifty feet. The basement contained a gymnasium, dining room, kitchen, five dressing rooms for use by performers and a furnace room.  On the main floor there was a stage and auditorium and gallery with seating for 1300 as well as two anti-rooms and ticket office. Interior frescos were painted by Mr. Louis Loeffler of Milwaukee, the total cost of the building was estimated to be $16,700.   But for a large cupola which graced the front elevation the building bore a slight resemblance to the Grand Opera House in Oshkosh which was completed just a year earlier.

The Turner Society ran the hall for the next ten years, but things must have faltered for a missive appeared in Appleton Post on May 2, 1895, announcing the hall was remodeled and would reopen under new management as Central Music Hall.  Central Music Hall was around until 1900 when their neighbor Wisconsin Grain and Malt Company bought the building and converted to a malt house thus making the company the second largest malt supplier in the state.  The building has long since been raised and newer construction occupies the lot.