Mormon Coulee Memorial Park

Farmland in the Town of Shelby was the starting point for the La Crosse County Cemetery Association to begin construction of Mormon Coulee Memorial Park. The cemetery is located about 2½ miles southeast of La Crosse.

James "Jake" and Janet Hoeschler were approached in the 1950s by Ken and Doris Loehning of Neenah about developing a for-profit cemetery with would have ground level grave markers to give the appearance of a park. Shortly afterwards, the Cemetery Association was organized in Dec. 1956.

The initial land purchase was 10 acres in Dec. 1956 from James W. & Janet Hoeschler [La Crosse County Register of Deeds volume 268 page 151]. The cemetery grew through many land acquisitions, but then later sold off sections. The cemetery now totals 14.26 acres.

Laurence Holmes, a landscape architect, was chosen to lay out a plan for the full development of a memorial park. Holmes chose the present location off of Bloomer Mill Road on the Warner Kish farm because of its beautiful setting. A marble statue called the Four Apostles by the artist Bernard Zuckerman completed in 1959 is the focal point of the cemetery.

The first mausoleum, which holds 680 crypts, was named Garden of Peace and it opened in 1980. In the 1980s two more mausoleums were constructed. A fourth mausoleum was called the Chapel of Eternal Light.

In Feb. 1998, the Loewen Group International, Inc., of Canada bought the management rights to the cemetery from Richard & Donna Tucker and Richard Cody. While Loewen declared bankruptcy in June 1999, the cemetery continues to run smoothly.

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