HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Wausau's oldest commercial building, site of an 1880 murder inside a dentist's office
501 Third St N, Wausau, WI 54403
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Exterior viewing free; building contains ground-floor retail tenants with their own hours
Access
Wheelchair OK
Downtown sidewalk access; building exterior fully street-accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1875 · Oldest Commercial Building in Wausau · Italianate Commercial Architecture · 1880 Murder of Dr. E.L. Hagel · Early Wausau Legal History
The McCrossen Block was constructed in 1875, making it the oldest surviving commercial building in Wausau by several years. Its Italianate Commercial architecture — distinctive for its bracketed cornice, tall windows, and flat-fronted upper stories — was a common choice for downtown commercial investment in Wisconsin during the 1870s land and trade boom.
The building's permanent place in Wausau's record comes from an event on September 16, 1880. Dentist J.C. Bennet and physician Dr. E.L. Hagel had been engaged in a professional dispute, the specifics of which were documented in the subsequent trial. Bennet entered Hagel's office in the McCrossen Block and shot him. Hagel died from the wound.
Bennet was tried, convicted of murder, and sentenced to life in prison. The Wausau City Pages documented the case as one of the city's first recorded homicides, and the building's connection to the event has been noted consistently in local historical accounts. The crime predates the marathon-county courthouse and occurred during a period when Wausau was still establishing its civic institutions.
The building remains standing at 501 Third St N and continues in commercial use. Its Italianate facade has been identified in multiple local histories as a reference point for nineteenth-century downtown Wausau, and the McCrossen family for whom it was named were among the city's early commercial landholders.
Sources
The McCrossen Block's reputation in Wausau's haunted geography rests almost entirely on the documented 1880 murder of Dr. E.L. Hagel, rather than on reported paranormal phenomena of the poltergeist or apparition type. Visit Wausau and the Wausau City Pages both describe the building as carrying an eerie atmosphere, but the sourcing for that quality points back to the building's history rather than to specific investigator reports.
Bennet shot Hagel in the office they shared or adjoined in the McCrossen Block. The crime was visible to Wausau's early community at a time when the town's population was small enough that a violent death in a professional building had direct social weight. Bennet's life sentence would have circulated as common knowledge.
The building's sustained commercial use over nearly 150 years means it lacks the theatrical abandonment of a prison or asylum, but its age and the specificity of the documented event make it a reference point on Wausau historical tours. Local guides and publications treat the McCrossen Block as a place where the weight of the documented past is legible in the structure itself.
Notable Entities
The McCrossen Block at 501 Third St N is Wausau's oldest surviving commercial building. Its Italianate Commercial facade dates to 1875, and the upper floors retain original detailing. The office where Dr. E.L. Hagel was shot in 1880 was on the upper floors; the building's exterior and streetscape are freely viewable from downtown.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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