Main Street, Historical Society eyeing signage to accompany planned downtown historical marker

TOMAHAWK – A pair of local organizations who have teamed up to reboot a project that had been shelved for a number of years are now looking to expand the initiative even further.

Last July, Tomahawk Main Street Inc. and the Tomahawk Area Historical Society presented the City of Tomahawk Common Council with a proposal to place a historical marker in downtown Tomahawk. The Historical Society had sought to do so about a decade prior, but the plan ultimately fell through after the organization was unable to raise the needed funds.

The organizations are now breathing new life into the initiative. After a few tweaks to the original proposal were made, the city gave Main Street and the Historical Society the green light to utilize the boulevard on N. Tomahawk Ave., near the William H. Bradley mural on the west side of Walker’s General Store. 

Meanwhile, Main Street Executive Director Jennifer Turkiewicz and Kay Kissinger Wolf of the Historical Society finalized and submitted the necessary application to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

During the City of Tomahawk Board of Public Works meeting at City Hall on Tuesday, April 28, Turkiewicz said the Wisconsin Historical Society is close to giving the thumbs up to the sign’s verbiage. Turkiewicz noted that the state-level organization is “very much on board with getting it approved.”

With the project fully underway, Main Street and the Historical Society are also looking to add supplementary signage to accompany the planned marker.

Turkiewicz explained that while the marker would provide a timeline of events that happened near the intersection of N. Tomahawk Ave. and W. Wisconsin Ave., the signs would feature “more history and more understanding of all those amazing events that happened in our downtown.”

In a proposal provided to the board, Turkiewicz said Main Street and the Historical Society are currently raising funds and looking into grant opportunities to help offset the costs of implementing the signage.

“(Main Street and the Historical Society) both feel this would be a wonderful addition to our downtown,” the proposal stated. “The information and placement with the Bradley Mural will enhance the education of our history to not only our community members, but to visitors to our beautiful downtown area.”

The organizations are working with the Bureau of Correctional Enterprises (BEC) on the proposed supplemental signage.

There was also discussion of placing an original safe from the historic Bradley Bank in the boulevard as another historical attraction.

Turkiewicz told the Tomahawk Leader that when the double-decker safe needed to be removed from the former bank upon Kinship of Tomahawk’s relocation to the building, Main Street had hoped to display it in their downtown office. However, the building’s floor is unable to support it, so Main Street shifted its focus to potentially including the safe in the historic displays planned for the boulevard. 

Turkiewicz said Main Street hopes to build a replica of the former Tomahawk Regional Chamber of Commerce log cabin informational booth to house the safe, allowing the public to view it.

During the meeting, City of Tomahawk Streets Department Leadperson Nick Rosenmeier noted that the city utilizes a portion of the boulevard for snow storage.

The board ultimately voted to allow Main Street and the Historical Society to move forward with the signage project while holding off on the safe proposal.