The Eau Claire Area Destination Event Center, Located in Beautiful Osseo, WI
THE CONDENSERY Wedding Meeting and Event Center
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715-215-1366
MORE ABOUT THE CONDENSERY Weddings, Meetings and Event Center
Vintage Venue, Modern Class Meaning
When Nels Gunderson purchased The Condensery, there was a lot of discussion between invested parties on what they thought they should do with the building. Banquet halls and a brewery we not at the top of our list from the get go, but as the investors pealed back the layers of this amazing 100 year old superstructure that option quickly rose to the top. When we finally cleared all the dust, and removed all of the trash we could really see the elegant beauty that was The Condensery. Everything about this vintage building, from the exposed rough cut rafters to the amazingly preserved wood and quarry tile floors made investers unanimously say yes to the idea that you see today in the nearly 25,000 sq ft reclaimed space in the upper level. Our goals were simple, turn a 113 year old building into a banquet destination that offers all of the modern amenities of a traditional meeting space and so much more.
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The historic Condensery building has deep rooted history. The recently finished preservation project brings it to full use as an added amenities to the community and region as a destination event facility. The reclaimed facility now housing the famous Northwoods Brew Pub and The Condensery wedding, Meeting, and Event Center, are a great place to plan your next outing or event.
Plan with us... Make it a date!
PRESENTING THE CONDENSERY! A FIRST-IN-CLASS "VINTAGE VENUE" AND "MODERN CLASS" WEDDING MEETING AND EVENT CENTER LOCATED IN OSSEO WISCONSIN. A DESTINATION EVENT CENTER.
The Condensery is a blend of old and new design perfect for your event. Whether it be a wedding reception, company meeting, or an anniversary, holiday, or any other party we can accomodate various sized groups.
In the early days of The Condenserys life, the factory condensed milk for everyday use. This is a product we don’t use much anymore thanks to modern day refrigeration and pasteurization techniques but over 100 years ago that was not a luxury that existed in great quantity. The Condensery has gone through many renovations in its lifetime, and the largest two coming at a time where our country needed boosted production to feed our military troops overseas.
World War One brought the first major expansion of the building adding the second section of the building to the east both on the lower and upper floors. It also brought additional rail car capacity which was the main mode of transportation for the finished goods in those days. Keep in mind that the building was originally constructed as a two story building offering the ease of loading train cars from the second floor on The Condensery’s very own rail spur. The building was two stories tall all the way around, which is a little hard to believe when you look at it today.
In the Second World War, The Condensery was added onto again off of the WWI expansion to the east. With this expansion brought the advent of the milk truck and the start of the semi-truck we know of today. The north side of the building was backfilled, and widows mortared shut in the first story to make way for this new avenue of distribution. The unattached shed on the north side of the building was used as a milk unloading station for cans of milk to be moved into the production floor via rolling conveyers.
During the mid-1970’s with refrigeration and other technologies progressing, the consumer needs for the basic milk products like those produced here diminished and the plant was forced to close. The building played host to a few other businesses in the years to follow but basically falling vacant in the late 1980’s.
When we first laid eyes on the building, it was classic car storage basically. Due to the buildings deminishing state pigeons and other unwanted guests were about its only inhabitants during the summer months. For years we watched the building as it continued its path to almost utter disrepair when finally the right opportunity met one of our owners, Nels Gunderson, on the right day. The purchase was completed and then the question, what do we do with it?
The upstairs seemed to lend itself to banquet space with beautiful wide open rooms complemented by the elegant wood rafters and quarry tile and original wood floors. However it was no easy renovation. Countless hours of manual labor to get it to the point where we could even think about bringing an engineer in to analyze the building coupled with many nights sitting on the dusty wood floors trying to figure out how to design and or rebuild each of the buildings amazing characteristics. This was a project that would require skills and knowledge you just don’t see in your average contractor today. The set of skills required to do such a job are just not used in today’s structures anymore. Many different trades contractors and individuals played large rolls in this project. An incredible outcome and we commend them all.
Roughly two years later, and much blood, sweat and tears the building you see today as "The Condensery" was finally completed. The perfect "Vintage Venue, with complementing Modern Class" in it's fullness was born. Throw in a Brew pub on the first floor and a glass elevator to go from floor to floor and we have a recipe for amazing memories from weddings, meetings and event or just a great Friday night fish fry at the Northwoods Brew Pub downstairs.
Building HISTORY The Condensery Story
For those of you that might be curious, a Condensery, is a place where milk is condensed from its original form into other products such as condensed, or powdered milk. Some of the cooks in the audience may know what those products are used for today, but the main purpose of this building in its original use was to fill a much more fundamental need.