Artist representation of La Crosse (1867).Former post office in La CrossePearl Street in Downtown La Crosse in the summer of 1939.
18th century
The first Europeans to see the region were French fur traders who traveled the Mississippi River in the late 17th century. There is no written record of any visit to the site until 1805, when Lt. Zebulon Pike mounted an expedition up the Mississippi River for the United States. Pike recorded the location's name as "Prairie La Crosse". The name originated from the game with sticks that resembled a bishop's crozier or la crosse in French, which was played by Native Americans there.[11][12]
19th century
In 1841, the first white settlement at La Crosse was established when Nathan Myrick, a New York native, moved to the village at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin to work in the fur trade. Myrick was disappointed to find that because many fur traders were already well-entrenched there, there were no openings for him in the trade. As a result, he decided to establish a trading post upriver at the then still unsettled site of Prairie La Crosse. In 1841, he built a temporary trading post on Barron Island (now called Pettibone Park), which lies just west of La Crosse's present downtown. The following year, Myrick relocated the post to the mainland prairie, partnering with H. J. B. Miller to run the outfit.[13]
The spot Myrick chose to build his trading post proved ideal for settlement. It was near the junction of the Black, La Crosse, and Mississippi Rivers. In addition, the post was built at one of the few points along the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River where a broad plain, ideal for development, existed between the river's bank and the tall bluffs that line the river valley. Because of these advantages, a small village grew around Myrick's trading post in the 1840s.
In 1844, a small Mormon community settled at La Crosse, building several dozen cabins a few miles (kilometers) south of Myrick's post. Although these settlers relocated away from the Midwest after just a year, the land they occupied near La Crosse continues to bear the name Mormon Coulee.[14] On June 23, 1850, Father James Lloyd Breck of the Episcopal Church said the first Christian liturgy on top of Grandad Bluff.[15] Today, a monument to that event stands atop the bluff, near the parking lot at a scenic overlook.
More permanent development took place closer to Myrick's trading post, where stores, a hotel, and a post office were constructed during the 1840s. Under the direction of Timothy Burns, lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, surveyor William Hood platted the village in 1851. This opened it up for further settlement, which was achieved rapidly as a result of promotion of the city in eastern newspapers. By 1855, La Crosse had grown in population to nearly 2,000 residents, leading to its incorporation in 1856. The city grew even more rapidly after 1858 with the completion of the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad, the second railroad connecting Milwaukee to the Mississippi River.
During the second half of the 19th century, La Crosse grew to become one of the largest cities in Wisconsin.[16] It was a center of the lumber industry, for logs cut in the interior of the state could be rafted down the Black River toward sawmills built in the city. La Crosse also became a center for the brewing industry and other manufacturers that saw advantages in the city's location adjacent to major transportation arteries, such as the Mississippi River and the railroad between Milwaukee and St. Paul, Minnesota.
20th century
Around the turn of the 20th century, the city became a center for education, with three colleges and universities established in the city between 1890 and 1912. Similar to cities across the country, La Crosse saw population stagnation in the latter half of the 20th century as a result of suburbanization. Since 1966, La Crosse has seen its population grow by 10.73%, while its area, miles of sewer, and miles of water mains each grew by more than 50%.[17][18] La Crosse remains the largest city on Wisconsin's western border, and the educational institutions in the city have recently led it toward becoming a regional technology and medical hub.
21st century
In 2016, Mayor Tim Kabat and former Mayor John Medinger issued a proclamation apologizing for La Crosse's history as a sundown town that discriminated against African Americans.[19]
La Crosse is located on the western border of the midsection of Wisconsin, on a broad alluvial plain along the east side of the Mississippi River. The Black River empties into the Mississippi north of the city, and the La Crosse River flows into the Mississippi just north of the downtown area. Just upriver from its mouth, this river broadens into a marshland that splits the city into two distinct sections, north and south.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 23.79 square miles (61.62 km2), of which, 21.7 square miles (56.20 km2) is land and 2.08 square miles (5.39 km2) is water.[20]
Surrounding the relatively flat prairie valley where La Crosse lies are towering 500-foot (150 m) bluffs, one of the most prominent of which is Grandad Bluff (mentioned in Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain), which has an overlook of the three states region. This feature typifies the topography of the Driftless Area in which La Crosse sits. This rugged region is composed of high ridges dissected by narrow valleys called coulees, a French term. As a result, the area around La Crosse is frequently referred to as the "Coulee Region".[21]
Climate
La Crosse's location in the United States' Upper Midwest gives the area a temperate, continental climate.[22] The warmest month of the year is July, when the average high temperature is 85.4 °F (29.7 °C), with overnight low temperatures averaging 64.5 °F (18.1 °C). January is the coldest month, with high temperatures averaging 27.4 °F (−2.6 °C), with the overnight low temperatures around 10.5 °F (−11.9 °C).[23]
As of the census of 2020,[33] the population was 52,680. The population density was 2,427.3 inhabitants per square mile (937.2/km2). There were 24,221 housing units at an average density of 1,116.0 per square mile (430.9/km2). The population living in college or university student housing was 3,897. The racial makeup of the city was 85.6% White, 4.9% Asian, 2.9% Black or African American, 0.5% Native American, 1.2% from other races, and 4.9% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 3.2% Hispanic or Latino of any race.
According to the American Community Survey estimates for 2016–2020, the median income for a household in the city was $46,438, and the median income for a family was $66,928. Male full-time workers had a median income of $43,438 versus $37,215 for female workers. The per capita income for the city was $27,398. About 7.9% of families and 22.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.6% of those under age 18 and 10.9% of those age 65 or over.[34] Of the population age 25 and over, 93.9% were high school graduates or higher and 36.5% had a bachelor's degree or higher.[35]
Per the 2022 American Community Survey five-year estimates, the Hmong population was 1,435 comprising approximately 60% of the city's Asian population.[36]
Other religious groups within the city include: the Congregation Sons of Abraham, a Jewish synagogue; the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of La Crosse, which has held services since 1951;[44] the Islamic Society Othman Bin Afaan; and the Hmong Faith Alliance Church.
La Crosse and the surrounding communities form a regional commercial center and shopping hub. In the northeastern region of the city lies the area's largest shopping center, Valley View Mall. The surrounding area includes numerous big-box stores, and many restaurants. Other shopping centers in the La Crosse region include Three Rivers Plaza, Marsh View Center, Shelby Mall, Jackson Plaza, Bridgeview Plaza, and the Village Shopping Center. Downtown La Crosse has experienced a resurgence in recent years, providing shopping, farmers' markets, hotels, restaurants, and specialty shops.
Arts and culture
La Crosse has over 30 active arts organizations.[53] The Pump House Regional Arts Center hosts visual arts exhibits throughout the year plus its own series of jazz, folk, and blues performers. The La Crosse Symphony is the city's regional orchestra and the La Crosse Community Theater has won both regional and national acclaim.[citation needed] The city is home to the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps, a member of Drum Corps International. Other arts sites include Viterbo University Fine Arts building, UW–La Crosse Art Gallery and Theater, and the La Crosse Center, which hosts national performers.[54][55] Local sculptor Elmer Petersen has created sculptures that are exhibited throughout the downtown area, including La Crosse Players and the Eagle in Riverside Park.[56] It also hosts a yearly St Patrick's Day Parade as well as Irishfest La Crosse in August[57]
Riverside Park is situated on the riverfront of downtown La Crosse near the Blue Bridges. It hosts events such as Riverfest, Fourth of July fireworks, Oktoberfest, and the Rotary Lights. Several steamboats make stops along the river in the park, including the American Queen, La Crosse Queen, and Julia Belle Swain. The park has walking/running trails.[65] The park was previously home to a controversial Statue of Hiawatha. Long standing public debate about whether the statue was offensive or presented a caricature based on stereotypes of Native Americans eventually led to its removal in 2020, nearly 60 years after it was erected.[66][67]
Pettibone Park is located on Baron Island, across the river from Riverside Park and the downtown area. The island was originally part of the state of Minnesota. The land was transferred to Wisconsin and eventually the City of La Crosse following a border dispute that was resolved in 1919.[68] Today the park has a variety of recreational facilities, including a beach and disc golf course.
An extensive marsh, a natural floodplain created by the La Crosse River, divides the city between north and south. The area is protected as an important wildlife habitat and watershed to the Mississippi River. Several biking and walking paths cross through the marshland which is also used for canoeing, fishing and trapping.[69] On the southern end of the marsh lies Myrick Park. The park was named after the city's first European settler: Nathan Myrick. It has many recreational amenities as well as a nature center and environmental education department.[70] Hunting and fishing are very popular all seasons of the year and the Mississippi and other rivers, sloughs, creeks, lakes, the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife Refuge and hilltops and valleys with public woodlands are available to sportsmen and families.
Government
La Crosse City Hall
The city government employs a weak mayor form of the mayor-council system. The mayor is elected at-large, while the 13 members of the Common Council are elected per aldermanic districts.[71] Mitch Reynolds defeated Vicki Markussen in the 2021 La Crosse Mayoral election, succeeding retiring incumbent Tim Kabat. Kabat served as Mayor from 2013 to 2021.[72]
Both the city and county of La Crosse have voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1988.[73] In the 2016 Presidential Election, Hillary Clinton won the City of La Crosse with 58% of the vote.[74] In the 2012 presidential election, Barack Obama won 65% of the vote in the City of La Crosse[75] and 58% of La Crosse County.[76] In 2014, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ranked La Crosse as one of Wisconsin's top performing Democratic cities.[77]
The La Crosse area is served by the School District of La Crosse, which as of 2022, has a total enrollment of 6,139 students.[87] As of 2021, the district has 16 separate facilities, providing a total of 20 elementary, middle, high, and charter school programs.[88] In 2021, the school district proposed to consolidate the district's largest high schools, Central High School and Logan High School, into a new facility. This plan was voted down in a district-wide referendum in November 2022.[89]
Lutheran private schools in La Crosse include First Lutheran School, Immanuel Lutheran School, and Mt. Calvary-Grace Lutheran School, which are part of the La Crosse Area Lutheran Schools organization and affiliated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. The region's largest Lutheran high school, Luther High School is located in Onalaska, Wisconsin.[92]
La Crosse is the home of three regional colleges and universities. The University of Wisconsin–La Crosse is the region's leading public university. Western Technical College is a public community college located in the city. La Crosse is also home to Viterbo University, a Roman Catholic private institution.[93] The Health Science Center exists as a combined effort of all the La Crosse medical centers, universities, and government agencies with a goal of advancing students in the medical fields.[citation needed]
Media
Print
La Crosse's largest newspaper is the daily La Crosse Tribune which serves the Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa regions. The Racquet is the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse's free weekly paper. Free weekly tabloids include the Foxxy Shopper and the Buyer's Express. Regional magazines, including the Coulee Parenting Connection and the Coulee Region Women, are also produced in the city.
The Mississippi River Bridge, also known as the Cass St. bridge and the newer Cameron Street bridge (photo with blue arch) both connect downtown La Crosse with La Crescent, Minnesota. These two bridges cross the Mississippi River, as does the Interstate 90 bridge located just northwest of La Crosse, connecting Wisconsin and Minnesota.[citation needed]
In 2012, the City of La Crosse was the first city in Wisconsin to pass a Green Complete Streets ordinance. This ordinance requires that when roads are reconstructed the needs of stormwater management and the safety of bicycles and pedestrians are taken into account in the new design. The same year, the city passed the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan to guide improvements to the transportation network for those walking or cycling in the city.[95]
By 2018, La Crosse had 7.7 miles (12.4 km) of on-street bike lanes, 17.1 miles (27.5 km) of paved bike paths, and 12 miles (19 km) of unpaved paths.[96] As of 2021, however, La Crosse had no protected bike lanes, while bike infrastructure has generally gone unmaintained[clarification needed] through the winter months.[citation needed]
A new bikeshare system debuted in downtown La Crosse in April 2021 through a partnership of La Crosse Neighborhoods, Inc and Koloni, an Iowa based bikeshare company. It is hoped that this service will be expanded across the city in the near future. The system has grown each year from 8 bikeshare stations and 40 bikes available for use in 2021, to 10 stations and 50 bikes in 2022 and to 15 stations and 75 bikes in 2023.[97][98]
Public transit in La Crosse began with the opening of a horse-drawn streetcar line in 1878. Over time, more streetcar lines were added, and by 1893, all streetcars had been electrified. Beginning in the early 20th century, however, increasing car ownership led to a decline of the privately run streetcar system. As a result, buses began to replace streetcars throughout the city. By November 1945, the last streetcar line closed. The City of La Crosse took over operations of the buses in the 1970s from the Mississippi Valley Public Service Company, as the buses could no longer be operated profitably.[citation needed]
In 1945, in the first timetable after streetcar service had ended, there were four bus routes. The earliest bus left at 5:40 am and the last bus returned at 1:00 am. Buses ran at a 10 to 15-minute headway throughout the day. In total, the buses provided 1519.95 hours of service per week. Today, in 2021, the MTU provides only 1141.6 hours of service per week, a decline of 24.89%.[citation needed]
The La Crosse Municipal Transit Utility bus service, with routes reaching out to the suburbs, served over one million users in 2007.[99] As of 2021, the MTU operates 11 routes with the earliest buses beginning their routes at 5:12 am and running until 10:40 pm at the latest.[100]
In addition to the MTU, a regional bus service, Scenic Mississippi Regional Transit, provides service to Prairie du Chien, Viroqua, Tomah, and points in-between. The service has four routes, which only run on weekdays.[101]
The first rail line to reach La Crosse arrived in 1858 from Milwaukee constructed by the Milwaukee & La Crosse Railroad. This later became the main line of the Milwaukee Road. After the Milwaukee Road went bankrupt it became part of the Soo Line Railroad in 1985 and later came under the control of Canadian Pacific Railway. This line provides the track on which the La Crosse Amtrak station is located, served daily by the Empire Builder between Chicago and Seattle or Portland. In May 2024, the station added a daily round-trip on the new Borealis train between Chicago and St. Paul.[102]
Jefferson Lines serves La Crosse with one daily bus each way running between Minneapolis and Milwaukee via Rochester and Madison.[103] In addition, Badger Bus offers service on Fridays and Sundays during the school year between Madison and Minneapolis via La Crosse.[104] Both Jefferson Lines and Badger Bus make stops at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse Student Union, while Jefferson Lines also stops at the downtown Grand River Station transit hub.[105]
Lock and Dam No. 7 on the Mississippi River is located approximately 4.5 miles (7.2 km) upstream from Downtown La Crosse.[citation needed]
Utilities
La Crosse's tap drinking water, which is raised from a deep underground Artesian aquifer, won the best natural tasting water award in September 2007 in a statewide tasting competition hosted by the Wisconsin Water Association. The city competed against groundwater and surface water utilities from Algoma, Appleton, Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee, Pell Lake, Shawano, Shawano Lake and Watertown at the annual meeting of the association. La Crosse's drinking water is pumped from deep ground wells to a distribution center and is treated with chlorine and fluoride; some wells are also treated with polyphosphate.[citation needed]
In recent years, the city discovered PFAS in the groundwater on French Island, WI as a result of fire fighting foam used at the La Crosse Regional Airport. This has led[when?] to the closure of two municipal wells, as well as prevented residents of parts of the Town of Campbell, WI from safely using their private wells.[106] Over 500 wells on French Island have been contaminated and the State of Wisconsin has supplied bottled water to the affected residents.[107]
Gundersen Health System is a nationally ranked health care system located in La Crosse that is also an ACS nationally certified Level II Trauma Center. It is the primary hospital associated with the Gundersen Clinic medical group and the location of the Western campus for the University of Wisconsin Medical School. With its main campus located in La Crosse, the system also manages 23 locations throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa with nearly 6,000 employees.[108][109] In 2014, Gundersen Health received the Healthgrades America's 50 Best Hospitals™ designation, placing the system among the top 1 percent of hospitals nationwide.[110]
The Franciscan Skemp Medical Center is an affiliate of the Mayo Clinic. Franciscan Skemp, which was the first western Wisconsin hospital to open its doors in 1883 as St. Francis Hospital, was started by the Catholic Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, who still are associated with the medical center. In 1995, Franciscan Skemp merged with Mayo Clinic Health Systems in Rochester, Minnesota, located 60 miles away. A new trauma and emergency department, helicopter pad, and surgery wing recently opened in 2007.[111]
The Health Science Center, located on the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse campus, is a combined effort of both medical centers, UW–La Crosse, Viterbo University, Western College, the School District of La Crosse, and various government educational groups. The purpose was to prepare and train students for advancement in the medical field.[112]
^Vian, Jourdan (December 11, 2016). "La Crosse mayors acknowledge city's inequitable past". Star Tribune. Minneapolis. p. B8 – via Newspapers.com. The proclamation came a little over a month after Kabat apologized for La Crosse's history as a 'sundown town,' a city or village with either formal or informal codes that pushed black people out of the community after sundown, after a presentation from sociologist James Loewen at La Crosse City Hall. Loewen was invited by the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse and the city's Human Rights Commission.
^Mean monthly maxima and minima (i.e. the expected highest and lowest temperature readings at any point during the year or given month) calculated based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020.
^"Station: La Crosse Muni AP, WI". U.S. Climate Normals 2020: U.S. Monthly Climate Normals (1991–2020). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
