— Mar 22, 2023
Neighbors Making History: Charles M. Horton - Bridge Builder
Charles M. Horton lived in La Crosse at the turn of the 20th century, and he left behind some unique historical artifacts on the landscape of La Crosse County.
— Mar 2, 2023
1932 George Washington Bicentennial Celebration
The 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth was a reason for La Crosse and its citizens to celebrate.
— Feb 21, 2023
Birth Control Providers and Limitations in 1930s Wisconsin
At the beginning of the Great Depression and throughout the 1930s, a broader movement to provide birth control and contraception began to spread throughout the United States. This movement hit La Crosse when Dr. Lillian Tracey Welda established her osteopathic clinic and began to provide birth control in 1931.
— Feb 7, 2023
Hmong Diaspora Exhibit
From January 22 to February 28, 2023, a boutique exhibition of vintage Hmong clothing, artifacts, and history exploring the long journey from the mountains of Laos, across the Mekong to the shores of the Mississippi will be on display at the La Crosse Public Library.
— Jan 24, 2023
Port-A-Potties are Really Mobile Outhouses
The grass is greener where the outhouse stood (unsubstantiated but perhaps a take-off of a poem by Walt Whitman).
— Jan 10, 2023
Neighbors Making History: Ford Sterling, "La Crosse's Movie Star"
In the years just before World War I, Ford Sterling was starting an almost 25-year career that would lead him to appearing in almost 300 Hollywood movies, largely by working for every major Hollywood studio from 1920 to 1930.
— Dec 20, 2022
Looking Back (2022)
A look back at the local history stories shared by the La Crosse Public Library Archives in 2022.
— Dec 1, 2022
Dorothea M. Fox: The Pedaling Librarian
In August 1939, a librarian working in Cedar Rapids, IA named Dorothea M. Fox decided to hop on her new, light-weight, 3-speed Schwinn and ride by herself to her childhood home in La Crosse.
— Nov 14, 2022
Houses for a Hundred Dollars
In 1888 a local contractor talked to a newspaper reporter about local building costs, "LA CROSSE IS THE PLACE TO BUILD CHEAP HOUSES"
— Oct 19, 2022
Lucky Lindy's Legacy
Charles Lindbergh Shannon or “Lindy” was known to La Crosse teenagers of the late 1950s and 1960s as the “man behind the music.”
— Oct 13, 2022
Neighbors Making History: Frank Pooler, "The Railroad Dick"
An Onalaska man, Frank Pooler, was a “railroad bull” or “railroad dick,” in La Crosse for 31 years.
— Oct 4, 2022
Abortion Access in La Crosse
Before the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, all abortions were illegal in the state of Wisconsin. But this doesn't mean they weren't performed. So what did this look like in La Crosse?