97-year-old building to be transformed into gallery

By Nick Halter
Wausau Daily Herald

Derek Chambers is not a religious man, but tearing out the old pews and carpeting from a 97-year-old church on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Thomas Street will be painful for him.

In order for him to turn the vacant church into an art gallery, he has to clear it of most of its remaining century-old religious artifacts. The church has transformed over the years from a Sunday school for the rough and tumble southwest Wausau boys to a Baptist church.

"I'm finding it surprisingly hard to see that aspect of the church go," he said Wednesday, staring out at the altar and organ.

Chambers, 46, is a stained-glass artist who intends to transform the vacant church into a gallery in which artists can show their work and teach classes. Along with his stained-glass work, the gallery will feature work from potters, painters and woodworkers.

But Chambers, who was raised in Rhinelander, says he wants to give the church a respectful good-bye. He's selling the church organ to a man starting a new church, and he is donating the carpeting to St. Matthew Parish in Wausau, which will ship the carpeting to Jamaica to help the poor.

He also is planning one last ceremony Saturday to honor the old chapel before he begins the renovation, aiming for a fall 2010 opening.

Pat and Jeanne Wallschlaeger of Wausau will renew their wedding vows after nearly 40 years, followed by a blessing of the church from their pastor, the Rev. Robert Thorn of St. Matthew Parish.

"I thought it would be neat to have something that sent the church off in a different direction," Jeanne said.

History

The church began as a Sunday school in 1912, when it was discovered by the Presbyterian Church that the young ruffians of southwest Wausau needed a place to learn and worship, according to a history of the First Presbyterian Church. The nearest Presbyterian church back then was on Grant Street in downtown Wausau, which was not easily accessible to the kids in southwest Wausau.

At its peak, the Underwood Chapel enrolled as many as 200 students in its Sunday school program. From 1920 to 1950, it also served as the headquarters for a local Boy Scouts troop, according to a history of the local Boy Scouts written by former scoutmaster Richard Eiseman.

The building was sold in the late 1970s and converted to a Baptist church, first called Mount View Baptist Church and later Harvest Baptist Church. It's unknown when that church closed, but Chambers believes it was around 2002 because that is the date that the building's fire extinguishers last were inspected.

The central idea of the original structure, however, was for education and outreach, said Mary Sperduto, a member and historian of the First Presbyterian Church in Wausau. There were several small chapels like it in the Marathon County area, and each served a neighborhood.

"The chapels were really all about community outreach and ministering to the children," she said.

Continuing the legacy

Chambers said he will continue the general idea of the early Presbyterians by using the building as a classroom. Along with the art gallery, Chambers and other artists will teach classes.

After taking a stained-glass class in 1988, Chambers has honed his skills and gone on to restore a number of churches and government buildings. He has done work on the Wisconsin State Capitol, Oneida County Courthouse and Frank Lloyd Wright's "Airplane" house in Madison, for example.

Chambers suffers from fibromyalgia, a chronic muscle condition that causes him constant pain and fatigue. As a result, he's only able to work about four hours a day on the church, which will make the renovation -- which he is doing mostly on his own -- a labor of love.

He's hoping that the artists he brings in and teaches will someday take over the business, because he's concerned his condition will get worse.

"This is my last hurrah," he said.

The ceremony

The Wallschlaegers came to know Chambers after their son Brian, also a stained-glass artist, befriended him.

Pat Wallschlaeger said he and his wife love historic buildings and are thrilled at the idea of renewing their wedding vows in a place in which countless other couples have been married during the past 97 years.

Pat Wallschlaeger said the couple originally expected just a few family and friends to attend the ceremony, but more friends became interested and the list is past 50 now.

"I fell in love with it a little bit," Pat Wallschlaeger said of the church. "We could do our wedding vows in our own church, but then I thought about the last 100 years and how many people have gone through with funerals and weddings (at the soon-to-be renovated church)."