North Side Stories

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.