Ecology of La Crosse Home Page | pre-1842 | 1842-1890 | 1890-1960

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 Harnessing the Wild:
La Crosse Area Ecology 1890s -1960s
 

The History of La Crosse’s Park System
On May 15, 1908, an ordinance was passed by the La Crosse Common Council creating the Board of Park Commissioners and dividing La Crosse into two park districts.  The division was made at the La Crosse River, the area to the north and south of which became the separate districts.

ca 1910, “Children in Copeland,” Murphy Library Special Collections, Copeland #1, Parks and Pools A-M, La Crosse,WI

“The life history of humanity has proved nothing more clearly than that crowded populations, if they would live in health and happiness, must have space for air, for light, for exercise, for rest, and for the enjoyment of that peaceful beauty of nature which, because it is the opposite of the noisy ugliness of towns, is so wonderfully refreshing to the tired souls of towns-people.”
--Charles Eliot

Parks Main

The Tree
Movement and
Pettibone Park

John Nolan:
Creating the La
Crosse Parks
System

Myrick Park:
Record Park
Attendance
1930s and 1940s