This 1962 photo shows the sign that was placed next to the "Hiawatha" statue in Riverside Park. It's not known when the sign was removed. Iâm so moved by all the heartfelt passion about the âHiawathaâ statue that itâs clear Iâm missing something.

I wanted to know more about the inspiration for the mighty statue, the history of the native people at the sacred place where three rivers meet.

Something so incredibly historic simply must have information explaining for tourists the world over and to residents of our region what inspired the majestic statue.

So, I headed to the foot of the statue on a foggy morning last week with the American Queen riverboat docked nearby to learn what I was missing.

Hereâs what I found.

In the base of the statue is a metal plaque that reads:

by La Crosse artist

assisted by his sons

Thatâs it.

Not a damned word about the dude towering over the plaque, the park and the confluence of three rivers.

Oh, thereâs another plaque nearbyÂ â with plenty of information about the sinking of the War Eagle in the Black River on May 14, 1870.

But the Native Americans who settled our prairie? The people who used to play a game here that came to be known as lacrosse?

Nope, not a word.

Not near the statue.

Not near the river.

Not near the nearby tourism bureau.

Not a thing. Not a word.

Thanks to the keepers of our local history, we know there used to be a sign next to the statue with the words:

"This Indian is symbolic of all of the Indians of the area and is dedicated particularly to the braves of the Winnebagoes. Among the most famous were chief Decorah and his son, Chief Winneshiek.â

But the sign is long gone.

Maybe itâs just as well. We couldnât have agreed on the wording anyway.

Of course, there were plenty of groups and people who opposed naming it Hiawatha from the start because Hiawatha doesnât represent local native peoples.

Some people pushed to name it for Decorah, but that obviously didnât fly.

For his part, the artist said he was trying to represent all native peoples, not just those who lived here.

So, we couldnât agree on what to name it from the start.

And weâve been fighting for years about whether itâs respectful and whether it should be located in Riverside Park.

And with all that fighting, weâve forgotten something â something that never comes up unless and until thereâs a threat about getting rid of the statue.

Our community has forgotten to tell the story of our Native American heritage on the prairie where three rivers meet.

La Crosse started as a trading post in Indian territory. The trail and the big river led to the prairie, a favorite gathering place for the Native Americans. The French named it Prairie La Crosse for the game they saw being played here by the Native Americans.

But thereâs nothing near the statue or in the park to say that.

Not a plaque. Not a word.

Itâs a teaching moment thatâs been missed since 1962. (Thank goodness thereâs a state-sponsored marker in La Crosseâs Red Cloud Park that presents our heritage to visitors.)

You would think we could stop fighting long enough to develop a plaque or a story board that tells an important story in our history, regardless of what happens to the statue.

Evidently, the fight is more important and more fun than telling that important story.

Other than the story of the sinking of the War Eagle, weâve missed the boat.

'Hiawatha' could find new home outside Riverside Park

Photos: 57 iconic places in the La Crosse area

Hometown Icon: La Crosse Oktoberfest

The La Crosse Oktoberfest USA celebration has been a hometown icon for more than five decades.

The brainchild of four community leadersÂ â Ray Ping of Ericksonâs Bakery, Roy Kumm of G. Heileman Brewing, John Coleman of Western Technical College and Don Rice of the former Exchange State Bank â the festival began as a way to breathe life and fun into an economically depressed city and blossomed into the biggest party this side of the Mississippi, drawing more than 100,000 to La Crosse and pumping millions of dollars into the local economy.

There was no festmaster at the first Oktoberfest in 1961, but there was a cow-chip throwing contest, greased-pig catching and âthe biggest parade La Crosse had ever seen,â said Duane Moore, 1997 festmaster and editor of the Oktoberfest 50th anniversary book, âThe Fest of Times.â

The celebration expanded after the first year, adding events and Royal Family positions and drawing big name entertainers including jazz musician Louis Armstrong.Â

âThose days, you could really get top names from across the country,â Moore said.

G. Heileman Brewing Co. had a strong presence in the Chicago market, which helped Oktoberfest attract traditional German singing groups. After they performed as an ensemble, the singers would break up into smaller groups and serenade festgoers on the street corners of downtown La Crosse.

And after the festival was over, employees from the brewery were released from their regular workday to clean up the streets, Moore said. Now, the city charges Oktoberfest a cleanup fee.

Oktoberfest nearly went broke in the late 1960s because the festival spent so much on big-name entertainment, and the La Crosse Common Council came within one vote of cancelling the event, Moore said. The La Crosse Chamber of Commerce, the original Oktoberfest organizer, passed the event on to the newly formed nonprofit, La Crosse Festivals, Inc.

In the years that followed, Oktoberfest became La Crosseâs signature event, earning the city national and international recognition for its fun, authentic festival.Â

La Crosseâs other festivalsÂ â Riverfest, Irishfest, Weinerfest, Rotary Lights â were all in some way inspired and shaped by the original Oktoberfest ideas, Moore said. âThe way to make it work is to rely on volunteers,â he said.

Hometown Icon: Boathouses

It could be a mere boat slip, or a floating cabin with the comforts of homeÂ â save for running water.

A little living room on the river is how one owner described his boathouse.

They trace their origins to the 19th century, when people made a living on the Mississippi RiverÂ â either transporting lumber, clamming for pearls, hunting, fishing and trapping.

Boathouses were common in La Crosse at the turn of the century, but it was the modernization of the Mississippi River shipping channel in the 1930s that apparently led to a surge in their popularity.

During the Great Depression, they sometimes served as homes.

A 1941 Tribune article indicated the houses had spread. âPractically the entire west bank of Copeland Park is lined with boathouses and houseboats, people maintaining residences in the latter.â

Shorter work weeks, outboard motors and vast pools of backwaters led to a boom in river recreation in the post-World War II era.

As of 2014, there were 102 boathouses within the city of La Crosse, the majority in the waters off Copeland Park.

Because they are on public waters, the boathouses are regulated by the Department of Natural Resources, which limits what owners can do with them. Repairs are allowed, but not improvements.

The federal Water Resources Development Act of 1986 prohibited the construction of new ones, though it permitted existing ones to be sold. In the 1970s, the DNR imposed restrictions that severely limited repairs, but there was an exemption for those designated as historic.

About half of those in La Crosse are designated historic structures, owing to their role in the cityâs social history.

Â "They're part of the history of the city,â boathouse owner Jerome Gundersen said in 2007. âAs long as the city's been here, the boathouses have been. Eliminating these is erasing a part of our history.â

Hometown Icon: The Pump House

The Pump House Regional Arts Center housed in one of downtown La Crosseâs historic buildings offers the finest in regional visual and performing art, its executive director Toni Asher said.

âWe produce innovative theater not done elsewhere in the region,â she said.

The building at 119 King St. was constructed in 1880 and housed the cityâs first main water pump. A water tower added in 1895, expanded pumping capacity from 2.5 million gallons of water daily to 12.5 million, according to the center. The city moved pumping operations to Myrick Park in 1913, and the building housed the streets department from 1926 to 1962.

Western Wisconsin Regional Arts began remodeling the building in 1977 for a regional arts center. The original wood ceiling was preserved, and wood from the cityâs old post office was used during renovations, according to the center.

The Pump House was added to the State and National Register of Historic PlacesÂ in 1979. Another round of renovations was completed in 1996.

The arts center features a 140-person capacity theater that showcases concerts, plays and films; three art galleries; a classroom; pottery studio; and meeting areas. The center also works with businesses, nonprofits groups, schools and universities to provide a setting for art and theater classes and displays student work, Asher said.

âWeâre very community-minded,â she said.

The galleries are open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays. There is no admission fee, but donations are accepted.

Hometown Icon: The Wegner Grotto

A quiet location near Hwys. 27 and 71 between Sparta and Cataract is where concrete monuments decorated with glass shards stand as the legacy of a German couple who enjoyed the freedom of their new country.

Paul and Matilda Wegner emigrated from Germany in 1885 and in 1889 purchased a farm near Cataract. The Wegners farmed until 1916 and moved to Bangor to operate a car dealership. They returned to the farm in 1927 after Paul retired and made it their summer home.

It was then that the WegnersÂ â who had been inspired by a visit to a grotto in Dickeyville, Wis. â began construction. From 1929 through the death of Paul in 1937, among their efforts was an American flag, a giant reproduction of their 50th anniversary birthday cake, a birdhouse, a 12-foot ocean liner, a prayer garden and peace monument. A large star is a memorial to mothers who lost sons in World War I, which was the case with Matilda.

The grotto is perhaps best known for its non-denominational tiny glass church, where weddings are still performed today with permission through the Monroe County Local History Room. The church holds seven people.

The Wegners had no formal art training. The structures are made of concrete with thousands of shards of broken glass, porcelain, bottles, seashells, arrowheads and other material. Matilda continued to work after Paulâs death, embellishing the nearby cemetery where they are buried. She died in 1942.

A concrete entry arch to the park has the word âHomeâ encrusted with glass. The grotto was purchased by the Kohler Foundation in the mid-1980s and was given to Monroe County as a park. There is no admission fee to visit the grotto.

Hometown Icon: FAST Corp.

A field two miles east of Sparta on Hwy. 21 has become the birthplace and dwelling place for super-sized roadside attractionsÂ â a dream-like, cartoonish landscape where real and mythical creatures mingle with people historic and fictional, where massive, disembodied heads sprout among sports mascots, giant fish and footwear and food items.

This is the âmold yardâ for Fiberglass, Animals, Shapes and Trademarks Corp., or FAST Corp., a company that, despite a few name changes,Â has put Sparta on the map since the 1950s for turning out custom fiberglass figures that, whether viewed as impressive or kitsch, definitely catch the eye.

âThe traditional roadside Americana,â said Darren Schauf, general manager since 2007 and the son of company owner Jim Schauf. The yard contains more than 600 indestructible molds and figures that have accumulated over the years on the off chance the company might need to replicate them someday. These fiberglass creations produced in Sparta can be seen in all 50 states and several other countries, and business remains strong, Schauf said.

A major part of the business in recent years has been water park slides. Other recent projects included a 12-foot San Francisco 49ers football helmet for the Leviâs Stadium and a 19-foot, seated Dalmatian dog an organization will use as a fundraiser by selling its spots, each with a light the owner can trigger electronically.

Hometown Icon: Galesville Square

Thereâs a sense of history in most Coulee Region communities, which is evident in the heart of downtown Galesville. The Downtown Galesville Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, and the public square is anchored by the bandstand, which was built in 1912.

The downtown was first platted in 1854, and most of the buildings date from the 1880s to early 1900s with brick facades and elaborate cornice detail. Many list the date of their construction. A fire in 2005 destroyed the Grover Building in the middle of Davis Street, but a historically appropriate facade filled in the gap. In 2013 a new convenience store was built on the square in the same fashion when another building was razed.

Galesville is steeped in history. Chief Decorah ruled a large Winnebago village nearby and a historical marker on Decorahâs Peak tells the story of how he routed a rival tribe in battle. His granddaughter Princess Marie Nounka is buried near Artic Springs on the north side of the lake that bears her name. Lake Marinuka was formed by when Beaver Creek was dammed for a mill. Founder Judge George Gale helped start Gale College, which today is Old Main, a community and arts center. The homestead of Alex A. Arnold, who helped start the county fair, is a 15-room Italianate farm house that sits on the northeast side of the city that is also open for tours.

A statue on the edge of the downtown pays tribute to the Rev. David O. Van Slyke, a Methodist farmer and preacher who published a booklet declaring that Galesville was the Garden of Eden. The statue by Galesville sculptor Elmer Petersen shows Van Slyke with an apple in one hand and a Bible in the other.

Hometown Icon: Trane Co.

âYou canât stop a Trane,â or so the slogan goes.

The ubiquitous home air conditioners are actually made in Tyler, Texas. The La Crosse plant specializes in HVAC equipment for large commercial buildings.

But people still ask for Trane out of brand loyalty and hometown pride, said Dean Hammes, whose Ron Hammes Refrigeration business sells and services Trane units.

After all, the company has long been the engine powering La Crosseâs economy.

Traneâs roots in La Crosse go back to 1885, when a Norwegian immigrant named James Trane opened a plumbing business. Trane later invented a low-pressure heating system and partnered with his son, Reuben, who had recently earned a college degree in mechanical engineering, to begin making them. Trane Co. incorporated in 1913, and later began making indoor air conditioners, a novel concept in 1931.

The company didnât become a leader in the residential air conditioning until 1982, when it purchased General Electricâs AC division, which included the Tyler plant.

While those units werenât made in La Crosse, a company spokeswoman said the aggressive move into the residential market âsubstantially increasedâ the size of the company.Â

In the early 1980s, Trane employed some 4,800 workers in La Crosse, making it the areaâs largest employer.

Acquired by American Standard Co. in 1984, the company headquarters moved away, but the plant remained. American Standard eventually took on the Trane name, a nod to the brand recognition.

In 2008, Trane was acquired by refrigeration giant Ingersoll-Rand for $10.1 billion.

Over the past 30 years, Traneâs local workforce has shrunk by nearly 60 percent as manufacturing jobs have been lost to offshoring, automation and economic factors. Even so, as of the last count in 2013, Trane remained the countyâs third largest employerÂ â and the only manufacturer in the top five.

The company, now headquartered in Ireland, has some 29,000 employees at 29 plants around the world and boasts that a Trane unit is installed, on average, every minute of every day.

Click here for a look at historical Trane photos from La Crosse Tribune files.

Hometown Icon: Mount La Crosse

Mount La Crosse, found just outside the city in Stoddard, opened in 1959 with one lift and a single A-frame chalet with a small warming area and repair shop.Â

It was one of the Midwestâs first ski hills constructed with the ability to produce artificial snow to fill runs when Mother Nature didnât deliver. Snowboarders hit the slopes in the 1980s, long ahead of the national trend, Mount La Crosse General Manager Darcie Breidel said.

Today, Mount La Crosse features 19 trails, a terrain park, three double chairlifts, a surface rope tow and expanded snowmaking capabilities. Â Â

The chalet has doubled in size to include a lunch counter, ticket sales, ski and snowboard retails, a repair shop and The St. Bernard Room Bar, full of antiques from La Crosse, including benches and chairs from the original La Crosse County courthouse.

The ski hill each February hosts the Wisconsin Alpine Ski and Board State Championship, which brings 500 athletes and their families to the La Crosse area.Â  The challenge of the Midwestâs steepest slope draws nationally ranked racers, Breidel said.

In recent years, Olympic skiers and several US Ski Team members have hit the slopes of Mount La Crosse. There are more than 40,000 visits to the hill each season, Breidel said.

âThe natural beauty of the La Crosse area is really showcased at Mount La Crosse, from the hills and valleys that make up the trails of the ski area to views of the Mississippi Valley from the chairlift on the way up to the top,â Breidel said.

Hometown Icon: McGilvray Road Bridges

Tucked away in the nearly 4,000-acre Van Loon Wildlife Area northwest of Holmen, a series of historic bridges span the Black River lowlands.

Known as Old McGilvray Bottoms Road, the rare, century-old bridges are preserved in time, thanks to the conservation efforts of the local community. Five of the seven original bridges still stand; one came down in 1954, anther was replaced in the late 1990s by a historic bridge purchased from Pierce County.

Before the bridges were built, a Scottish immigrant named Alexander McGilvray ran a ferry service across the Black River. He operated for about 40 years, but heavy logging traffic made the ferry service difficult to maintain. La Crosse County built a wooden bridge to serve as a crossing in 1892, but the areaâs frequent floods rotted the wood.

Charles M. Horton and the La Crosse Bridge and Steel Co. came to the rescue, erecting a series of steel bowstring arch truss bridges along McGilvray Road from 1905 to 1908 at a cost of $14,950, shortening the trip between rural Trempealeau County and the city of La Crosse by eight miles.

The bridges stood strong through the rising and falling waters of the Black River for 65 years until a flood in the early 1970s finally washed out a large culvert, damaging the road and bridges and halting vehicular traffic. In 1975, town of Holland officials transferred the bridges and the 9,000-foot-long road to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

The bridges became listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, but they fell into disrepair, with bridge No. 6 collapsing and bridge No. 5 rotting beyond repair. The road closed to pedestrian traffic in 1986, and by 1989, the state Legislature granted $84,000 to take them down.

Thatâs when the community stepped in, collecting 800 signatures asking the Legislature to reconsider. The money that had been allocated to remove the bridges was put toward repair and restoration, combined with DNR resources and funds raised by Friends of McGilvray Road. With the help of the La Crosse Preservation Alliance, the organization earned close to $400,000 selling T-shirts and art prints by local wildlife artists.

The Friends of the McGilvray Road continue to maintain the trail and its bridges so all may enjoy the beauty, nostalgia and history of this La Crosse area icon.

Hometown Icon: Tomahâs Superior Avenue

The spacious street that graces downtown Tomah owes its size to a visionary civil engineer from La Crosse. Wisconsin law stipulates that city streets must be a least 60 feet wide, but there were few such rules on the books on June 4, 1857.

It was on that date that the plat for the village settlement of Tomah was approved. Requested by Tomah founder Robert Gillett and completed by engineer William Spear of La Crosse, the plat not only called for the very wide main street but that all connections running north and south be at least 70 feet wide and cross streets be 60 feet. All of this decades before the automobile and truck were even invented.

According to the 1912 book âHistory of Monroe Countyâ by Randolph Richards, there was much community debate about paving the street in the early 1900s. Finally in 1908 the city agreed to pave the street with bricks and create the boulevard.

With its green boulevard planted with flowers, the road into Tomah was appealing. ââ¦ for nowhere in the country can be found a handsomer street; outside of the business district the boulevarding of the center, with its closely clipped lawn and artistic setting of shrubbery makes a beautiful appearance in the summer months.â

Gillettâs plat had 10 acres reserved on the southeast corner of where he was going to build. That never transpired, but today in that vicinity is a park that bears his name. Recently the downtown beautification group Our Town Tomah announced that the original Maid of the Mist fountain in Gillett Park will be replaced, thanks to a grant from the Toro Foundation.

Superior Avenue, which is part of Hwy. 12, is also known as Gasoline Alley, the comic strip started by Tomah native Frank King. The strip is still published in the Tomah Journal newspaper.

Hometown Icon: Lake Arbutus

Lake Arbutus is a manmade vacation mecca in Hatfield that traces its origins to 1904, when the La Crosse Water Power Co. dammed the Black River to create a hydroelectric plant.

Located partly in Jackson County and partly in Clark County, the reservoir of more than 800 acres harbors three parks along its shores, as well as numerous cabins and homes â some seasonal; some year-round.

âHatfield is well known for having a sign that lists the population as summer, 5,000, and winter, 50,â said Torger Mikkelson of Waunakee, who has had a cabin there for 60 years.

âSomebody sawed it off, so weâve got to get a new one,â said Mikkelson, a member of the Lake Arbutus Association and editor of the groupâs newsletter.

The 200-member association of residents around and near the lake has taken a major role in enhancing water quality and making improvements to Arbutus, said Jon Schweitzer, assistant administrator of the Jackson County Forestry and Parks Department.

âThey have done a lot of good work,â Schweitzer said.

That work has included donating two âgumby suits,â which are insulated, buoyant suits for water rescues, to the fire department in case someone breaks through the ice during the winter. The association also created three âKids Donât Floatâ kiosks on the lake so boaters who have forgotten life jackets for their children can borrow them and return them at the end of the day, Mikkelson said.

With a maximum depth of 50 feet and a mean depth of 16 feet, the lake is a popular boating, skiing and fishing venue.

Jackson County has two campgrounds â East Arbutus and West Arbutus â and camping also is available at Clark Countyâs Russell Memorial Park.

The lake is almost as big of a draw during the winter as in the summer, Mikkelson said, with hundreds of snowmobilers and ATV riders taking to the state trails.

The hydroelectric dam, still churns out current for North American Hydro in Neshkoro, Wis., which has been a subsidiary of Eagle Creek Renewable Energy in Morristown, N.J., since 2012.

Hometown Icon: Mill Bluff State Park

Motorists at the border of Juneau and Monroe counties need only look at Mill Bluff and Bee Bluff that bracket the west and east side of Interstate 90/94 near Camp Douglas to see a reminder of Wisconsinâs last Ice Age.

A finger of ice dammed up what now is the Wisconsin River tens of thousands of years ago and created a vast glacial lake in central Wisconsin dotted with stone islands and underwater reefs. When the ice and water receded, the wind took over further sculpting the sandstone into monument-like formations that reach 80 to 200 feet through the forests.

Designated a state park in 1936, Mill BluffÂ â named for the former sawmill that stood at the baseÂ â boasts a host of prominent rock features such as Ragged Rock, Camels Bluff, Devilâs Monument and Cleopatraâs Needle. Several, including Mill Bluff, have carvings shaped like bird tracks from ancient Native American cultures.

But only Mill Bluff lets park visitors ascend to its summit, on a path built as a public works projects during the Great Depression. It became a part of the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve in 1971. The campgrounds are open from Memorial Day weekend to the end of September, but those who stay here must be willing to forego some amenitiesÂ â the park has only pit toilets, no showers and only six of the 21 sites have electrical hook-ups.

âItâs one of Wisconsinâs more rustic parks,â said Kathy Stanek, who works in visitors services at Mill Bluff. Yet the rest of the park is open year-round and remains a popular stop, especially for those traveling between Chicago and the Twin Cities looking for a halfway point to pull over and stretch their legs, she said. âItâs little,â Stanek said, âbut weâre here.â

Hometown Icon: Silver Mound

Geographically thereâs nothing special about the half-mile hill along Hwy. 95 between Hixton and Alma Center in Jackson County. But geologically speaking, the Hixton Silicified Sandstone that is found in layers had a profound impact for thousands of years.

Also called orthoquartzite, the stone is harder than flint and was used by Native Americans to chip stone tools. Some of the spear-tips from Silver Mound date back nearly 12,000 years and have been found as far away as Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, according to the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

The site was visited by Paleo Indians some 12,000 to 9,500 years ago when mammoths and mastodons roamed the region. Weapons were also fashioned from the stone during the Archaic culture 9,500 to 3,500 years ago when bison herds were nearby. The last two prehistoric cultures that used the site for weapons and stone tools are the Woodland (1,000 to 1,500 years ago) and the Oneota (500 to 1,000 years ago) who still relied primarily on hunting for their food supply.

The hill is neither a burial mound nor contains silver, but various attempts to find the metal were launched in the 1800s, fueled by legends of a lost silver mine and physical evidence of quarry pits that previous mining had been done. Even after geologists dismissed the notion of silver in 1860, prospectors as recently as 1895 tried to find the precious metal.

Over the years archeological surveys and excavations have turned up evidenceÂ â with the help of carbon dating â that a rock shelter there has been used for nearly 10,000 years. Two rock art images remain.

The mound is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

Hometown Icon: Elroy-Sparta Tunnel

Completed in 1873, the Chicago Northwestern Railroad was the second rail line to the burgeoning city of Sparta, where the population doubled in less than two decades.

It formed a 126-mile link between Madison and Winona, Minn., and required three tunnelsÂ â each carved by hand through seeping rockÂ â to pierce the bluffs and keep the grade below 3 percent.

The longest, Tunnel 3 between Elroy and Sparta, took three years to dig.

Workers built homes and settled near the eastern at a mail stop known as Summit. Itâs a ghost town now, with just the stone foundations remaining.

Without the railroad, communities like Wilton, Kendall and Norwalk might not exist.

But times changed, and in 1964 the trains stopped running.

A handful of visionaries saw opportunity for the abandoned corridor, and two years later the Elroy-Sparta Trail opened as Wisconsinâs first Rails-to-Trails project.

Winding through Juneau and Monroe counties, it now links some 60,000 annual visitors to more than 100 miles of contiguous limestone trails between Trempealeau and Reedsburg.

Each fall, hundreds of runners line up in Norwalk for the Rails to Trails Marathon, which takes them nearly to Sparta and back.

At 3,810 feet, Tunnel 3 is just under Â¾ of a mile, long enough that you need a flashlight.

If youâre lucky, you can pick one up at Tom Cordnerâs refreshment stand, which sits in his backyard by the tunnelâs west entrance and is generally closed.

âItâs just something I do for a hobby,â said the retired furniture maker who grew up in the same house when hobos camped nearby. âThereâs no profit in it. I just like to talk to people.â

Hometown Icon: Villa Louis Mansion

The history-rich community of Prairie du Chien dates to 1673 when explorers Marquette and Jolliet arrived on their journey down the Wisconsin River and were the first Europeans to see the Mississippi River.

Perhaps nowhere is that history so prominent or as well known as the Villa Louis, a Victorian estate on St. Feriole Island that was home to three generations of the Dousman family. The present house was built in 1870 by Hercules Dousmanâs son H. Louis, who contracted with a Milwaukee architect for an Italian Villa style home.

It was built on the site of an earlier home on a mound above the flood waters. Louis and his wife Nina took over the family estate in the mid-1880s. The property was expanded with stables, barns and race track for breeding and racing trotting horses. Nina remodeled the house in the style of the British Arts and Crafts movement. Louis died suddenly in 1886. Nina remarried, moved to New York and later divorced. The family returned to live in the home in 1893, mainly using it in the summer.

The Dousman family stopped regular residency in 1913. Two granddaughters of Hercules Dousman restored the home in the 1930s and allowed the city to operate it as a museumÂ â after the Wisconsin Historical Society turned down an offer to own and operate the house. That offer was accepted in 1950 and it became the stateâs first historical site in 1952.

The Dousman heirs donated many furnishings and accessories original to the house, along with extensive documentation. That was used as the basis for a $2 million restoration of the estate that began in 1994 to restore the building to its Arts and Crafts interior. The exhaustive restoration along with the home having 90 percent of its original furnishings makes the Villa Louis one of the most authentic examples of 1890s living in the country.

Hometown Icon: Nathan Hill

The hill between Onalaska and West Salem is more than just a geographic landmark. It's the place where Nathan Smith, a former slave and foster father of the first black man to run for president, found freedom and made his home for more than four decades.

Born in 1820 in Tennessee, Smith and his wife, Sarah, escaped to freedom via the Underground Railroad, making the difficult decision to leave a young child behind so they could make the dangerous journey undetected. Along the way, they met Union soldiers under the command of Maj. Gen. Cadwallader Washburn, who made his home in La Crosse and would become the 11th governor of Wisconsin in 1872.

Washburn befriended Smith and brought him into his employment. The nature of the work is unclear, with some saying that Smith served as Washburn's bodyguard, valet or "horse boy," but Washburn eventually invited Smith back to La Crosse and helped him find between 40 and 80 acres of land for his farm.

The Smiths first home was on the east side of the hill, near what is now the Hidden Trails Corn Maze. They later moved to the west side of the hill.

Smith was reportedly well liked in the community and a natural leader, hosting prayer gatherings and entertaining visitors with his singing and banjo playing. He and his wife had no children of their own, but they fostered a number of children, both black and white, the most famous of whom was George Taylor, who went on to become a journalist, newspaper publisher and the first black man to run for president in 1904.

Smith's legacy is tarnished by his reported role in the lynching of Nathaniel "Scotty" Mitchell, who shot Frank Burton, the head of the local Republican Party, at a parade in October 1884. Smith, who was a friend of Burton's, led a dozen men to storm the La Crosse County Jail. They bashed down the door, dragged Mitchell out and hanged him from a nearby tree.

Smith died in 1905 and is buried in the Hamilton Cemetery. He was 85.

Hometown Icon: La Crosse Queen

La Crosse Queens have been rollin' on the river almost as long as vocalists have been singing the 1970s rock hit "Proud Mary."

The big wheels churnin' these days are on La Crosse Queen VII, which continues its predecessors' Mississippi River cruises dating back to the first Queen in 1976.

Moored at the north end of Riverside park, the 149-passenger stern-wheeler runs more than 500 cruises of one to three hours a season, as well as private charters, said manager Kathy Jorstad.

The replica of the regal riverboats that plied Old Man River in the late 19th Century is one of the few authentic paddlewheelers in the country. Unlike similar craft, which have paddle wheels for show but rely on propeller power, the Queen has a split stern wheel powered by diesel engines that are its only means of propulsion.

The Queen offers a variety of day and evening cruisesÂ â some just sightseeing, while others feature pizza, or appetizers, full dinners or even customized accoutrements and menus for private charters such as wedding, birthday and corporate events, Jorstad said.

The Queen's six ancestors probably are churning waters elsewhere these days.

"The boats usually don't retire," Jorstad said. "You get a new one and sell the old one to somebody just starting up or who is looking for another boat. I think the La Crosse Queen IV ended up in Fairbanks, Alaska."

Hometown Icon: Christ Episcopal Church

On June 23, 1850, the Rev. James Lloyd Breck celebrated Communion on Grandad Bluff and, supposedly, that same Sunday baptized the first child of European descent born in "Prairie La Crosse," to "Mr. and Mrs. Scoots M. Miller," according to "Historic Churches of La Crosse, Wis." by Genevieve Koenig. That ceremony gave rise to the Christ Episcopal Church, the oldest continually operating church in La Crosse.

Christ Church, as it also was called, formally organized in 1857 and met in homes on Grandad Bluff in 1860. It was the only congregation in Wisconsin to offer Communion every week until it settled in 1863 at its current site at Ninth and Main streets, according to La Crosse Public Library archives.

The first church in La Crosse, it boasted the city's first pipe organ and the first boys choir in the state. That wood-framed building gave way in 1899 to the more ornate Christ Church that still stands at 111 N. Ninth St., "built with the speculation it could become the new Cathedral of the emerging Diocese of Eau Claire," church history states.

Again, from library archives: "The architectural survey describes the structure as being constructed from gray and red sandstone quarried from Grandad Bluff, Romanesque in style with a Venetian Renaissance interior. The church was completed with a gothic cruciform shape with counter balancing buttresses, a 108-foot tower, and two impressive leaded stained glass windows. A window, depicting a figure of Christ, was designed by the Tiffany Glass Decorating Co. of New York in 1898."

Another window, "The Beatitudes," was donated by Alice Green Hixon after the death of her husband, Frank Hixon, in 1931. Frank and Joseph Hixon, sons of prominent La Crosse lumber baron Gideon Hixon, were co-signers for a bank loan taken out by the congregation to complete the church; several members of the Hixon family generously contributed in the early 1900s through "pew-rents," Tribune files show.

The building in 1985 was added to the National Register of Historic Places and has been faithfully maintained and renovated over the decades through donations, the church's former senior warden Carla Marcou said. "If you were to imagine what a church should look like and feel like, this would be it," Marcou said. "Walk in and it gives you peaceÂ â You feel God's presence, you just feel it."

Hometown Icon: Onalaska's Giant Sunfish

When it comes to sunfish, Onalaska's giant fiberglass replicaÂ â known as SunnyÂ â is definitely a keeper.

The city of Onalaska is known as the Sunfish Capital of the World. Lake Onalaska, created by a Depression-era dam project in the 1930s, is full of them, and Sunny is perched high on wayside rest along Hwy. 35 overlooking the lake.

Sculptor Elmer P. Petersen, whose iconic sculpture of lacrosse players and Riverside Park eagle monument highlight La Crosse's public art offerings, lived in Onalaska in the 1980s and proposed a metallic sunfish at the entrance to the city. His vision never came to be, but in the mid-1990s another Onalaska resident, Vicki Gilbertson, revived the sculpture idea.

Gilbertson came back from the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, Wis., home of a fiberglass muskie so big you can stand inside its mouth, with the inspiration to erect a sunfish monument in Onalaska. Gilbertson pitched the idea to then-Mayor Clarence Stellner and helped raise the money for the sculpture, chairing the 1997 mayor's Open golf tournament committee.

Dave Oswald of D.W.O. Fiberglass Co. of Sparta, who made the giant muskie in Hayward, was commissioned to build the 25-foot-long, 15-foot-high Sunny, which was dedicated in time for the community's annual Memorial Day weekend festival, Sunfish Days, in 1998. Sunfish Days has since gone by the wayside, but the base of the sunfish has a plaque listing the names of Sunfish Days parade marshals.

Sunny has stood sentinel over Lake Onalaska ever since, except for a two-month stretch in 2012 during which the statue was removed and given a fresh coat of paint. For people traveling the Great River Road, the giant sunfish is an irresistible photo op, and for the city, it is the go-to image to represent Onalaska.

Hometown Icon: Pettibone Park

Itâs the only city park west of the Mississippi Riverâs main channel. In fact it wasnât always in Wisconsin.

The island where La Crosse founder Nathan Myrick landed his keelboat and set up his first trading post in 1841 was platted for development by Alonzo and Lucretia Barron, for whom it was named.

But their island city never materialized, and Houston County took back the land for unpaid taxes. In those days it was described as âa wasteland in the middle of the Mississippi River that was for years a harbor for brothels and the toughest of the tough lumber men.â

Three-term La Crosse mayor Albert Pettibone, a Vermont native who made his fortune in lumber, purchased the land in 1901 for $62,000 (the equivalent of about $1.5 million today) and set up a public park.

It took nearly two decades of statehouse wrangling and an act of Congress to get the island into Wisconsin, but in 1918 President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill authorizing the border change. In return, Minnesota got Latsch Island by Winona.

Pettibone built the Victorian Romanesque gazebo from Minnesota sandstone and continued to fund improvements even after deeding the park to the city, which officially took over management in 1969.

Pettiboneâs 1915 obituary hailed him for creating the park, âa Mecca for thousands who seek natureâs pleasures in the out of doors.â

Indeed. Visit the park today and you might find old men fishing from a bridge, sunbathers on the beach, a college student getting in

a round of disc golf or a bare- chested man in aviator glasses cruising with the top down.

Historical re-enactors set up camp each summer, taking it back to Myrickâs fur trading days. In winter, ice fishermen set up on the frozen lagoon, which once hosted national speed-skating championships but since fell out of favor with ice skaters.

Long ago, people built cottages on the south end of the island, on land leased for $100 a year. But the city put a stop to that in the late 1970s, evicting the last holdouts in 1983.

Hometown Icon: Arcadia Memorial Park

A walk through Arcadia's Memorial Park is a lesson in America's military history.

The city of Arcadia bought 54 acres of agricultural land in 1989 that eventually became Memorial Park. Ashley Furniture founder Ron Wanek designed and helped fund the expansive Soldiers Salk, which was dedicated in 1991.

The 500-meter walk, with each meter representing one year of a particular war, is lined with memorials from each of America's wars and conflicts, starting with George Washington on a horse representing the American Revolution.

Tributes to the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War, Civil War, World War I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War are just a few of the statues, many of which were created by Wanek. Other statues include memorials to prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action, as well as a Patriots Memorial and Angel of Mercy monument.

A more recent addition to the walk honors the Global War on Terrorism with a monument to 9/11 that features a twisted steel beam from the World Trade Center.

Statues of America's five-star generalsÂ â Ulysses S. Grant, John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur and George S. PattonÂ â tower over the park's 2,000-seat Millennium Amphitheater. In the park's center pavilion, more statues depict the history and founding of Arcadia.

Memorial Park is a favorite spot for summertime festivals, such as Arcadia Broiler Days and Ashley for the Arts.

Hometown Icon: Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex

The Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sport Complex on the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus debuted in 2009.

Renovations to the facility began in 1987 when the university bought it from the city for $1, according to UW-L. Construction of $16.6 million new stadium began in 2008 after the university hosted the annual WIAA state track meet.

The stadium honorsÂ Roger Harring, who led the universityâs football team to three national championships and 15 conference titles during his tenure during his three decades as coach.

Back in 2005, the cityâs Common Council voted for a compromise to name the complex Memorial Field, which ended years of fighting between the university and the city and veterans. UW-L was able to name the stadium after Harring. The state Supreme Court in 2009 voted against considering a lawsuit over the name of theÂ stadium.Â

The facility includes football and soccer fields, tennis courts and track and field space and intramural fields. It can fit 6,250 spectators.

It also features an impressive Veterans Hall of Honor dedicated to those who served the country as the entrance to the complex.â¨â¨The new facility hosted its first event on May 14, 2009 with the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Track and Field qualifying meet, according to the university.

Click here for a look at photos from the early years of the Veterans Memorial Sports Complex.

Hometown Icon: Rotary Lights

Rotary Lights traces its origins to 1995, when Duane Moore returned to La Crosse from a trip to Oklahoma, where a similar display had switched on a light bulb in his head.

Moore, who then was president of La Crosse Rotary East, pitched the idea to fellow Rotarians and asked who might like to head up a Christmas lighting effort here, recalled Pat Stephens, whose hand shot up and who has been president of the annual display in Riverside Park ever since.

âWe figured it was too big for one club,â Stephens said, so they appealed to the other six clubs at the time for financial and muscular support.

The Rotarians pulled together 250,000 lights for the kickoff year, Stephens said, adding, âWe bought what we could afford.â The annual event now has an inventory of millions of lights.

âI think now itâs probably one of the larger attractions in the Midwest from the end of November through December,â he said.

Its mission of collecting staples for food shelves started as an afterthought to keep the display free, figuring that people who couldnât afford to make free-will contributions could donate food items, he said.

âOne of the unique features is we have helped start nine other displays,â Stephens said. âPeople come to La Crosse and we show them how to set up and teach them how to do animated displays.â

The only requirements are that other groups must be nonprofit, with a main mission of feeding the hungry, he said.

Hometown Icon: St. Rose Convent

St. Rose Convent has been the physical and spiritual home of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration since it opened on July 10, 1871, when the sistersâ move from Jefferson, Wis., to La Crosse was completed.

The ornate Romanesque-style house of worship is home to Mary of the Angels Chapel and Perpetual Adoration Chapel that opened in 1906. It is in the latter where day and night since Aug. 1, 1878, there has been constant prayer for the community, church, city and the world. It is the longest nonstop prayer in the United States. Not even a major convent fire on Dec. 2, 1923, failed to disrupt the vigil.

Mary of Angels Chapel fulfilled a promise made to God by Mother Antonia Herb, who vowed in 1865 at the orderâs first motherhouse in Jefferson that if God would favor the sisters and their work, they would someday build a chapel âbeautiful as their means would allow.â

The chapels feature Corinthian pillars and windows of Bavarian stained glass. Altars of Italian marble are decorated with gold bronze, onyx pillars, and inlaid mosaics of Venetian glass and mother of pearl.

The chapels were restored in 1992 and the convent was modernized and renovated in 1997. The chapels are open for tours Monday through Saturday from 9 to 10:45 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m. More than 4,500 visitors tour the chapels annually.

St. Rose Convent, 912 Market St., includes administrative offices and is also home for some of the congregation's retired sisters. Rose, the patron of St. Rose Convent and Viterbo University, was born in Viterbo, Italy in 1235.

Hometown Icon: Apple Blossom Scenic Drive

You might be forgiven if you refer to this iconic stretch of roadway less by its formal nameÂ â Winona County Hwy. 1Â â and more by its familiar, state-designated moniker: the Apple Blossom Scenic Drive.

This 17-mile route isnât so much a way to reach your next destination as it is a destination unto itself. Though youâre allowed to travel 55 mph, youâd be missing so much if you did. Often, youâll find vehicles slowingÂ â or stopping completelyÂ â to take in the breathtaking views of the Mississippi River that dot the stretch of byway that begins in La Crescent and concludes between Dakota and Nodine.

Apple Blossom Scenic Drive is ratedÂ â understandablyÂ â as Minnesotaâs second most scenic drive, behind only the North Shore portion of Hwy. 61. But donât tell that to the locals, as theyâll tout the majesty that only tall bluffs and the curvy Big Muddy can provide.

Once home to more than 40 orchards, only a handful remain today. But apples donât have all the fun on the ridge, as a vineyard and winery recently opened, allowing visitors to taste another locally made product and gaze at the river vistas below.

Apple Blossom Scenic Drive received its designation from the state of Minnesota in 1972, and at that time, an article in the La Crosse Tribune, dated July 28, read in part, âItâs one of the prettiest stretches of roadway in our Coulee Region, which is no faint praise. The view of the Mississippi, the river islands and the varied landscape across the river on the Wisconsin side is magnificent.â

The nationally known overlook is a key piece to drawing people back to La Crescent.

âItâs important to anybodyâs economy to keep people coming back,â La Crescent Chamber of Commerce executive directive Eileen Krenz said. âWe have four seasons in Minnesota, and each one of those seasons on the bluff is completely different.â

Hometown Icon: La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway

The five-eighthâs mile oval track at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway is one of the Midwestâs premier short tracks and has served as a training ground for such high-profile drivers as Dick Trickle, Kenny Schrader, Mark Martin and Matt KensethÂ â all of whom went on to race at NASCARâs highest level.

The track, which is located on the La Crosse Interstate Fairgrounds, began weekly racing in 1970 under the ownership and management of Bangor businessman Larry Wehrs. The La Crosse County Agriculture Society took over fairgrounds operationsÂ â including ownership of the race trackÂ â in the late 1980s.

In 1987, Motorsports Management Services began leasing the track and remains the leaseholder to this day. Chuck Deery, of the Deery racing family from Rockford, Ill., took over as the track manager in 1987 and remains the manager 27 years later.

Â Fans continue to support what is often referred to as the areaâs âplayground of power.â

A lot of that power was supplied by Bangor are farmer Kevin Nuttleman, arguably the most prolific driver of the 1990s and through 2006. Nuttleman, with his NJ 4 car, won a record 10 Kwik Trip Late Model track championships and 106 Late Model feature races.

The track continues to host three divisionsÂ â Late Model, Sportsmen and ThunderstoxÂ â each Saturday night from April through August. Late Model and Sportsmen compete in the five-eighthâs mile track, while the ThunderstoxÂ â which are cars from the 1970s and 1980s with few modificationsÂ â compete in the quarter-mile track.

The racing season ends with Oktoberfest Race Weekend, an event that annually draws nearly 20,000 race fans and drivers from throughout the Midwest over a four-day period in early October.

Hometown Icon: Kwik Trip

Itâs not on every corner, but just about.

With very few exceptions in the city of La Crosse, youâre never more than a mile from one. They fuel our livesÂ â and our lifestylesÂ â serve as landmarks and meeting places. Heck, they even help solve murders.

If you work in the La Crosse metro area, thereâs a nearly 1 in 20 chance you work for Kwik Trip. Itâs practically a given that youâve shopped there.

Each store gets about 1,500 customer visits per day. Multiplied by the 14 stores in La Crosse, thatâs half the cityâs population. Every day.

The storesâ ubiquityÂ â and notoriously sharp security videoÂ â have made them a valuable tool for police, and not just for catching shoplifters. In the past decade, police have nabbed a bike thief, car thief, embezzler and murderer with the help of Kwik Trip security video.

The first Kwik Trip opened in 49 years ago in Eau Claire, and the chain has been in La Crosse since 1971. Today, with 465 stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, itâs one of the nationâs 30 largest convenience stores.

Along the way, the business has been at the forefront of industry innovation.

Founded by Don Zietlow and two partners, the privately owned company shares 40 percent of pre-tax profits with its employees.

Starting with sandwiches made in the back of its Losey Boulevard store, Kwik Trip embraced the concept of making its own goods and is today considered the most vertically integrated convenience store chain in the nation, said spokesman John McHugh.

At its La Crosse headquarters, Kwik Trip bakes its own bread and pastries, prepares pizzas, salads and sandwiches, bottles its own milk, water and sports drinks. It even imports and ripens bananas.

It has pushed the envelope of the convenience store model, offering competitively priced staplesÂ â bread, milk, produceÂ â on the premise that most people visit the grocery store only once a week or so.

In recent years, Kwik Trip has become a leader in alternative fuels. Its stores were some of the first in western Wisconsin to offer compressed natural gas under the canopy.

Hometown Icon: Nathan Myrick

Nathan Myrick spent only seven years in La Crosse but will always be remembered for being the first. The New York native was only 19 years old when came to Prairie La Crosse on Nov. 9, 1841, with his partner Eben Weld to establish an American Indian trading post.

At that time the future site of La Crosse was an uninhabited, sandy prairie. Myrick and Weld built a temporary log shelter in what is now Pettibone Park and started trading with Winnebago Indians.

The men decided to build a more permanent cabin and hauled logs across the frozen river to build a cabin in February 1842 at what is now the northeast corner of Front and State Streets. A historical plaque marks the spot today. It was at the top of a hill leading up from the river. A spring and the La Crosse River were nearby. The first night the men slept in the cabin a blizzard ripped the roof off.

Myrick bought out Weldâs interest in the trading post in March 1842. Myrick was called âTall Traderâ by the Winnebagoes because his 6-foot-5 frame.

Myrick brought his bride, Rebecca, from New York in 1843. A son Andrew was born in 1844 but died in September 1845. Andrewâs remains are in Oak Grove Cemetery, the oldest tombstone in the cemetery.

Myrick became La Crosse first postmaster and farmer in 1843, planting corn, barley and wheat at the foot of the bluffs. But he had to wait three years before the first mill came to Prairie du Chien so Myrick could grind the gain. âI remember hauling it there and returning with flour, 90 miles on the ice,â he once said.

Others joined Myrick, who also became involved in the lumber business, and the prairie city began to grow.

The cityâs first white settler left La Crosse in 1848, citing lumber business losses and poor healthÂ â not before buying much of the land and later selling it. He moved to St. Paul, where he continued trading. He died on June 3, 1903, at the age of 80.

Hometown Icon: Hiawatha statue

Some believe the site where three rivers converge is a spiritual place; a source for great energy. It is at this point in Riverside Park in La Crosse where a 25-foot high statue has stood since October 1961.

Hiawatha, also known as the Big Indian, made his debut as part of the first La Crosse Oktoberfest. The statue was created by Anthony Zimmerhakl, a La Crosse schools art teacher, who worked on the sculpture for four years, layering cement on wire mesh in the back yard of his home. He was helped by his two sons.

The statue has been the focal point of many photos by visitors to La Crosse over the years, located near the La Crosse Area Convention and Visitorâs Bureau and near the entry point where the La Crosse Queen boat is docked. Itâs also been the source of controversy, especially in 2000 when the city was debating whether it should restore and paint the statue that was showing signs of age. Some said the statute perpetuated Native American stereotypes.

A newspaper article at the time of the statueâs unveiling said local Native AmericansÂ â called Winnebagoes (now Ho-Chunk)Â â wanted the statue to be named Decorah after one of their great chiefs. But Zimmerhakl said he based the sculpture on Hiawatha, the 16th century chief who is credited with bringing together the Iroquois Nation.

After much debate and public discussion, in the end $35,000 was spent to refurbish and repaint the statue, $16,935 from private funds and $18,605 from the cityâs budget. Representatives of the Ho-Chunk Nation were consulted with the colors used to repaint the statue.

The 20-ton statue may be big, but itâs not the biggest statue called Hiawatha. That honor goes to a 52-foot high statue that has stood in Ironwood, Mich., since 1964.

Hometown Icon: Mindoro Cut

If you believe politics are connected to everything, then the story of the Mindoro CutÂ â the second-deepest hand-hewn cut in the Western HemisphereÂ â is straight forward.

In the early 1900s Gov. Robert La Follette, the father of the Progressive Movement, pushed the âGood Roads Movement.â It was an effort to improve transportation to help farmers get their products to market.

Farmers in the northern part of La Crosse County seized the opportunity to find a better way to get their milk from the West Salem side of Phillips Ridge to the creamery in Mindoro and then back to West Salem to the train station. Thus began the impetus to construct the Mindoro Cut, the shortcut between the two communities where Hwy. 108 winds up and down the ridge.

The cut measures 74 feet deep, 25 feet wide and 86 feet long and was accomplished without the aid of machinery. There was dynamite involved in the construction, probably after workers discovered what they thought was a sandstone ridge was actually hard rock underneath. When work began the ridge was too steep for even horses and workers hauled away rocks in wheelbarrows balanced on wood planks. Horses and sleds were later used. Wages were $1.25 a day and meals from the cook shanty were extra.

Work on the cut began in 1907 and was completed at a cost of $11,241.29 to La Crosse County, the equivalent of about $287,000 today. With the exception of pavement in the 1920s and guardrails, the winding roadway through the cut remains the same today. Itâs a favorite destination for motorcyclists and car enthusiasts and was addedÂ â with the cutÂ â to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

The cut today can probably lay-claim to being the deepest remaining unaltered cut in the nation. Another cut that was supposedly deeper was in either West Virginia or Ohio, but cannot be verified.

Hometown Icon: La Crosse City Hall

La Crosse City Hall, 400 La Crosse St., gets decidedly mixed reviews today, but it was heralded as âa dignified landmarkâ when dedicated on the Fourth of July in 1970.

It was part of a movement in the city during the 1960s and early 1970s to shed the perceived staid, Victorian-era look for something more modernÂ â âprogressive and building for the future,â then-Mayor Warren Loveland said at the time. The city then had its offices in a brick, castle-like building at Sixth and State streets that dated back to 1892 and, officials said, no longer met the communityâs needs.

That same time period would see a new county courthouse in 1965 and a new library at 800 Main St., plus the new main fire station at 726 Fifth Ave. S. and Viterbo Universityâs Fine Arts Center in 1971.

Voters in a 1966 referendum approved of swapping the old City Hall for new by a 4-to-1 margin, according to press accounts. With some cost overruns and other complications, it would take four years before the seven-story $2.8 million building opened in May 1970.

Architect Harry Schroeder of Hackner, Schroeder, Roslansky and Associates said they wanted to create a City Hall that had âsome feeling of dignity, something that the people in the community could take pride in, a nice-appearing, landmark-type of building.â He touted the sand-blasted concrete walls âimported specially from Racine,â the anodized aluminum windows, the walls of âwashable vinyl.â

Today, the compliments are harder to come by. One former local historian who led downtown tours referred to the architectural period that gave rise to City Hall as âbrutalist style.â Others lament the loss of the former City Hall, razed in 1970, and the other classic buildings that made way for âprogress.â

Those who work in City Hall say the building today seems designed to be cold, perhaps even intimidating.

âIn my mind, itâs not very welcoming once you get inside,â said council president Dick Swantz, noting the lobby has little direction to guide the public and the council chambers leave the audience looking at the backs of officialsâ heads.

âItâs not very architecturally appealing,â said Dale Hexom, former city public works director.

Hometown Icon: Valley View Mall

Since 1980, Valley View Mall has been a fixture of retail commerce in La Crosse County.

Anchored by JC Penney, Herberger's and Sears, the 255,000-square-foot shopping center is home to 90 retail spaces and employs nearly 1,300 people, mall marketing director Laurie Cafe said.

Leased and managed by the Pennsylvania-based company PREIT, the Valley View Mall property includes Texas Roadhouse, Chuck E. Cheese's, Play It Again Sports and the new Dick's Sporting Goods. Total property size is about 606,000-square-feet and includes more than 3,500 parking spaces.

Initially proposed in the 1970s for an 11-acre parcel along once-blighted downtown Mississippi waterfront, a "three-year war of court battles" ended with the annexation of an 80-acre piece of land from the town of Medary into the city of La Crosse, according to "A History of La Crosse, Wisconsin in the Twentieth Century" by Susan T. Hessel and Gayda Hollnagel.

Herberger's and Doerflinger's department stores, formerly the anchors of the downtown retail district, moved to the mall when it opened. The relocation was a harbinger of downtown economic struggles to come, but the mall continued to thrive.

The mall's construction drew a number of "big box" retailers to the Hwy. 16 corridor, including Best Buy, Office Depot, Wal-Mart, Shopko, TJ Maxx, Old Navy, Kohl's and Target.

In 2001, the mall underwent a major expansion that added a 4,079-square-foot food court. The improvements continued in 2006 with the addition of a 30,000-square-foot Barnes & Noble.

And even with the rise of online shopping and competition from sites like Amazon, people still come to the mall. The mall serves more than 1 million customers per year and about 10,000 shoppers per day, but at number will increase to about 16,000 per day during the holiday season, Cafe said.

"People like the opportunity to touch (merchandise) and feel it before they buy," she said.

Click here for a link to photos from the early years of Valley View Mall.

Hometown Icon: LaCrosse Footwear building

The LaCrosse Footwear building, an industrial behemoth for more than 100 years that once provided 2,000 jobs, continues as a landmark on the cityâs North Side â repurposed with a variety of businesses.

LaCrosse Footwear, which began as the La Crosse Rubber Mills Co. in 1897, manufactured rubber horseshoes before switching to making rubber-coated fabrics and raincoats and, eventually, canvas and rubber footwear.

Within a decade, its workforce jumped to 400 people producing about 850 rubber-coated garments a day.

The company installed the cityâs first sprinkler system in its wooden factory, reportedly located on land once owned by Buffalo Bill Cody.

It constructed the first of several concrete buildings in 1913, launching a series of expansions across its 10-plus acres. By 1930, it was the cityâs largest employer, with 2,000 workers.

In the 1950s, production featured a full line of rubber footwear, as well as sporting boots, tennis and basketball shoes and novelty shoes, according to a company history.

In 1983, the company was producing 2.2 million pairs of footwear a year, and sales hit $27 million. Sales reached $30 million a year later, $50 million by 1989 and an all-time high of $108.3 million in 1994.

Renamed LaCrosse Footwear Inc. in 1987, the company closed the facility in 2001, moving its headquarters to Portland, Ore. It was sold to Tokyo-based ABC-Mart Inc. for $138 million in 2012.

After remaining idle for four years, the buildings on St. Andrew Street have enjoyed a renaissance since The Fenigor Group LLC bought the complex in 2005.

Fenigor, owned by several members of the Hass family, removed more than 2 million pounds of obsolete factory equipment. It added ramps to bring cars, boats and other vehicles in for storage.

Continuing renovations have provided office space for several businesses, as well as housing enterprises such as the Boot Hill Pub, the Pearl Street Brewery, La Crosse Mail and Print Solutions, and Western Wisconsin Cares, among others. The latest addition is housing.

Hometown Icon: Lake Neshonoc

The largest inland lake in southwestern Wisconsin in West Salem was formed as the result of land speculation in 1851 and has survived after coming back from the dead.

Monroe Palmer built a log and dam on the La Crosse River when he bought 15 acres of land. He platted a village of 18 blocks and 147 lots which he called Neshonoc, a Ho-Chunk name. Several homes, a church and school were built. But the railroad bypassed Neshonoc in 1858 in favor of nearby West Salem and by the 1890s Neshonoc was all but gone.

The impoundment remained and was enlarged in 1940 with a new hydroelectric dam that raised the water level five feet and created a lake of nearly 1,000 acres. The newer recreational lake soon started to suffer from agricultural runoff and siltation, as was first noted in 1950 by the Wisconsin Conservation Department. The size of the lake shrank to about 700 acres. Carp took over the lake and it was essentially declared a dead lake by the Department of Natural Resources by 1970, with very little vegetation. The public beach was closed

But local residents were determined to not let the lake enter a final phase of eutrophication. In 1982 the Lake Neshonoc Protection and Rehabilitation District was formed and work began to restore the lake, which has a maximum depth of 11 feet and average depth of four feet. A $2.28 million dredging projectÂ â with funds coming from local sources, La Crosse County and the state of Wisconsin â was completed in 2002 where an estimated 1 million cubic yards of sediment was removed and a sediment trap was installed. Deep areas were dredged for fish habit improvement.

All of these efforts capped the return of the fishery where walleyes, northern pike, bass, perch and other fish. There are ongoing efforts to make sure the carp population is controlled.

Hometown Icon: Myrick Park

From ancient burial ground to environmental educational center, Myrick Park has undergone many changes throughout its 131-year life.

In 1873, the city of La Crosse bought 20 acres of land south of the La Crosse River marsh for $1,600. Known as âTurtle Mounds,â the land was once home to a number of animal-shaped and linear Native American burial sites. Two remain today.

Briefly named Lake Park, the name changed to Myrick Park in 1903 to honor Nathan Myrick, a fur trader who founded the city of La Crosse in 1841. The park grew to 40 acres and served as the Interstate Fairgrounds. A music pavilion was added in 1906 and a zoo in 1929 when World War I veterans unveiled Monkey IslandÂ â a La Crosse icon in itself, up until 2007.Â  The lower shelter was originally built by the La Crosse Gun Club which held trapshooting over the marsh. The former railroad tracks first became hiking trails in 1976.

The zoo continued to expand for the next half century, adding a duck pond, a raccoon pit, and a bear den by 1954. Native Midwestern animals like deer, bobcats and prairie dogs took residence in 1970, and a petting zoo was added in 1977. For a few quarters, kids could feed goats and calves.

The addition of Kids Coulee in 1994 brought the city together as community volunteers built the 200,000-square-foot, handicap-accessible playscape. A service project of the Rotary Club of La Crosse, organizers looked to local kids for ideas and inspiration for the project, and more than 3,700 volunteers provided the labor.

Hometown Icon: Fort McCoy

Fort McCoy, a 60,000-acre military training center between Sparta and Tomah, is named for Maj. Gen. Robert Bruce McCoy, a widely known local lawyer, district attorney, judge and mayor of Sparta.

McCoy envisioned a large military training area after returning from the Spanish-American War, said Linda Fournier, Fort McCoy public affairs officer.

The War Department bought 14,200 acres of land, including 4,000 owned by McCoy, in 1909 and named it the "Sparta Maneuver Tract."

It was designated Camp McCoy on Nov. 19, 1926, after McCoyâs death.

Camp McCoy grew to 60,000 acres by 1942 and included the addition of a $30 million cantonment area with a capacity for 35,000, Fournier said. The new camp was inaugurated on Aug. 30, 1942.

Camp McCoy was used as a training facility for many World War II units, including the 2nd Infantry Division, the 76th Infantry Division and the 100th Infantry Battalion. It also served as a prisoner-of-war and enemy-alien prison camp, Fournier said.

The camp was aligned under U.S. Army Forces Command on July 1, 1973, and officially was re-designated as Fort McCoy Sept. 30, 1974, Fournier said.

The installation has been in almost constant use since 1909. It has provided training opportunities for millions of military members and has supported every major conflict from World War I to Operation Iraqi Freedom, Fournier said.

From Sept. 11, 2001, through Dec. 30, 2011, 140,197 military personnel from 2,416 units mobilized or demobilized at Fort McCoy during its efforts to support the Global War on Terror, Fournier said.

Fort McCoy has the largest workforce in Monroe County at 2,443 people, including 1,383 civilians, 424 military and 636 contract employees, Fournier said. In 2013, Fort McCoy returned $282 million to the local economy.

Hometown Icon: Brick streets

Streets have always been an essential part of any cityâs transportation system. Before the turn of the 20th century in La Crosse, street pavingÂ â if anyÂ â was macadam (compacted layers of small stones), which was dusty and turned into mud when it rained. Rutted surfaces caused by wagon wheels were common.

But a major civic road improvement project was undertaken in 1900 and 1901 when some 40 blocks of the downtown area was converted to red brick paving. âThe people of the city took great pride in what they considered their fine streets,â the La Crosse Morning Chronicle declared in its Nov. 24, 1901, edition.

It was part of a national trend that began in the late 1800s. One estimate said the city of Philadelphia had an estimated 135 miles of brick-paved streets. Bricks remained the preferred street paving method until concrete and bituminous asphalt took over in the 1920s. Asphalt cost less to install and the streets were easier to maintain, especially during the snowplowing season.

Most of the La Crosse brick streets are long gone, but a few remain. The sections of 20th Street and 17th Place between Main and Cass streets are still paved with bricks, which were laid in 1924 when that section of the city was being built. Those streets are on the local register of historic places. There is also one block of brick street remaining on Ferry between Ninth and 10th streets and about 100 feet on Redfield near Gundersen Health Care.

The whole history of the La Crosse street and alley paving is contained in the La Crosse Public Library archives in the âGuide to the La Crosse, Wisconsin Committee on Streets and Alleys, Resolutions and Reports Relating to Streets and Alleys, 1852-1932.â

The reports are contained in 46 boxes and amount to 19-cubic feetÂ â enough to pave part of a street.

Hometown Icon:The Shrine of Our Lady Guadalupe

The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe may be a bit young to have reached iconic status, but the copper dome on its church has become a beacon on a hill in south La Crosse that attracts nearly 70,000 pilgrims a year.

âThere are daily stories of inspiration from here,â says executive director Leif Arvidson.

Then-Bishop (now Cardinal) Raymond Burke proposed the shrine in the late 1990s, drawing mixed reviews as an extravagance because of its initial price tag of $25 million.

But the shrine has drawn visitors from all 50 states and more than 75 countries across the globe since its Pilgrim Center and Mother of Good Counsel Votive Candle Chapel opened in 2002. The ornate Shrine Church, built at a cost of $29 million, opened in July 2008. It seats 450 and has a copper dome 45 feet in diameter.

The complex, which started off on 70 acres donated by the Robert and Lucille Swing family, now includes 103 acres, much of it hilly woodland surrounding the shrine buildings, with a trout stream meandering through the valley below

Main features besides the church, the votive chapel and the Pilgrim Center are a Memorial to the Unborn, the Flores Mariae Gift Shop, the Culina Mariana CafÃ©, devotional areas, Stations of the Cross and a rosary walk.

It features a half-mile, uphill meditation trail from the Pilgrim Center to the church. The Mother of Good Counsel Votive Candle Chapel has a 12-by-14-foot pyramid of 576 votive candles.â¨

The shrine at 5250 Justin Road, just off of Hwy. 61/14, also is home to the international headquarters of the Marian Catechist Apostolate. The shrine, which has a Latin Mass daily, attracts not only carloads of worshipers but also busloads of tourists.

Hometown Icon: Pearl Street

At two blocks in length, Pearl Street is the shortest street in downtown La Crosse. Today itâs one of the best examples of downtown renewal but it also has one of the river cityâs most colorful histories, especially the west block.

In that sometimes seedy past, the block at one time or another contained a bordello, a massage parlor, an adult book store and several bars. A railroad depot was located at the southeast corner of Second and Pearl. GIs were told the block was off limits because of the houses of ill repute.

Instrumental in the blockâs turnaround from rough-and-tumble to visitor-friendly was Terry J. âTJâ Peterslie. When Peterslie got out of the Army in 1971, he rented a vacant building at 215 Pearl St., lived out of the back and sold clothing from the front in what eventually became T.J.âs Apparel. In 1974 he bought the building which dates to the 1860s. Peterslie and his wife, Michelle, started expanding on the block, renovating the downstairs portions of the buildings and painting colorful murals on the boarded up windows on the second floor.

The Harborview redevelopment project that resulted in the La Crosse Center across Second Street also helped improve the area. John Satory bought his building to house Satori Arts Gallery in 1990. He told a Tribune reporter that year that the building is attractive and historic and also because he thinks he can save other buildings just by being there. "They'd like this whole block ripped down," he said. But "people are going to have a hard time getting me out of here."

The Peterslies opened The Pearl ice cream shop in 1993, and in 1996 the block was one of the first to receive the antique-style street lights and brick sidewalks that became a key part of the downtown revitalization. The development of the Holiday Inn Express also solidified the block.

The other end of the block is anchored by Kronerâs Hardware, which has been at 321 Pearl since 1898, along with other established businesses, ending at the northeast corner of Fourth and Pearl where the Bodega is located.

Hometown Icon: Powell Place

At the foot of Main Street in downtown La Crosse is Powell Place, one of the city's most storied landmarks.

The ornate building where Main Street meets Second Street originally was named Healey's Block after logger and businessman Benjamin Healey developed the property in 1876, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Valued in 1881 at $45,000, Italianate architectural details include cornice, arched windows hoods, Corinthian columns and brick walls two feet thick, according to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Murphy Library archives. Early tenants included clothing and glassware retailers, a brewery and law offices. The Boston Store filled most of the ground floor in the mid-1880s, according to the La Crosse County Historical Society.

Frank Powell, a physician and friend of William Ã¬Buffalo BillÃ® Cody, moved his practice to the second floor in 1884. He patented medicine that claimed to cure warts, cancer and baldness, and was first elected La Crosse's mayor in 1885. He preferred the name "White Beaver" and served as the chief doctor for the local Winnebago Indian tribe.

The Yahr-Lange Corp., a wholesale drug company, owned the building for 1944 to 1982, according to the La Crosse County Historical Society.

Developers renamed the building Powell Place in 1982 and restored it over the years to include space for specialty shops, a restaurant and offices, according to Tribune archives. Installed in the ceiling inside the Main Street entrance is a stained glass skylight saved from the La Crosse County Courthouse razed in 1965.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The mini-mall has housed a host of businesses over the years.

Hometown Icon: Rivoli Theater

It has been nearly 95 years since the Rivoli Theater first entertained La Crosse filmgoers.

Though not the cityâs first motion picture theater (that honor went to the former Strand theater on Jackson Street, which opened in 1916 and closed 39 years later), the Rivoli was always the grandest.

Hailed by the La Crosse Tribune as the âapex of comfort and beauty,â it was the largest movie theater in the state outside of Milwaukee when the doors opened on Sept. 19, 1920, with a screening of Norma Talmadgeâs âYes or No.â

Tickets for evening shows cost 33 centsÂ â 11 cents for childrenÂ â and guests were assured that all 1,400 seats offered unobstructed views of the silver screen.

With three floors of offices above and featuring the âlast word in modern business block construction,â the Rivoli building at 123 N. Fourth St. cost an estimated $400,000 to build; thatâs about $4.8 million adjusted for inflation.

A $20,000 pipe organ supplied the sound in those days, but less than 10 years later it was one of the first Midwestern cinemas to install the new Vitaphone system, and in 1927 it screened âThe Jazz Singer,â the first feature-length âtalkie.â

A North Side sister theater, the Riviera, opened the following year on Caledonia Street, though that screen went dark in 1967.

Over the years it had brushes with fame. In one month during 1949, the Rivoli showed films directed by two La Crosse natives, Nicholas Ray and Joseph Losey, who both went on to Hollywood success. In 1953, Gunsmoke stars Audie Murphy and Susan Cabot signed about 1,200 autographs for fans at the Rivoli.

But times changed. In 1987, the Rivoli went dark. It was too expensive to operate and couldnât compete with new multiscreen cinemas with comfortable seats. After a brief stint as a concert venue, the theater languished until 1994, when Tom Misco bought the building and reopened the Rivoli as a second-run theater offering beer and pizza along with popcorn.

More than 20 years later, it remains a downtown icon.

Hometown Icon: Bodega

One of the more popular haunts in downtown La Crosse has a reputation not only for stocking 400 beers but also being, well, haunted.

Such is the history of the Bodega Brew Pub, located in a building at 122 S. Fourth St. that traces to the late 1800s.

As legend has it, Paul Malin, who owned and operated the Malin Pool and Sample Room in the building, has haunted it since he allegedly hanged himself there in 1901.

The building reportedly changed hands several times during the next five years, with the reason finally coming to light in 1907, when the La Crosse Tribune reported that Malin had spooked the most recent owner, A.J. Hine.

Hine told friends that he was selling his Union Saloon in the building because Malin appeared to him every night and kept him awake with odd shenanigans.

Hauntedbarguide.com promotes the saga, noting, “Owners and employees tell stories of appearances, noises, slamming doors, and objects moving around.”

Jeff Hotson, who has owned the Bodega since 1994, said he hasnât had any run-ins with apparitions, although employees have claimed a few strange happenings.

âThey say they have, and perhaps they have, but I havenât,â Hotson said. âPersonally, I donât believe in it.â

Hotson does believe in serving up a variety of hot and cold sandwiches, as well as other fare, with the Bodegaâs signature being its roster of 400 kinds of beer.

Prices for the brews vary widely, from a buck fifty a bottle to a Canadian brand he recently sold for $380.

To ease the sticker shock, he noted, âOne thing about it was it was a very large bottle â I think six liters. It was super high quality and discontinued.

Hotson said he became an aficionado of the pricey brews in the 1980s when he sampled one.

âTheyâre a little bit like wine,â he said. âTheyâre fantastic. It was a life-changing moment and one of the reasons I own this bar now.

Hometown Icon: Doerflinger Building

For much of the last century, the place to shop in La Crosse was the Doerflingerâs department store at Fourth and Main.

The familiar four-story Doerflinger building came into being a year after fire destroyed William Doerflingerâs original store in 1903. His daughter, Viola Doerflinger Fellows, and then grandson Samuel Fellows II continued the familyâs long involvement in the store.

Doerflingerâs harkened back to the days before malls and big-box stores, offering a wide mix of merchandise such as furniture, casual and dress apparel, housewares, appliances. The Halfway Tea Room on the mezzanine allowed patrons to get a bite to eat. Area residents during those decades fondly remembered the storeâs elaborate Christmas displays and decorations.

âI think it was the historic anchor to the downtown,â current building owner Mike Keil said.

But as with most such department stores, Doerflingerâs fell out of fashion and closed in 1984. It went through a number of tenants and owners before the city sold the building to Keil in 2004.

âI just thought itâs a wonderful building with good bones,â Keil said, âand I felt it was worth saving, worth restoring.â With retail on the first floor and office space above, the Doerflinger building now is fully occupied again, housing about 200 employees for companies such as Authenticom and Michaels Energy. Duluth Trading Co. occupies the entire first floor.

Click here for more photos of Doerflinger's Department store.

Hometown Icon: State Bank (McMillan) Building

La Crosseâs historic downtownÂ â which runs roughly from the Mississippi River to Seventh Street and La Crosse Street to Cass StreetÂ â contains many buildings that tell stories of how the city grew from a small trading post to a bustling hub of commerce.

Many have been restored as part of the cityâs downtown revitalization and others that have been saved from the wrecking ball await rehabilitation. One of the downtown gems that has experienced new life is the McMillan Building at 401 Main St. that today is home to State Bank.

Duncan McMillan was a Scottish immigrant who came with his sons Alexander and Duncan D. to La Crosse in 1854 to work in the lumber business. They quickly became prominent La Crosse citizens. Alexander was president of the Black River Logging Co., served as mayor La Crosse in 1871 and was elected to the state Legislature in 1872.

Alexander built a new office building at Fourth and Main streets in 1885-86, an impressive five-story Romanesque Revival style with a massive limestone faÃ§ade. Large round arches are featured in the window and door openings. Many different businesses have occupied the building over its history, including E.R. Barron and C.E Valkenburg Dry Goods. The upper floor offices were once used by the city.

The McMillan family left its mark on the community in other ways. Duncan D. McMillan became president of State Bank of La Crosse which eventually moved into the building in 1913. His son John married Edna Cargill and the two families combined to control Cargill Inc., the multi-national corporation that was founded in La Crosse.

Like many other downtown buildings, the McMillan building was remodeled over the years and large granite panels were installed in 1957. State Bank spent nearly $2 million in the mid-1990s to restore the building.

Hometown Icon: Hixon House

The Hixon House is a historical treasure that showcases one of the finest original properties of its kind in the country. Itâs also an example of the influence and affluence that the lumber barons had on our region.

In the middle to late 1800s, logs from the great forests of the north made their way down the Black River and the Mississippi River to saw mills in Onalaska and La Crosse. Large fortunes were amassed.

One of La Crosseâs lumber barons was Gideon Hixon, who in 1858 bought property at Seventh and Badger streets and began construction of a modest home, considering Hixonâs wealth. It was a two-story, rectangular, front-gabled house with minimal Italianate ornamentation. It was large enough for Hixon, his mother, sister and two brothers who often stayed at the house.

But Hixon married and he soon had three sons. He decided to add on to his house and constructed a two-story addition on the north side in 1869. Another two-story addition on the south side was added in 1881 and the kitchen wing was renovated in 1883. The interior was renovated to keep up with the styles of the times, including a Turkish nook added at the turn of the 20th century after Gideonâs widow Ellen (Hixon died in 1892) took a trip to Egypt and Turkey.

Alice Green Hixon, the second wife of Gideonâs oldest son Frank, made sure the furnishings remained in the house even after the family stopped living there. She gave it to the La Crosse County Historical Society in 1962 with the stipulation that it remain for historical purposes.

The Hixon House underwent a $1.844 million restoration in the mid-2000s. Itâs open for tours through Labor Day. Also on the grounds are an 1889-era cobbler shop and a Greek-revival style workingmanâs house built about 1858. Both were moved to the property.

Hometown Icon: Graff Main Hall

In the early years of the 20th century the Wisconsin Legislature authorized the location of a normal school in La Crosse and allocated $10,000 for the purchase of property.

The La Crosse Normal School was the eighth such school in the state when it opened with 176 students on Sept. 7, 1909. Main Hall as it was later called was the schoolâs only academic building until Wittich Hall opened in 1920. According to âCelebrate 75: A Time to Reflectâ a history of UW-L, Main Hall was âa model of modern constructionâ that included a library, gymnasiums, auditorium offices and a Model School â all built with the purpose of training teachers.

Located on what was then the edge of the city, Main Hall was built in the Neo-Classical style shared by many other education buildings during that era. Designed by the architectural firm Van Ryn & Gelleke, the three-story red brick building is accented with cut limestone around the windows, roof and the base. The building features a central bay with a decorative arched entry and an octagonal tower.

Floyd Bartels, class of 1913, penned a short tribute to the building. âTowering high, its reddish walls; Look oâer all the land: Beckoning to the hungry mind. The home of knowledge stands.â

Main Hall was renamed Maurice O. Graff Main Hall in 1997 after a longtime professor, dean and vice chancellor at the school, which became the La Crosse State Teachers College in 1927, La Crosse State College in 1951, La Crosse State University in 1964 and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 1971.

The building was designated as a historic site by the city of La Crosse in 1984 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Graff Main Hall has undergone several renovations over the years, but they have been sympathetic to the original character of the building. The auditorium was remodeled in 1979 but is again being overhauled as part of a $1.3 million project that will include new seats, a new ceiling and new lighting.

Today it houses much of the universityâs administration and other programs, including the school of education, true to the schoolâs humble beginnings.

Hometown Icon: World's Largest Six Pack

We love our beer, a product that is synonymous with the city of La Crosse.

Nothing says beer more than what is billed as the Worldâs Largest Six-Pack, a landmark along south Third Street that made its debut in 1969 and was painted in 1970 to look like six giant cans of Old Style beer.

In those days the G. Heileman Brewing Co. was a regional brewer with an eye towards expansion. It was the last remaining of what were once 15 breweries in the city, which in 1884 produced more beer than any other place in Wisconsin.

Filled with fully-kraeusened beer made from pure artesian well water that some folks say flows underground all the way from Canada, the tanks were repainted several times before Heileman was purchased by Stroh Brewery Co. in 1996. Stroh went out of business in 1999 and sold most of its brandsÂ â including Old StyleÂ â to Pabst.

The brewery became the City Brewery in 1999 and the 54-foot high tanks were painted over in 2000, with the Old Style labels still faintly visible. Four of the visible tanks were wrapped in La Crosse Lager labels in 2003.

The tanks have been featured on postcards, travel sites and have been the location of many posed photos over the years, the perfect setting for âI went to La Crosse and all I got was a single six-pack.â

Some foamy fun facts: The tanks can hold 22,220 barrels of beer, which equals 688,200 gallons or 7.3 million cans, which lined up would stretch for 565 miles.

Boasting beer drinkers may like to brag about how many tanks they could finish off in their lifetime, but the math is against them.

Itâs not physically possible to drink your way through a tank, much less more. One would have to drink 12 ounces of beer every hour and live to be 120 years old just to finish one tank.

Any claims to the contrary are simply lots of beer talk. Case (or make that six-pack) closed.

For photos of Heileman Brewery, click here.

Hometown Icon: Hamlin Garland Home

One of Wisconsinâs best known authors was born in West Salem, and the home in the village he later bought for his parents is preserved as a reminder of his legacy.

Hamlin Garland was born Sept. 14, 1860, in a log cabin in West Salem, where he lived for about a year before his family moved to Onalaskaâs Greens Coulee. West Salem annually throws a weekend celebration in September, Garland Days, to mark his birthday. Most of the activities happen at the Garland House, 357 W. Garland St., the home he bought in 1893, across from the former West Salem High School.

TheÂ West Salem Historical Society owns and maintains the Garland House, which includes furnishings and other items that belonged to the celebrated and prolific author, who won the 1922 Pulitzer Prize in Biography for âA Daughter of the Middle Border,â the sequel to his 1917 autobiography, âA Son of the Middle Border.â The Garland House museum room includes 48 of the 52 books published by Garland, who wrote novels, short stories, essays and magazine articles, many of them focusing on the hardships of pioneer life in the American Midwest.

Mary Isabel Garland, the first of two daughters born to Garland and his wife, Zulime, was born in the house in 1903, and Garland and his family spent several months a year at the house until his fatherâs death in 1914.

The Garland House is on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated in 1973 by the U.S. Interior Department as a National Historic Landmark.

The home is open Memorial Day through Labor Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. Off-hours visits can be arranged by calling 608-786-1675.

Hometown Icon: Copeland locomotive

La Crosse was once served by five railroads. While that number is down to two, the La Crosse Shortline Railroad display at Copeland Park is a tribute to the cityâs rail history.

The display began in 1963 when the Burlington Steam Locomotive was placed in the park. The coal-fired engine was built by The Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1930 for the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad, one of only a dozen type S-4 locomotives built.

At nearly 40 feet in length and weighing nearly 396,000 pounds, the locomotive was streamlined in stainless steel to look like a diesel electric in 1937 and was renumbered 4000. Called Aeolus after the keeper of the winds in Greek mythology, she was used as backup on the Zephyr Line. It is said she once pulled a passenger train 112 mph between Cochrane and La Crosse. The steel shroud was removed in 1942 and the locomotive was renamed Big Alice the Goon after the heroine in the âPopeyeâ comic strip. The locomotive was taken out of service in 1955 and donated to the city in 1961.

Also on display is the Milwaukee Road Caboose No. 0359, built in 1883 and retired in 1961. The unique wooden caboose features a cupola and windows on all four sides.

The Grand Crossing Interlocking Tower was built in 1928 and was used at the mainline crossings near Logan High School. The tower contains levers once used to switch the rail lines. It was the last manually operated station in the state. The tower was replaced by automation in 1991 and moved to Copeland Park by The 4000 Foundation, which works to restore and maintain the Shortline display.

Hometown Icon: Oak Grove Cemetery

The historic Oak Grove Cemetery in the heart of La Crosse is known as âThe Silent Cityâ where more than 30,000 are interred, including some of the cityâs some influential leaders.

The cemetery was founded in 1852 at 1407 La Crosse St. by the cityâs founding fathers and today spans 80 acres, said Trish Grathen, executive director of the cemetery association.

Local attorney and civic leader Joseph Losey in the early 1880s led the cemeteryâs beautification efforts after it fell into disrepair, Grathen said. It was his vision that visitors would spend time enjoying the grounds and exploring its history.

âWe still encourage people to enjoy the cemetery like a park and to continue what Joseph Losey wanted,â Grathen said.

The cemeteryâs entrance features a massive stone arch erected in 1901 to honor Losey. Itâs now considered a local, state and national Historic Landmark.

La Crosse icons Gottlieb Heileman, Cadwallader Washburn, Gideon Hixon, James Trane and members of the Gund and Cargill families are buried on the grounds. Washburnâs monument is the groundâs tallest at 45-feet.

The site also includes a Civil War monument memorializing La Crosse area veterans and a marble and concrete mausoleum built in 1912 to hold 590 burial sites. A garden mausoleum featuring a waterfall and garden beds opened in 1999.

Visitors can take self-guided walking tours of the grounds from dawn to dusk daily.

Hometown Icon: Rudyâs Drive-in

It wouldnât be summertime without a trip to Rudyâs Drive-in.

The iconic La Crosse restaurant offers touch of vintage charmÂ â roller-skating carhops in poodle skirts, weekly âcruise nightsâ with classic cars, homemade root beer.

The restaurant has existed in some form since 1937, when original owner William Rudy bought an existing A&W root beer stand at Fourth and Vine streets.

By 1940, he had opened stands on the Causeway, at Fourth and Main and 24th and La Crosse; the progress continued with another A&W opening on South Avenue in 1947.

The current Rudyâs location, at 10th and La Crosse, opened in 1966 and is operated by Williamâs grandson, Gary Rudy, who grew up in the family business. Rudy worked part-time in the summer months as a child, starting in second grade when he washed glasses and scooped ice cream for root beer floats.

The third-generation owner dropped the A&W franchise name in 1979 and expanded to the east in 2009 when he his second Rudyâs Drive-in in Sparta in 2009.

The drive-in closes each winter but its re-opening every year comes after the sign tells us that the beer is brewing. And when Rudyâs opens for business, it is a true La Crosse harbinger of spring.

Hometown Icon: Railroad swing bridge

Thereâs little room for error threading a raft of barges three football fields long through L4-B. About 23 feet on either side, to be exact.

Spanning the main shipping channel of the Mississippi River between La Crosse and La Crescent, the Canadian Pacific swing bridge has provided an essential rail link between eastern markets and the west for more than a century.

Erected in 1902, it replaced an 1876 bridge that had been key to the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroadâs efforts to connect the three cities. Built with concrete and steel rather than iron and stone, it incorporated the most sophisticated designs of its time, according to a 2006 report by Hess, Roise and Co.

Construction took a year and claimed one life, 26-year-old Fred Rickleff, who was crushed under a steel beam.

The swing span pivots on a 26-foot diameter drum that sits atop 52 steel rollers, which bear its weight when open. Complicated as it sounds, the design was favored because it was less expensive than bascule lift bridges, and had fewer moving parts.

Originally powered by a steam engine, itâs now turned by electric motors fed by an underground cable and operated by Canadian Pacific crews, who staff the bridge around the clock during the river shipping season.

The railway wonât say how often it swings open, but Army Corps of Engineers records show that during the past year 1,686 commercial and passenger vessels passed through lock and dam 7 just 2.5 river miles upstream.

Providing an opening just 151 feet wide for modern barges that measure 105 feet across, the bridge has long been considered a navigation hazard.

Itâs on a list of nine such bridges the U.S. Coast Guard has designated for replacement or modification, though Congress has yet to allocate funds for its replacement.

Hometown Icon: Lock and Dam 7

Lock and Dam 7 north of La Crosse is one of 29 similar structures that have shaped the mighty Mississippi River.

The facility has been open for 77 years as a Coulee Region landmark that has helped mold the Mississippi into a funnel for barge and pleasure boat traffic and help tame floodwaters.

The main lock itself is 110 feet wide by 600 feet long, and the section of dam with moving parts is 940 feet long, including five roller gates that are 20 feet high and 80 feet long, as well as 11 Tainter gates 15 feet high by 35 feet long, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Earthen embankments and concrete spillways stretch another mile and a half eastward.

The behemoth, built at a cost of $6.77 million, attracts school classes, bus tours, collegians studying river topics and a variety of other groups, lockmaster D.J. Moser said.

Last year 4,593 recreational craft locked through. The original control building, now a visitor center, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The structure underwent major rehabilitation in 2011 and 2012.

Shipping tonnage through the lock has yo-yoed during the past 20 years, with a downward trend during the past decade. It peaked at 15.86 million tons in 1999, settling in the 9-million-ton range in recent years.

Part of the reason is a decline in the amount of corn shipped because of the commodityâs increasing use for fuel, Moser said.

Hometown Icon: La Crosse River Marsh

Before there was a La Crosse, before the river that winds east to west through the city gained the same name, there was the marshÂ â an expanse of water and wetland vegetation in the shadow of the bluffs, laden with life above and below the surface.

Those of European origins who settled here long looked at the La Crosse River Marsh as a barrier to the cityâs growth, useful only if it could be drained or filled or paved over. Plat maps still show streets planned in the midst of the marsh. Lang Drive was built atop trash dumped into the wetlands.

Development did take its toll on the marsh, shrinking it to about half its original size. Yet time has brought a measure of pride in what once was viewed as wasted space, enough that a 1998 referendum vote soundly rejected the idea of putting a new road through it.

The La Crosse River Marsh now is touted as an asset for the city, a green jewel that helps define what makes the community unique.

It acts as a massive natural sponge, absorbing and filtering seasonal rains and providing a cistern for floodwaters. It also plays host and home to a wide array of speciesÂ â 150 different kinds of birds, 54 fish, 30 invertebrates, 24 mammals, 15 reptiles, seven frogs or toads and who knows how many varieties of insects, not to mention at least 100 types of trees, grasses and other plants.

All right in the heart of La Crosse, giving those in the city nearly 1,100 acres of teeming natural space only a few steps away from where they live, work or attend school.

Hometown Icon: Pettibone Bathhouse

The lure of a sand beach and a cool river has drawn large crowds to Pettibone Beach for generations, especially in the days before air conditioning. The beach was actually part of Minnesota in 1901 when A.W. Pettibone bought the park that today carries his name and gave it the city.

In the middle of the bathers and the sand stands the distinctive Pettibone Bathhouse, an architectural treasure that opened in 1926. The bathhouse â which replaced a frame building from 1904 â was designed by La Crosse architect Otto Merman in the Spanish mission style. It was built by Theodore Molzahn Co. for about $29,000. High quality materials â such as Tennessee marble â were used in the construction.

River pollution that caused the death of a 16-year-old boy who contracted meningitis after swimming at the beach in 1931 led to the closure of the bathhouse. It remained closed for much of the decade because of low water levels and pollution caused by raw sewage being dumped into the river. Vandals broke windows and stole fixtures. The bathhouse was finally reopened in 1939 â two years after the city started treating sewage â after building repairs were completed.

In 1982, area high school students helped install bricks taken from old city streets into the former locker room area used as courtyards. Some plaster work was also done over the years, but by the turn of the century, the building had holes in the roof and was in a general state of disrepair.

In 2001, the city allocated more than a half-million dollars for a renovation, and in June 2002 the restored facility was rededicated. The late Betty Hyde is credited with being a strong advocate for the restoration.

Hometown Icon: Cass Street Bridge

Today more than 17,500 vehicles cross the Mississippi River every day traveling across the two bridges that link La Crosse to Barron Island.

But getting across the Mississippi River was no small feat when La Crosse was first settled in the 1850s. The first ferry service was called Wild Kate, a treadmill powered by two horses that began in 1853. It was replaced with a faster steam ferry called the Honeyoye in 1854 that could carry 20 teams of horses and passengers from the foot of Main Street to what is now Shore Acres. A ferry syndicate provided service until 1890 when the cityâs Wagon Bridge â which spanned the river from just below what is now the La Crosse Center to Pettibone Park â opened.

The bridge was not designed for heavy auto traffic, and there was a push starting in 1935 for a replacement, which was accelerated when the west span of the Wagon Bridge collapsed in an auto accident in August 1935.

Federal funds for a new $1.5 million bridge were approved in 1936, and the High Bridge â or Main Channel Bridge â opened Sept. 23, 1939, in a colorful event attended by an estimated 15,000 people that included a parade, a fireworks display and a parade of boats .

Over the years the bridge has assumed the Cass Street Bridge moniker and has changed colors from gray to blue. It was placed under 24-hour guard during World War II. The slippery residue from a massive mayfly hatch closed the bridge for an hour in 1950, and at least seven people have been killed in traffic accidents on the bridge.

In 1983. the concrete roadway was replaced with a metal deck, in part so that the dead mayflies would fall through the grating. But the decision was wrapped in some controversy. Developer Russ Cleary complained about the noise in the 1990s when his Marriott Courtyard hotel opened just beneath the bridge.

The metal decking was replaced as part of a $5.7 million rehabilitation project in 2005 when its companion arch â the $31 million Cameron Avenue Bridge â opened. Today the Cass Street Bridge â also called Big Blue â carries two lanes of westbound traffic.

Hometown Icon: Grandad Bluff

Grandad Bluff stands 590 feet above the Mississippi River Valley and 1,183 feet above sea level.

Itâs a towering icon shaped by the geologic forces of melting ice sheets and by men who later quarried dolomite rock. It also helped shape the region as the rock was used for building foundations and for paving streets.

In geologic terms, itâs actually a mesa, an elevated table with a flat top and steep cliff sides. Locals and visitors for years have stood on the vista for a panoramic view of the city below, the confluence of three rivers and a chance to see three states.

How the bluff was named is speculative. Some believe early La Crosse residents thought the profile of the bluff resembled an old man, hence granddad. Quarrying that was conducted until the 1930s and erosion resulted in a substantial facelift. Others believe it was given the patriarchâs moniker because it was the tallest bluff in the area.

The bluffs may look more like mountains to flatlanders, and for a brief period there was a movement to call the promontory Grandad Mountain. In 1928, Mayor J.J. Verchota and some council members considered calling the entire bluff range the Mississippi Valley Mountain Range to promote the bluffs as a tourist attraction. Alderman Ed Erickson suggested a large, illuminated sign could be installed on the bluff that would read âGrandad, La Crosse the Beautiful.â

The bluff passed through many private hands until 1909, when the daughter of Henry Bliss (who built the road to the top of the bluff) transferred the deed to Joseph Hixon for $12,000. Hixon in 1912 donated the bluff and land that is now Hixon Forest to the city.

Various park improvements were made over the years, including the shelter built in 1938 under the WPA program. The south overlook was closed in 2007 because of safety concerns and reopened after the park underwent a $1.4 million renovation completed in 2013.

Places of the past: An alphabetical look back at La Crosse area history

The Tribune is taking an A-to-Z look at La Crosse area history.

Rusty Cunningham is editor of the La Crosse Tribune.

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(75) comments

HolmenPackerFan Aug 15, 2018 2:41pm

Mr. Cunningham seems to have hit the nail on the head. Based on the childish comments and political bickering which can be seen here, the issue seems more about having a âfightâ than about the statue.

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oldhomey Aug 18, 2018 10:38pm

Well, FINALLY, Holmen, we can agree on something. Responsible elected officials trying to do the right thing start talking about moving a public object that a significant number of people feel is disrespectful and insulting to the Native American community. Does a reasonable solution to the problem seem possible? No, of course not! There is always somebody who want to have an "issue" to fight over, so they chose this one to mount a big public campaign to thwart any reasonable solution. You have hit the nail on the head, my friend. crank Aug 19, 2018 10:33am

I wonder if HolmenPackerFan wasn't referring you you and a few others whose childish bickering about topics unrelated to the Hiawatha statue or this article appear below.

Perhaps you already realize this and it is the reason now you (suddenly) feel compelled to pivot and now offer this comment about "the Native American community" after days of bickering about Hillary, Trump, Alex Jones, Buggs, Rick, Russians, Nazis, Africans, Norwegians, Asians, the Klan, etc. which had nothing to do with this article.

oldhomey Aug 19, 2018 5:53pm

Perhaps you could explain to me, crank, on how I have "pivoted" on my position. I thought I was clear from the beginning that I knew Anthony Zimmerhackl personally, I know he was not a racist. He created the sculpture with entirely honorable intentions. But I think his creation, the Hiawatha sculpture, is an unfortunate work of art, a cement cigar store Indian, and the passage of time and cultural awareness since 1961 has shown the sculpture to be an inappropriate stereotype. It would be okay to move it elsewhere to private property or in a museum setting that could put it into proper historical context, but it should not be on the River Front. THAT is the reasonable solution that public officials were beginning to try to work out, but then somebody came along and started bickering childishly, deciding that they would have a good fight over this. Though you often draw erroneous conclusions, Crank, usually I have found you to be a more careful reader than you have proven to be here.

And yes, I was fully cognizant that Holmen had me in mind as his target in his 10:33am post. I guess I should not risk trying to use irony around you. crank Aug 19, 2018 7:52pm

I've explained it completely. You may think you've made it clear you knew Zimmerhackl but I'm not sure how you can insist this when you've not even mentioned the man in the comments you've posted on this article. I've reviewed them carefully but no mention of him by you.

I know you have noticed I don't comment here very often. I do see your trolls mentioning me even when I am not here. I resist because this childish bickering (the sort of which I now find myself engaged) as an absurd waste of time. When I see an article 60 or more comments, I know with certainty what I'll find. You seem to have nothing better to do.

Now, you're simply denying things when it is "clear" you were engaged in your usual 'fighting'. Read your own comments. If I'm incorrect, quote for me the comment you've posted here in the thread of comments under this article which even mentions the artist. You cannot...

I'll not wait for your denial. Let's cut to the chase. You'll continue until I stop responding then declare "I've won! Crank is now hiding in the weeds..." or "Ricky has no honor." We've covered this ground before.

An absurd waste of time... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvcnx6-0GhA

HolmenPackerFan Aug 20, 2018 5:53am

Not specifically oldhomey. I noticed none of the comments were about the article. It was the same bunch as always. They know who they are.

oldhomey Aug 20, 2018 1:38pm

Well, crank, you haven't been very closely reading the ongoing story and column comments regarding the Hiawatha statue all this summer, as I talked about Zim and being in his classes and knowing his sons many, many times. I am no fan of senseless bickering, nor is anybody else that I know of. But for you, I guess, it is best to keep your mouth shut in a policy debate, particularly if it looks like public opinion is going to land on your side of the debate. You DO pipe up when you think your side is losing ground, from what I can read from your responses. Am I clairvoyant when I sense you are reading these posts, even when you don't comment on them? I don't think so, since you seem to come out of left field every once in awhile to carp about something I have said. Perhaps, however, since you do admit to read all this malarkey, you could resurrect an instance where I have declared "I won!" I don't recall doing that, but certainly I have been guilty of rightly noting when somebody has been lying and ducking, and I or somebody else has caught them in the act, that the guilty party has disappeared, unable to credibly defend what they have said. Is that victory, or is that reality?

HolmenPackerFan Aug 20, 2018 2:04pm

What about this one, oldhomey? Did you discuss âZimâ or any of that stuff you say youâve been posting all summer under THIS article or was it simply childish bickering unrelated to the statue?

Why, if not related to the article, bother to comment at all? The frustration for me is someone who may have a legitimate point of view which is worth considering is drowned out by the considerable noise coming from a handful of you. Who gives a sh*t who you think is a Russian spy or hiding in the weeds, really? For the most part, I have stopped reading comments but when I opened these I was struck by the fact you and others contributed nothing to this discussion about the statue! You and Buggs might consider doing us a favor and simply shut for a while. W-T-F does Hillary Clinton have to do with this statue in Riverside Park? NOTHING! Why was she mentioned in ANY of your comments? Why not just shut up? Yâall are ridiculous with this nonsense!

oldhomey Aug 20, 2018 2:16pm

Perhaps, holmen, you could point out where I digressed from the subject at hand except for those instances when somebody else, instead of dealing with what I was saying, simply bellyached that I was "bickering" and should keep my opinions on the subject at hand to myself. capedcrusader Aug 20, 2018 11:11pm

From time to time threads can be hijacked and move completely off the topic that was started. It's been my experience that most of the time it's because questions were posed with no response leading others to follow up with more. And one thing naturally leads to another. If you wanna be on here spouting off about things join any number of other ultracrepidarians on here. If you want to control everything start your own blog.

oldhomey Aug 21, 2018 12:46am

crank asks: "What about this one, oldhomey? Did you discuss âZimâ or any of that stuff you say youâve been posting all summer under THIS article or was it simply childish bickering unrelated to the statue?" crank tells us he doesn't read many of the comment sections anymore, since he is so frustrated by them. Well, crank, I guess I am guilty of thinking I made my point several times a long time ago about Zim's sincerity and good intentions, and I did not bring it up in this instance until some bickering guy said I simply didn't know the history of the statue. So I brought it up again.

crank says, "The frustration for me is someone who may have a legitimate point of view which is worth considering is drowned out by the considerable noise coming from a handful of you." I am not trying to drown out anybody, I am just expressing my opinion on the statue. If you have an opposing argument, give it, but if it is a faulty argument, don't go into a snit if somebody points out how it doesn't stand up.

"Who gives a sh*t who you think is a Russian spy"? Not me. I never accused anybody on here of being one, though I have caught people on here quoting Russian intelligence produced lies as being the truth. Right Buggs? Right Snow? That has nothing to do with the Hiawatha statue, so why are you bringing it up in this discussion, crank?

"I was struck by the fact you and others contributed nothing to this discussion about the statue!" You are right about not reading many posts, as I and others have contributed quite a bit to the discussion about the statue, both pro and con.

It might be favor to you for me to not comment on these boards, as you suggest ("You and Buggs might consider doing us a favor and simply shut for a while. "), but I owe you no favors, crank, so I will decide when I will comment and when I will remain silent.

"W-T-F does Hillary Clinton have to do with this statue in Riverside Park? NOTHING! Why was she mentioned in ANY of your comments? Why not just shut up? Yâall are ridiculous with this nonsense!" You are absolutely right. Hillary has nothing to do with this statue. Buggs brought her up. Tell him to shut up. Please.

oldhomey Aug 21, 2018 12:48am

ultracrepidarian? Caped, I am deeply impressed. That is a new word for me, and certainly it is an apt word for many on these boards. I would imagine the word will be flung at me constantly in the near future. It should be interesting to see how Ricky and new2 spell it. Buggs Raplin Aug 14, 2018 6:05pm

Hillary Clinton going to prison? She's deserves it. Oh my God how she deserves it. Never gonna happen. She's untouchable. The law doesn't apply to her. She's right now preparing to run in 2020 under the theme the Russians caused her loss in 2016, so let's make things right. That'll be her campaign theme. It's bullsh*t, but Democrats will swallow the bullsh*t. Biden will bow out. Warren has lost cred with her lie of Native American ancestry. Bernie? Well, he's the only real competition, but he's very old. I think Hillary, if not waylaid by health problems, will be the Democrat nominee in 2020. Whether that is correct or not, I can guarantee you, she'll never, ever go to prison. There is no justice when you reach that level despite your crimes.

oldhomey Aug 14, 2018 9:55pm

Are you worrying about Hillary's health problems, Buggs? As I recall during the 2016 campaign you were assuring us that she was severely, critically ill, so ill that it seemed improbable she could survive even one term of the presidency, the way you presented her condition. Now you're worried that she is so healthy that she is planning on launching another campaign in 2020? Explain, please. Or were you wrong in 2016 about how ill she was then? What're your odds on Donald Trump not going to prison? You seem to be saying that he is legally untouchable, too. But it keeps getting hotter and hotter in that White House kitchen for him. I personally always thought we should never jail a former U.S. president. Certainly, despite my extreme dislike for Dick Nixon, I did not want to see him go to the slammer. But we have never had such an openly racist, corrupt, inept, immoral human presiding the White House like Trump before. I am not so sure if I would care all that much if we eventually see him standing behind a string of numbers under his chin in a booking photo. Let's see his tax returns. That would decide it for me.

And, Buggs, for the record, I too would be horrified if Hillary runs again. I didn't want her in 2016 because of the Clinton baggage she drags behind her, even though I thing she would do fine as president. I haven't changed my mind, particularly since she also is simply too damned old to be starting out as president. And she is a couple of years younger than me. capedcrusader Aug 15, 2018 10:21am

Yea, I feel the same way about Trump. He won't go either but he deserves too. I believe Trump has been laundering money for decades and had/has ties to the Russian mafia. If anyone deserves Prison it's a criminal like Crooked Trump. I don't agree that Clinton will be the nominee. I believe her time has come and gone and she would serve the Party better helping someone new and younger secure the nomination. The Democratic Party needs to get younger and the nations future leaders have to be more then Clinton and Sanders or the Republicans will just continue to win.

oldhomey Aug 15, 2018 1:43pm

amen, caped.

johnnybragatti Aug 13, 2018 7:49pm

Way,way,way too funny, Clinton ain"t even being investigated for anything.
We"ve been infested with an Orange Carcass in the White House, under scrutiny, for : "being up to no good" with a foreign adversary,enemy country.
They should wind it up Sept. ....2020.

Rick Czeczok Aug 13, 2018 12:04pm

Casey's job in the "gang of six"is to stir up trouble with his comments. He's not very good at it though as you can see. Just insulting someone does not make you right. Fake name, fake gender name, FAKE FAKE FAKE it's the demo's way. Hillary your leader is getting closer and closer to prison. capedcrusader Aug 13, 2018 7:57pm

You keep telling yourself that about Hillary. Wanna bet on that? How do you know that name is fake when you can't even prove yours is real? Can you?

Rick Czeczok Aug 14, 2018 9:08pm

Look it up on the web, stupid!!!!!!!! capedcrusader Aug 15, 2018 10:13am

Well, you can always tell when someone is losing a debate. They resort to name calling. Just like Hey19 did when he was called out. Haven't heard from him since his tall tale about how he got his name. Now, can you tell us how we know "Rick Czeczok" is your real name? If you never hide, that surprises me. I've asked you several times about cassandra and about your name and you never answer. Cat got your tongue or the truth?

Cassandra2 Aug 14, 2018 10:45am

Still waiting for the lying Russian troll Zerocock to follow through with its plan to "unmask" me, since it claims to know who I "really" am. Also still waiting for it to depart these pages for 7 years as promised in its July 10 posting. Those sexist Russians just can't handle being schooled by a female, and must lash out continually as they try to undermine our democracy. How sad. capedcrusader Aug 14, 2018 8:18pm

Czeczok tends to hide when you ask him something he can't answer honestly.

Rick Czeczok Aug 14, 2018 9:09pm

Never hid in my life looser.....

Cassandra2 Aug 15, 2018 12:04am

The Russian bot isn't hiding, it's just refusing to come through with the evidence and refusing to honor its pledge from July 10 to leave these pages for 7 years.

And it's still trying to get the hang of using American English idiom like "loser."

oldhomey Aug 16, 2018 6:06pm

Rick, I would like to comment on your 8:18pm comment, and it does not concern your "loose" command of spelling. I would like to suggest there is a solid example I can point out of you "hiding". It is the following exchange under another column currently online at this site:

oldhomey Aug 15, 2018 2:16pm

At the risk of Ricky actually disappearing from these boards for the next seven years, and thus being denied his wonderfully insane laughter, I think he should not be allowed to ignore this exchange from this string of comments, so I am copying it to stress he needs to comment on it:

Cassandra2 Aug 11, 2018 7:45am

Zerocock, you promised on July 10 that you would be leaving these comments pages and not returning for 7 years. Were you ordered to return by your KGB/Qanon handlers?
Rick Czeczok Aug 11, 2018 5:10pm

Lie, never said that.
Cassandra2 Aug 12, 2018 2:39pm

Yes, you did. The evidence is right here in the Tribune's pages.
oldhomey Aug 14, 2018 2:57pm

Amen, Cassie. I remember distinctly that he bid farewell to all of us, saying he had given up commenting and reading these boards. When I have time, I may try to retrieve it, though it may be out of the system that we can get access to by this time.
oldhomey Aug 14, 2018 3:04pm

Gosh, that took very little effort. Now, if the pipsqueak Ricky has an answer to this, both Cassie and I would like to see it:

Rick Czeczok Jul 10, 2018 7:24pm

You should really see a psychiatrist, they can help you with opening the door and walking through. Dear, dear boy.....Anyway it's been two years and I have used you for my personal amusement long enough. The "GANG" of DNC puppets on here just keep repeating everything someone else says, like the little kid on the play ground that would always say" I know you are but what am I" because the kid wasn't smart or original enough to think on his own. This group found me out that I am a Russian spy and Boris and Natasha were my mates. Man they are some smart group. Anyway, I can't take people who take themselves so seriously, who are so full of themselves, and think they are something that they are not, nor never will be. So goodbye you important little gang of fools. See you in seven years when Trump leaves office. Tickets to Canada still stand, I will buy them for all of you (the gang") once you denounce US citizenship, as you so hate your country. Love it or leave it baby Casey boy, don't forget to change your diaper.....

oldhomey Aug 17, 2018 7:27pm

Ricky, are you in hiding because of your false assertion that you have never hid in your life? What is it like out there in the weeds with Buggs and Snow?

Redwall Aug 12, 2018 9:08pm

The Tribune is largely responsible for poking the citizens of La Crosse in the eyes by manufacturing and promoting this divisive matter over the last eighteen months, even though it is clear a large majority of La Crosse and area residents want the statue to stay.

The Tribune has given outrageous weight to a few squeaky wheels that claim to find the statue offensive. Maybe the Tribune is now thinking if the statue is taken down it wants to dodge responsibility for its demise and thus this so-late "important lesson" editorial. The editorial take the chicken rout by stopping short of saying the statue should stay.

However, what the Tribune proposes is a pragmatic solution while retaining the statue that may satisfy some and educate many others and has some precedent as the WI DOT has posted similar signage near historic sites to add context given modern sensitivities.

Its too bad the Tribune couldn't have written this editorial before its writers spent a year and a half whipping up local animus.

oldhomey Aug 12, 2018 9:57pm

Red, what you are saying is a little bit like accusing the people who were horrified by the message and behavior of the white supremacists, Nazis and Klan members who massed in Charlottesville rally of racists last year. Were the people who denounced the white supremacists being divisive. Were the people standing up for the respect of all people being trouble-makers? In your mind, it would appear so. Buggs Raplin Aug 12, 2018 6:32pm

Below is a short comment from oldhomey with no opportunity to reply directly. One can't help but read short comments as you scroll through them. People, if you want to know the truth about the character of oldhomey, please google Sharyl Attkisson's video on astroturfing. oldhomey is THE example of it on these boards. Sharyl is an award winning investigative journalist. An actual journalist with integrity, a rarity these days. As she so wonderfully states, the propaganda media these days has abandoned their questioning of those in authority in favor of challenging those, like Alex Jones, who do question authority. So sad. So very sad. If you tell the truth, you're ridiculed by a media that hasn't told the truth about anything crucial in the last 100 years.

oldhomey Aug 12, 2018 7:56pm

Gosh, Buggs, everybody on here knows how to respond to a comment that has only a "report" option under it. You just go to the first "+Add Reply" option above it, click on that, and your response magically appears under the comment you wish to respond to. But, since you are using this lame excuse, still, to duck out on commenting, I will repeat my comment, and this time there should be a "+Add Reply" for you to use. Sharyl Attkisson used to work for the mainstream media, and I guess after a mutual decision that she was too obstinately determined to inject her personal politics into her reporting, she and CBS parted ways. She now works for the only broadcast organization even more cravenly and openly right-wing than Fox News, the Sinclair broadcasting group. No, she is not an actual journalist. She went to the other side and joined up as a propagandist. That is why you like her. She, too, wants to take the world back at least 100 years, to when there were 65-hour work weeks, child labor, no Social Security or pension plans, no health insurance for anyone, and industry had a free hand in polluting our water and air to maximize profits for unregulated industrial and business trusts.

oldhomey Aug 12, 2018 7:57pm

oldhomey Aug 12, 2018 5:07pm

It's POSSIBLE that you made an error? Every day is a litany of your errors being pointed out by other knowledgeable, honest people posting on these boards, Buggs. Yes, it is entirely possible.

oldhomey Aug 13, 2018 10:07pm

Buggs? This 7:57pm post is the one you said you had no way of replying to it. Now it has the reply function under it. You haven't replied. Are you hiding out in the weeds, again, waiting for this column to age out? It would appear so. capedcrusader Aug 14, 2018 7:17am

I'm not hiding out and I can hardly wait for his answer. Although he and Czeczok tend to hide out when something is presented to them that they can't answer...

johnnybragatti Aug 12, 2018 4:20pm

Buggs should interview one of the janitors at Sandy Hook and find out if there was blood to mop up,after the mass murder and where it came from.. 20 baby children perhaps??? Wad he ever 6 years old?
While Buggs is raggin" on vaccinations for kids and turning right around and saying the mass shooting never happened is beyond Evil.
Those lines of "thought" have ways of coming back to haunt. Buggs Raplin Aug 12, 2018 4:58pm

And your comment as it pertains to Hiawatha?

Rick Czeczok Aug 14, 2018 9:19pm

What's wrong with you? Stay on task already....take your ADD med's.....
Was you're DJ name Freak???????

Cassandra2 Aug 12, 2018 2:26pm

"Our community has forgotten to tell the story of our Native American heritage on the prairie where three rivers meet." Maybe the white community has forgotten to tell the story, but rest assured the native community has not. You're just not listening. Buggs Raplin Aug 12, 2018 3:31pm

The Hiawatha statue honors Native Americans. That was the intent of the sculptor. Leave it in the park.

oldhomey Aug 12, 2018 5:04pm

Well, Buggs, perhaps this could all be settled if we created an entire ethnic sculpture park at Riverside. We could have African-Americans represented by a wide-eyed black youngster eating watermelon, Jewish people with a hook-nosed, sneering man in a suit pick-pocketing a Norwegian American, an Asian American tableau of a small child being immersed in textbooks with a stern mother hovering over with a switch, a Mexican immigrant stabbing a Norwegian American in the back while stealing his job and ogling his comely wife. That sort of thing. Then ALL people of all ethnicities will be SO pleased that their presence in our society is being noted whil acknowledging their important place in our common histories. Gosh. I never expected you to be SO sympathetic to people of other cultures.

Cassandra2 Aug 13, 2018 11:20am

Chippy, YOU don't get to decide whether the statue "honors" native Americans. if THEY are offended, it is not honoring them. As I said in my OP, you're not listening.

Redwall Aug 12, 2018 9:13pm

No one has forgotten and those with constructive thoughts are looking for a positive solution. Unfortunately, the Tribune, through a series of stupidly written articles has succeeded only in creating divisiveness and ill will. Buggs Raplin Aug 13, 2018 6:30am

That's what the media has been doing the last two years at the national level too. Whipping up hate and creating a toxic political environment.

Cassandra2 Aug 13, 2018 11:21am

Chippy is clearly referring to Alex Jones and the Qanon lunatics when talking about "whipping up hate and creating a toxic political environment."

Rick Czeczok Aug 13, 2018 7:02pm

Ah wrong again the Ho Chunk don't really care. Are you part native American, you make it sound like you are? Of course you have told a lot of lies about yourself now haven't you.
Whats your real name, so we can see just who tells the truth. Like that's going to happen. Cowards always hide behind false names, genders, and any rock they can crawl under..... Now call me a Russian spy which you know is BS but you have to say something now. Give King (queen) a big hug tonight for me. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Cassandra2 Aug 14, 2018 10:47am

Dear Russian troll Zerocock, please provide some evidence to back up your claim that the Ho Chunk don't care. Please provide quotes from some of the tribal leadership. Until you can do that, please refrain from making ridiculous claims.

It was in the this paper Mr. idiot........

oldhomey Aug 15, 2018 1:47pm

So, Ricky, I take it that you cannot come up with the proof. If it was in this paper, you would have by now pulled it up and reprinted it here to save your honor. You proved, however, long ago that you have no honor.

HolmenPackerFan Aug 15, 2018 3:23pm

I wasnât alive back when this statue was created. As âRickyâ had indicated, this newspaper has reported the HoChunk (Winnebago) tribe was involved when the statue was built. They wanted it to be named Decorah. The tribe was also consulted on the paint scheme when the statue was refurbished to make it more authentic. Whether that can be interpreted to mean the HoChunk âdonât careâ is certainly debatable. Whatâs clear is the tribe was involved and consulted from the beginning according to an article in this newspaper.

Please note, I didnât call anyone names and have remained civil in my comment. Just the facts...

Here is an article from 2014 discussing the tribeâs involvement:

oldhomey Aug 16, 2018 5:41pm

Thank you, Holmen, for the link to the earlier Tribune article. For those who do not want to take the time to go to it, I will reprint the two relevant paragraphs. I think, perhaps, you overstate the involvement of the tribe concerning the statue. It seems to have been ignored in the first instance, and there is no way of telling if its input on the "colors" used in the repainting job were respected or not. Thin gruel, indeed. I have restrained myself from name calling, thanks to your excellent example, sir.

"A newspaper article at the time of the statueâs unveiling said local Native Americans â called Winnebagoes (now Ho-Chunk) â wanted the statue to be named Decorah after one of their great chiefs. But Zimmerhakl said he based the sculpture on Hiawatha, the 16th century chief who is credited with bringing together the Iroquois Nation.

HolmenPackerFan Aug 16, 2018 6:54pm

Worth noting is the fact oldhomey quoted two paragraphs from an article in this newspaper which he insisted in an earlier comment did not even exist.

Perhaps you are now understating the relevance of this article, oldhomey, in that its existence means you owe âRickyâ an apology.

Repeating... Perhaps Rusty Cunningham is correct in concluding this is more about having a âfightâ than about the actual statue.

oldhomey Aug 16, 2018 10:21pm

Hmm. I do not recall ever denying the existence of this or any story about the Hiawatha statue. I am getting older, so my memory ain't what it used to be. Perhaps, since this is a fairly recent discussion, you could provide me with my nefarious denial of this article, Holmen? I would be happy to plead guilty if you produce it, and apoologize profusely for it. If you can't produce it, would you mind, perhaps, apologizing for being mistaken about what you thought my past actions were? You seem to be a gentleman, so I expect either you or I will end up apologizing to one or the other very soon now.

oldhomey Aug 16, 2018 10:29pm

Hmm, again. Having said I do not recall denying the existence of an article about the Hiawatha statue, I backed up through this string and see I challenged Ricky because he said there was such a story in this paper, and told him if he had found one, he would have produced it to prove his point. He didn't. But then Holmen came up with a link to a story that Holmen purported that proved the tribe had considerable involvement and consultation in the creation of the statue. The story he produced in fact showed no such thing. BUT it was a story about the statue, so technically, I will have to take my lumps, I guess, and say I was wrong. So, Holmen, without further ado, I spoke too hastily, and I owe you an apology. You have it.

Rick Czeczok Aug 14, 2018 9:17pm

So now you're an American Indian too? Wow you are one incredible man, your everything to everybody. Does Kingman know how fantastic you are? Ha, of course he does; doesn't he? Queen for the day......

Cassandra2 Aug 15, 2018 12:06am

The Russian bot, once again, attributes to me claims that I never made. How pathetic. Buggs Raplin Aug 12, 2018 7:48am

The Tribune messed up here. My comments below were to another story, the column on Alex Jones

Cassandra2 Aug 12, 2018 2:25pm

Oh, of COURSE it was a failure by the Tribune. It couldn't be that YOU made an error, since you're infallible. Buggs Raplin Aug 12, 2018 3:29pm

No, it's possible I made an error. I thought I sent the comments to the Alex Jones topic. My apologies to the Trib's web site if that is the case. Buggs Raplin Aug 10, 2018 7:31am

The propaganda media repeatedly calls Alex a conspiracy theorist, a term which the CIA uses to denigrate actual conspiracies, particularly the JFK assassination. Actual conspiracies are the dominant feature of world history, but the propaganda media has conditioned the American public to disregard actual conspiracies, by applying the term 'conspiracy theorist' to those presenting evidence of an actual conspiracy..as a way of ridiculing them, and dismissing the evidence. For example, the evidence is conclusive that 9/11 was an inside job, but anyone presenting that evidence is given the label, 'conspiracy theorist' and ridiculed. There's the usual 'get back on your meds' or 'you need help' statement accompanying the ridicule. I get it all the time from the usual gang of idiots on these boards. I think it's a hoot, an admission the poor sods can't challenge the evidence, so they resort to that 'astroturf' technique. It's laughable. Buggs Raplin Aug 10, 2018 7:17am

One of the best examples of the propaganda media and their promulgation of illusion is the Parkland tragedy. There's video of two students, who were there. One said there were three gunmen. The other said she was actually walking with Nicolas Cruz when she heard shots being fired in the building. Also a teacher described a shooter in full military garb. According to the official timeline, Cruz would not have had time to change into it. The alternative media, including Alex Jones, reported on this. The propaganda media totally ignored the credible testimony of the two students of multiple gunmen. Such a scenario is consistent with a false flag operation to achieve a Deep State agenda goal-gun control. And that's just what happened. Parkland student David Hogg lead the charge for the Deep State. Interestingly, Hogg taped an anti-NRA video either during the slaughter, or before the slaughter. Just a prominent example of why Alex Jones is so popular, and why the propaganda media is not, and it all centers on the concept of truth.

martian2 Aug 12, 2018 3:53pm

you sir are a piece of work. you reliance on Alex Jones or any other crack pot on the web for all your info shows your are way off base. And to say all the free press, with its thousands and thousands of employees are all in a grand conspiracy to spread lies and deceit is just plain wrong. There is no way to convince you otherwise of course, you think you have it all figured out. If you think these shootings never happened, get up and go to the grave yards yourself, talk to the parents and other students yourself. Don't rely on that loathsome wind bag Jones or any one else. Find out for yourself, and see how far off base you are. Buggs Raplin Aug 12, 2018 4:17pm

Your blanket condemnation of Alex Jones is laughable in light of the evidence he has presented contrary to the illusions you wolf down from the propagandists in the MSM. You would have fit in well in Nazi Germany believing all the lies of Josef Goebbels,-not that much difference between Goebbels and CNN. You, martian2, are a prime example of a gullible.

oldhomey Aug 12, 2018 5:09pm

Buggs, every time Jones is challenged on his facts with an honest-to-goodness threat of a lawsuit in which he will have to lay bare his "facts", he stumbles all over himself retracting his lies as fast as he can.

martian2 Aug 12, 2018 8:29pm

Mr. Goebbels was the alt. media for Germany 80 years ago. Don't know how you can totally dismiss all the free press has said, and on the other hand totally embrace a man who has been a proven liar time and time again. Well goes to show you, anyone can be taken in by lies and deceit if you are not careful. And as far as gullible goes, let's just say a hard core follower of Alex Jones shouldn't be using that term at all. capedcrusader Aug 12, 2018 4:43pm

Well, when I try to present him with information he won't read my posts. I've tried to give him proof several times on things and he will never admit to being wrong. At least he never has to me. It's hard to discuss things with someone if they've fallen too far down the rabbit hole. Buggs Raplin Aug 12, 2018 6:02pm

I almost always respond to your bullsh*t. Forgive me if I missed on one occasion.

Rick Czeczok Aug 13, 2018 7:07pm

Maybe your not worth his time. After all, you are the biggest hypocrite on this board. Thank God your here in La Crosse to save us all against ourselves. I use "rabbit hole" once and you guys use it over and over. Can you clowns "gang of 6" come up with anything on your own. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, your so amusing to me. Thanks for the entertainment...... capedcrusader Aug 13, 2018 7:52pm

Well, you are the only one who has ever called any of my posts "bullsh*t". And when you say stuff like that I begin to wonder why I continue to read any of yours... I suspect you don't respond because from time to time I catch you "stretching" the truth. I was always brought up with the adage "A half truth is a whole lie". Maybe think about that.

Rick Czeczok Aug 13, 2018 7:03pm

Calling the kettle black....... capedcrusader Aug 13, 2018 7:54pm

Who is the "gang of 6" and how do we know "Rick Czeczok" is your real name? Also, where did you teach at and for how long?

Rick Czeczok Aug 14, 2018 9:13pm

CapeCoward, you should know. Whats your real name coward. So easy to insult and name call and then crawl back under your rock. Fools like you ware a dime a dozen. I so wait for November, so all of you will move to Canada.

Cassandra2 Aug 15, 2018 12:07am

Zerocock stole the name in an effort to gain some legitimacy as it spreads the Low IQ-anon message on the forums. capedcrusader Aug 15, 2018 8:15pm

Oh I didn't see that you responded "Rick". But you still didn't tell all of us how we would know that "Rick Czeczok" is your real name. You also didn't answer me about where you taught and for how long. hey "Rick", I'm not moving to Canada. I hate cold weather as it is. And just so you know, I'm hoping Canada helps us win in November. We don't want Mexico getting all the credit do we?
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