Congress Bar

The Pit was run by Vicky Hasko in the basement/first floor of the Hotel Central on the corner of 1st and Scott Streets. It was listed as both 100 Scott Street and 104 Scott Street, depending on the year.

Vicky's parents, John and Georgene Hasko, were the previous operators. They'd run a bar in Mosinee, Illinois, after John returned from WWII and the couple was married. In 1957, they moved to Wausau and opened Genie's Central Bar in the basement of the Central Hotel (aka the Hotel Central). The hotel was a 1900 Wausau landmark. By the late 1970s, it had become more of an apartment building than a hotel.

In 1974, Vicky Hasko took over the family bar, renaming it "The Pit."  She continued to own and run the bar for about 15 years, and then she seems to have relocated to Las Vegas, NV. 

A 1986 fire significantly damaged the third floor of the building. When Vicky left Wausau in 1988, the bar was closed and the basement space was taken over by the Wausau Academy of Karate. They were only there until summer 1989, when a second major fire devastated the building. 

The only available photo of the building, which appears above, was taken at the scene of the fire.

The City of Wausau wanted the open land for a major convention center project in downtown Wausau. That project ultimately stalled out in the early 1990s, and the city left the vacant lot for parking. And that's how it remains today.

Thank you to the Marathon County Historical Society for contributing to this entry.