Stories

Azoz, an international student from Saudi Arabia, found out how rules about public spaces are different than he expected.

Patrice Amoapim had an experience of racial stereotyping while out at a bar with friends.

After becoming executive director of The Pumphouse, Toni Asher had her first personal experiences with the problem of homelessness in La Crosse.

After the decision not to indict the officer who shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Kalon Bell and his colleagues organized a march from the UWL campus to City Hall to have their voices heard.

Bernard Black started African-American Cultural Alliances, and was surprised to find a need for furniture in our community.

Robert (Ernie) Boszhardt, an archaeologist of the Driftless Region, identifies the former Ho-Chunk cemetery where the Oktoberfest grounds are now located.

Riding his bike one day, Doug Connell spotted a garage that he believed to be a Greek Revival house, and he saved it from demolition.

Kyle Constalie’s poem, “Into Collision,” received second prize in the 2017 Hear, Here Poetry Contest.

In 1978 Les Crocker went down to the Odin J. Oyen building and discovered stacks of old designs and drawings.

Tegan Daly’s poem, “Trauma Center,” tied for third prize in the 2017 Hear, Here Poetry Contest.

Micah Day benefited from the YMCA Teen Center so much that he decided to make a handmade table to thank them.

In 1998 Chip DeNure celebrated the results of the North-South Corridor referendum vote at Jules Coffee Shop.

Jane Doe was a juror in a bar brawl case that was going to be dismissed until she fought for conviction.

“Two Rivers” by Mai Chao Duddeck was awarded honorable mention in the 2017 Hear, Here Poetry Contest.

Carol Erickson was involved in the Livable Neighborhoods organization that was instrumental in stopping road construction through the marsh.

Camoya Evans felt moved by Lillian Smith Davenport's grace to design her headstone over fifty years after Lillian's burial at Oak Grove Cemetery.

A Student of Color at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse questions the reasons for naming buildings after Alumni of Color.

Gene Falkenberg’s poem received honorable mention in the 2017 Hear, Here Poetry Contest.

Sarah Fellows explains how her husband Sam "beat" the union for his employees at Doerflingers.

Sarah Fellows had the job of procuring bananas for local merchants that were stored in her grandfather’s downtown warehouse and in storage rooms under Main Street in La Crosse.

Maureen Freedland agreed to be a plaintiff in the case against the Ten Commandments Monument in Cameron Park.

Dan Green fights against stereotypical images of Native Americans, including the statue in Riverside Park.

Jim Grenisen was one of the first people to explore a long forgotten fallout shelter in the basement of the Rivoli Theater.

Alf Gundersen, a venereal disease specialist, persuaded his father to move the Gundersen Clinic from 3rd and Pearl to a location closer to the current hospital.

Edwin Hill and 30 other architectural preservationists held a protest to try to save the old post office in 1976. They were vastly outnumbered in their quest.

Jake Hoeschler had an amusing experience in a bar talking with a man who was complaining about Frank Hoeschler - not knowing that Jake was his nephew.

Jake Hoeschler's uncle Frank Hoeschler paid tribute to his German heritage on his buildings and businesses, but was accused of being anti-American.

Jane Holland went to a local bar in 1982 with her husband and a friend, only to be kicked out because her two companions were perceived to be gay.

After going through a difficult time and having no permanent place to live, Christina Hotchkiss' boss found a way to make sure she got into a safe living situation.

Working with an interesting clientele and for a character of a boss at the Casino Bar was an impacting experience for Christina Hotchkiss.

“River Walk” by Susan Houlihan tied for third prize in the 2017 Hear, Here Poetry Contest.

As an international student studying in La Crosse, Rina Jeong was extremely excited to go to The Pearl Ice Cream Shop, but she encountered some challenges as a non-English speaker in a new country.

Tom Jones, an expert on Ho-Chunk basket weaving and a collector of baskets, describes this rare art form.

Chris Kahlow chained herself to the row houses at 6th and Main to protest their demolition in 2004.

William Koch describes the area of downtown La Crosse that included what at the time were called houses of "ill-fame."

Barb went downtown with friends in 1979 and was offered a job as a stripper.

Siiri Koski attended the 2017 Pride in the Park as an out bisexual woman for the first time.

“Ophelia Soft” by David Krump won first prize in the 2017 Hear, Here Poetry Contest.

ChongCher Lee is reminded of the uncertainty of life in the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp and the tremendous changes he has experienced throughout life.

Tracy Littlejohn was involved in the process of bringing the trompe-l'oeil style mural to The Pump House and appreciated the efforts made to make the mural both historically and culturally reflective.

Native American students share in their culture on Thanksgiving.

James Longhust unintentionally became a leader and found himself at home in his new city during his first La Crosse Labor Day Bicycle Festival.

In 2000 Víctor Macías-González moved to La Crosse and frequented the gay bars.

Michael Martino and Ronna Metz guide Spence Elementary students in the creation of a mural.

After not eating for a couple of days, John McCue stopped in the Tosa Club for some food despite having no money to pay for it.

Spence Elementary students create a space themed mural.

Ronna Metz shares the special meaning behind a constellation in the Across The Universe mural.

Shawn Micallef had a close encounter of the third kind in Riverside Park.

Benjamin Morris felt compelled to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock and describes how his identity as a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church shaped his experiences.

Benjamin Morris, a hunter and gun owner, discusses helping organize the La Crosse March For Our Lives protest at Cameron Park that occurred in 2018.

As one of the only Black women in La Crosse, Robbie Moss experienced microaggressions while shopping downtown in the mid-1900s.

Mary O’Sullivan and others of the lesbian community of La Crosse, had great fun buying out-of-date tuxedos from Desmonds Formal Wear.

After returning from the Army and not finding a place to fit-in, Paul Pappas rented a room and lived in the YMCA in La Crosse for five or six years.

Kate Parker attended La Crosse SOUP to help raise funds for a wedding between two people experiencing homelessness.

Martin Peeples was uncomfortable with people who experienced homelessness until he became homeless himself.

Elmer Peterson was asked to create a sculpture for the city of La Crosse and chose to depict lacrosse players to honor the history of the area.

The La Crosse Regional Airport is not just an airport for Jim Pfafflin; instead, it’s his family’s homestead and his father’s legacy.

At a Black Lives Matter solidarity rally in Cameron Park, Jessica Polacek emphasizes that the Black community in La Crosse has the support of allies.

Rose Reinert recalls her experience resigning from her position on the Human Rights Commission.

Ernesto (Ernie) Rodriguez was surprised the police stopped him while walking downtown.

Ernesto (Ernie) Rodriguez experienced an instance of prejudice while walking down the street.

Before its demolition John Satory removed the Italian marble from Hotel Stoddard only to find evidence of how the building was planned and used.

Karl Schaettle was there the night an automobile accident caused serious damage to the Mount Vernon Street Bridge.

Jane Schley attended the La Crosse Oktoberfest festivities as a college freshman in 1974 and had an unpleasant encounter with the police.

Since 2003, Michael Sigman has been associated with the La Crosse Concert Band that has been performing for over a century.

Executive director, Anne Snow, turned her idea into a reality by making an old furniture building into a Children's Museum.

Shaundel Spivey witnessed a fight outside a bar in downtown La Crosse, and after speaking out when he saw unfair treatment of people based on race, he himself ended up being arrested.

William Stobb’s poem, “Fun,” inspired the the Hear, Here Poetry Contest.

Will Van Roosenbeek tells of a LGBT bookstore called Rainbow Revolution that was located on 5th Avenue.

Vandali Vang, a Hmoob student at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, encounters the La Crosse Police while downtown with friends.

Hunter Wagner is a blind high school student who urban hikes in downtown La Crosse.

On the day of her graduation from UW-La Crosse, Antoiwana Williams was called the N-word.

During his childhood, Gustave Winter, born 1888, delivered packages to prostitutes in the red light district of La Crosse.

The Hmoob experience with war influenced Xong Xiong to engage in an anti-war protest in a congressman’s office.

Nauhoua (Tony) Yang fled from his home to a Thai refugee camp before finding a new home in La Crosse.

The Catholic Charities Winter Warming Center offered James Zaragoza a taste of home.

Richard Zierke started working at Heileman Brewery as a young man and appreciated the family atmosphere that existed before a new owner took over.

Ronald Barnes helped create incentive systems for the La Crosse Rubber Mills Company.

During a bike tour to the Sweet Shop, a woman gets a flat tire and must complete the tour on foot.

Northside residents come to the aid of Dr. Ariel Beaujot after a bike accident.

An engineer let eight-year-old Raymond Bice blow the sawmill whistle at the North Side Lumber Co.

Raymond Brice reflects on his experience as a child with hobos during the Great Depression.

Dr. Richard Breaux found a large collection of Arabic records, which led him to explore the area’s Syrian and Lebanese history.

The recipient of a free bike returns to Wrench & Roll Collective to thank Matthew Christen for changing his life.

Terry Collins went to the North Side Depot to enjoy a hot shower.

Former Northside lawyer Terry Collins and his firm partners end up with brassieres and girdles on hand after they bought the women’s dress shop next door to expand their office.

The Electric Auto-Lite Company La Crosse Plant union members found it easier to negotiate wage increases after World War II.

A chance meeting on an airplane with someone from the Chrysler Corporation gave the Electric Auto-Lite Company union information that made it possible for them to go on strike during the 1954 recession.

A little boy surprises Kay Dale on her last day of work at a local autism center.

Hope Restores supplies teens with new clothing at their fun and energetic Back to School Event.

At only 15 years old, Mia Simone Davis started her own catering company out of the kitchen of her mom’s nonprofit, Hope Restores.

Tamra Dickinson ate loose meat sandwiches at the Maid-Rite.

Times were tough in the Dohlby family after Edwin’s father left them.

At the age of fourteen, Edwin Dohlby dropped out of school and apprenticed as a butcher.

As a child, Edwin Dohlby and his brother used to find bottles of booze under the sidewalks after rowdy saturday nights and sell them back to bar owners.

Northsider Mark Doolittle spills the glittery details of his plunge into the jewelry game, including a facepalm moment with his first sign.

Mark Doolittle solves a South Dakota mystery linked to a watch he sold at Mark Jewellers.

Local artist commandeers a forgotten city stump and turns it into a combo art trading and presentation space.

Blind tavern owner, Don Ferris, thwarted a robber at Ferris Tavern with an 18-inch butcher knife-or was it a machete?

Joan Ferris’ first job was working in her family’s shoe repair shop at eight years old.

The memorial service for Steve Hole helped the community heal after his sudden death.

Larry Guggenbuehl remembers his father’s Christmas window decorations in the Guggenbuehl and Nekola Department Store.

Meredith Hink notices a red-tail fox walking down the sidewalk while arriving at the Kane Street Community Garden.

During the flood of 1965, 11-year-old Jeff Hotson asked to help with dike construction and was denied - the audacity right?

Hotson’s grandmother tells the meaning of strange hobo signs in front of her house.

Jeffery Hotson gets some unorthodox advice about joining the army from his grandfather.

Heating houses before electricity meant using a lot of coal. Kids stoked the fires before and after school to keep their families warm.

George Italiano’s neighbors shared homemade Syrian bread and produce with his family who were quite poor.

Tashyra Jackson turned her home into a community center to provide a safe space for the Black community to heal.

Two Caledonia Street residents cross paths in Paris, France and share a dinner together.

Ice from the Black River was once used as a form of early refrigeration.

River pirates would peddle stolen logs to sawmills.

In some cases, dynamite would have to be used to clear up log jams.

William Koch describes how the Copeland Sawmill operated.

There would be snowball fights between Catholic and Protestant kids.

William Koch reflects back on Fire Station 2 on St. Cloud Street.

William Koch explains the way the road was built between North and South La Crosse using refuge from the sawmills to fill in the marsh.

The underside of the plank road, that once separated North and South La Crosse, was a haven for people who experienced homelessness.

Brent Larson’s mom was obsessed with the Turtles from The Sweet Shop.

Linda Lee provides garden plots for the Hmong community to grow produce for the community.

A teenage girl is shocked by the dirt still on freshly picked carrots at Kane Street Community Gardens.

Adrian Lipscombe makes a dramatic change to the menu of Uptowne Cafe- switching toast to grits!

During Thanksgiving, Adrian Lipscombe and the citizens of La Crosse made over 2,000 bread rolls for the Standing Rock Sioux Community.

A paved trail memorializes Syrian-Lebanese cyclist Jim Asfoor.

When the circus train came to town in 1955 the elephants were allowed to walk around a North La Crosse railyard before they headed downtown for their show.

Meagan Madigan, a Central student, attended a semester of traumatic swimming lessons at the newly built Logan Senior High.

Northsiders leaving the bar work with La Crosse police to save a man who was hit by a car.

A kidnapped woman was found alive in La Crosse.

As a child, David Marcou swipes some candy from Marcou’s Market, his family’s grocery store.

Students and teachers battled freezing temperatures, mystery leaks from the ceiling, and “little critters” at Old Logan.

Patricia Markos celebrated at the Hufflas and Easter service at St. Elias Orthodox Church in the 60s.

The basement of St. Elias Orthodox Church offers vibrancy and hope to the Syrian community.

Local artist Michael Martino helps a young man with a memorial to La Crosse Veterans that lost their life in the Vietnam War.

Don’t mess with these lesbians-they might just be your next boss.

A football team inadvertently stopped into the lesbian bar for a drink and felt more at home than anyone would have guessed.

Ball games, potlucks, and Christmas at the bar are just some things that brought La Crosse’s LGBTQ+ community together in the 80s.

As a child, Bud Miyamoto sold Kool-Aid after school to people returning from work after a long day at the Electric Auto-Lite Company.

Northside-born artist Lisa Mobley and neighborhood children turn a dark tunnel into a work of art.

Robbie Moss recalls her husband’s work as a Black barber to white customers.

Robbie Moss reflects on how difficult it was to be one of the only Black people in La Crosse in the 1930s-1980s.

Robbie Moss recalls her mother watching people get off the train and hoping she would see another Black person arriving in La Crosse.

Orby Jr., whose family ran one of the first Black barber shops in La Crosse, recalls his father’s relationship with the Black entertainers from the Avalon Ballroom.

Nese Nasif found her home in La Crosse through the spicy chorizo breakfast tacos at Uptown Cafe.

Rick Pyrvisky and his band, the Marauders, saw the Beach Boys in the Avalon Ballroom when both bands were still up-and-coming.

Four-year-old Denis Richmond waits for his father after his shift guarding a wartime factory.

Four-year-old Denis Richmond witnesses the raffle of a 50-pound bag of flour in the basement of St. James Church.

Karl Schaettle was employed at the La Crosse Rubber Mills when the company mechanized.

Carol Schonsberg recalls how streetcars turned around by switching the direction of the seats at the end of the track.

As a child, Tom Schwabenbauer spent all day building forts, duck hunting, and trapping in the wilderness that is now known as Riverside North.

Herman Teitz made shoes from scratch at the La Crosse Rubber Mills Company.

At the request of his father, Herman Tietz went and got a pig for his mother to butcher and smoke.

Herman Tietz herded the neighborhood cows down Clinton Street to the Black River.

Herman Tietz was nearly fired after he punched a coworker who he thought swapped their shoe size stamps.

Southside resident Tom Welch enjoyed getting to know and competing against Northside classmates during his only year at Logan Senior High.

Roger Wendling shares how Monsoor’s Sport Shop was cut in half by the Copeland Avenue viaduct construction.