Yesterday in la Crosse
- Remembering when the India Curry House burned but fire crews saved downtown La Crosse March 14, 2025WIZMnews.com Just a few years ago, the northwest corner of 4th and King streets in La Crosse was home to a couple of popular businesses — the India Curry House and Glory Days sports bar. A 4 a.m. fire April 28, 2022 destroyed those two buildings. It took about three hours for the front wall […]
- Remembering when the La Crosse Community Theatre had its own version of the “Oscars” March 7, 2025WIZMnews.com Most of the major entertainment awards are handed out in Hollywood, or New York, but La Crosse had its own award ceremony for several years. The La Crosse Community Theatre (LCT) was founded in the early 1960s, and came up with the Dionysos Awards to honor performers in its local stage productions. The award’s […]
- The 1973 La Crosse mayor race and the city’s first female council member February 28, 2025WIZMnews.com The year 1973 was one of breaking barriers in La Crosse, when the city elected its first female council member, Sharon Imes. That was the same year W. Peter Gilbertson was running for his second term as mayor. In the 1970s, La Crosse used to have elections for mayor every odd-numbered year. That’s when […]
- Did you ever “Swing Down to Sandy’s?” Popular La Crosse burger joints spots past and present February 22, 2025WIZMnews.com For all of the businesses that can operate at one location for decades, you can find many others that have much shorter lives, or move around. Drive-ins and burger places often fall into that category, and the La Crosse area has seen its share of changes where folks used to go for fast food. […]
- Big Bridges, Big River, Big Name Campaigns in 2004, Yesterday in La Crosse February 7, 2025WIZMnews.com The year 2004 was big for La Crosse in different ways. A presidential election year brought candidates to the city, including the incumbent president, George W. Bush. That May, the president took a bus ride along the Mississippi for rallies at Prairie du Chien, and then at Logger Field in La Crosse. The ballpark […]
- Mayor Zielke was here to stay, but Man-Lay went away, 50 years ago January 31, 2025WIZMnews.com The year 1975 was a time for change in La Crosse. Lots of old buildings along the riverfront were being torn down in the 1970s, with the goal of improving that section of downtown, partly through a project called Harborview. La Crosse elected a new mayor in the spring of ’75, who stayed in […]
- Remembering La Crosse’s Freedom Fest, that brought groups like Chicago, REO Speedwagon and John Fogerty, to help area veterans January 24, 2025WIZMnews.com For a decade, Freedom Fest was more than just a summer event “Yesterday in La Crosse” — it was a heartfelt celebration of our veterans and community spirit. From 2008 to 2017, the festival brought together thousands each year, blending the thrill of music and motorcycles, while raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for […]
- When La Crosse had two Kmarts and three Shopkos — a look at the area’s lost big box stores, from Sears to Bell Discount January 17, 2025WIZMnews.com Big box stores are slowly becoming extinct. The La Crosse area has a few examples of those that are no more, including multiple Kmarts and Shopkos, a Sears and perhaps some remember the Bell Discount Store. Kmart was one of the first discount store chains in the U.S., launching in the early 1960s. La […]
- The origins of La Crosse’s sister cities, including children’s lanterns down the Mississippi, making it to Russia January 10, 2025WIZMnews.com For more than 40 years, La Crosse has developed sister-city partnerships with communities in several foreign countries. Visitors to north side of Riverside Park can see symbols of those partnerships by touring the International Gardens, featuring landmarks representing communities around the world. The first official sister-city bond involving La Crosse traces back to the […]
- Remembering former President Jimmy Carter’s visits to the La Crosse area, including a trip down the Mississippi on a paddlewheeler January 3, 2025WIZMnews.com He went from being ‘Jimmy Who’ to the president in a very short time. Jimmy Carter served as president from 1977 to 1981, making a few stops to the La Crosse area along the way. Mr. Carter passed away at the end of 2024, shortly after turning 100. During his 1976 campaign, and once […]