Philippi Art Souvenir of La Crosse, Wisconsin 1904 First Edition / Published by the L.P. Philippi Co.
Special Collections Wisconsiana F589.L137 P45 1904
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They built beautiful homes, erected substantial business blocks and reared magnificent public buildings. With its rivers, parks, bluffs, miles of paved streets and shady drives and long blocks of comfortable homes surrounded by rich foliage, La Crosse is the most beautiful city of the upper Mississippi valley. La Crosse has a population of 33,000. Its citizenship is heterogeneous, combining the best and strongest characteristics of all the nationalities of which it is composed, those things which make for physical strength, mental soundness and moral correctness. This condition has begotten thrift, a fact which is evidenced by the large percentage of citizens who own their own homes and by the general stability of the city shown in its finely paved streets, modern business blocks and general air of prosperity so evident in the activity in every line of trade and business. A large volume would be required to give anything more than a general idea of the extent of business done in La Crosse. A history of its transformation from a sawmill town to a manufacturing city of diversified industries likewise would require many chapters of many pages each and embodying a great mass of statistics. Some general conception of the commercial and industrial importance of the city may be gained from a statement of the amount of business carried by the banks of the city. In the last quarterly statements of the five principal banks the deposits aggregated $6,500,000. This amount exceeds by over 50 per cent the deposits in the banks of any other city in Wisconsin except Milwaukee. It exceeds the combined deposits in the banks of Oshkosh and West Superior, both of which cities have recently claimed to be the second city in the state. La Crosse is now a manufacturing city, not in one but many lines. Where once its existence and importance depended largely upon sawmills and lumbering, its capital is now invested in diversified industries. Its products find their way into the markets of the world. Likewise La Crosse is a great jobbing and wholesale center. The five principal railroads passing through the city furnish an unrivaled outlet and put the La Crosse distributer in a position to compete successfully with his brothers in Milwaukee, St. Paul, Minneapolis and even in Chicago. The lines are varied and range from drugs and groceries to plumbers' supplies and house furnishings. The territory immediately contiguous is strictly a La Crosse field. It is bound to La Crosse by a hundred bonds of business, and it is to be still more closely bound by interurban railroads now building and others that are projected. What the manufacturing and wholesale business of La Crosse amounts to may be shown in the aggregate amount of freight handled in La Crosse by all the railroads. orginating here amounted to 739,033 tons in 1903. That the city's industries and business are thriving is evidenced by the fact that the tonnage of 1904 shows an increase of 38,000 tons over that of 1903. Its products are sent to the remote states of the union, and find a market not only throughout North America but even in the Philippines, Australia and in European countries. A general idea of the commercial and industrial importance of the city is gained from these figures. Hundreds of pages might be devoted to statistics showing the amount of capital invested in the various industries, the output in each line of manufacturing and tending to show the rank that La Crosse takes among not only the cities of Wisconsin but among all the thriving cities and manufacturing centers of the northwest. But to attempt such a task in limited space would be impracticable. The statistics compiled by the board of trade show all these things and may be had for the asking. The banking figures are given as being the best and most reliable index to the condition of business that can be found without going into infinite detail, which limited space forbids. While La Crosse seems to have an eye single for business, it, nevertheless, has developed some well defined ideas of urban beauty. The wealth of foliage, the long blocks of beautiful residences, the well-kept lawns, the clean streets and shady drives, the parks and all else which men have contributed are a part of a preconceived and systematic plan for making the city beautiful. Rarely in one's travels throughout the country would one find a spot more suited to the establishment and growth of a beautiful residence city than that which was chosen by the founders of La Crosse. Nestling among the hills which spread out protecting flanks on every hand, laved on one side by the grand old Father of Waters, a view of the city's natural beauties draws from the lips of the observer involuntary expressions of admiration and delight. Nor has the best judgement of man been wanting in the amplification of these beauties and the turing to account of the natural resources of soil and climate. To say that shade trees and foliage have been planted in rows is to give the impression of solid ranks of spreading green, but the English language furnishes no other expression which can convey the idea of the beautiful symmetry which marks every avenue and thoroughfare of La Crosse. The beautifying of the city has not been done in a haphazard fashion, but every tree or row of trees, every collection of shrubs, the site and ground-plan of every park, has been the subject of a careful study of effects and how to obtain them. Parks are numerous. Not so great in extent as in some larger cities, for in this the idea of utility has forced the conception of beauty to give way before its demands. But here and there throughout the residence and even in the business portions of the city are plots of ground which have been set aside as fitting places in which the reign of nature, guided by the taste of man, shall take precedence. Other plots are to be found, however, greater in extent, but all the more beautiful for the greater display of taste and judgment which they have afforded. Myrick Park, the inland resting place of those who would withdraw "from the madding crowd's ignoble strife," is a scene both of natural and artificial beauties of vegetation, and it is a spot of which one of the greatest of American landscape gardeners, John Thorpe, has said: "Its possibilities are well-nigh limitless, and its adaptation has been in no wise injured by the work of man." Pettibone Park, "the island," as it invariably is called by newcomers to the city, is in some respects more attractive to visitors than its inland rival, for it is from the cool recesses of its shaded nooks that one is given a glimpse of the Mississippi, moving in majesty to the Gulf. Here, if anywhere, is the place where residents of La Crosse and those who are so fortunate as to be guests within the city's gates love to while away the quiet hours of a summer afternoon. But the work has not stopped with these two places of quiet enjoyment. Other plots along the rivers are already set apart for similar purposes, and the work on both new and old is still in progress. But a mention of the beautiful features of La Crosse is worse than incomplete unless attention is given to the beautiful drives with which the city is surrounded. Shady nooks in the coulees, beautiful lanes on the slopes of the hills and bluffs, views of indescribable beauty, changing with every variation of the sun's light, all enter into the list of features which remain long in the mind of the visitor, and are a constant source of pleasure and satisfaction to those who are so fortunate as to have their homes in this most favored spot. Chief of these is grand old "Grandad Bluff, " from whose bald crest the gaze is permitted to stretch for miles both up and down the bluff-lined shores of the Mississippi, and back into the country beyond the hills, where the fields are seen in the varied hues of the changing seasons. The sportsman in search of hunting or fishing can find them near La Crosse. The river and the nearby lakes furnish the greatest variety of fish, and the river bottoms abound in water-fowl which make of it the hunter's paradise. Business and beauty, stability and comfort, wealth and culture are the distinguishing features of La Crosse, at once the most prosperous and the most beautiful city in the upper Mississippi river valley. Grandad Bluff - East End of Main Street Main Street - West from Fourth Street Main Street - East from Fourth Street Riverfront - North of Wagon Bridge - Taken from Pettibone Park, Opposite Foot of Main Street City Hall Building U.S. Government Building Oak Grove Cemetery Grand Crossing Taken from Deck of Str. Alert - Looking North Towards C. M. & St. P. RY. Bridge State Street - East From Second Street Fifth Street - South of Main Street Lower Driveway Oak Grove Cemetery Mrs. Elsie Scott Residence Levi Withee Residence I. Schilling Residence Wm. Doerflinger Residence W.A. Sutor Residence The Mississippi - Looking South from Junction of South Front and Seventh Streets Second Street - South from State Street West Avenue - South from King Street In 100 Block South Fourteenth Street In 100 Block South Thirteenth Street In 1400 Block Cass Street J.J. Hogan Building P. & W. Cigar Co. Building James M'Cord Drug Co. Building Jos. B. Funke Co. Building Lake Como - Eight Miles West of City - Looking South from the Falls Catholic Churches Holy Trinity Church St. James' Church St. Joseph's Cathedral St. Mary's Church Washburn Monument East Drive Pettibone Park Losey Memorial Forest Avenue Pearl Street - East from Third Street Pearl Street - West from Third Street Birdseye View of La Crosse (South Side) - Taken from Grandad Bluff - Looking West Causeway - Connecting North and South Sides of the City. Mill Street (North Side) Rose Street (North Side) Remnant of Former Rafting Works on Black River Ebner's Coulee - Taken from Grandad Bluff Y.M.C.A. Building County Jail Building High School Building Masonic Temple Building Cass Street - West from West Avenue South Mrs. H. Berger Residence A. Platz Residence J.D. Young Residence H.A. Salzer Residence B.E. Edwards Residence French Lake - Two Miles North of City Old Court House Building New Court House Building La Crosse Public Library Building River Front - South of Wagon Bridge New La Crosse Club Building Tillman Building Batavian National Bank Building Germania Hall Building A River Packet at the Wharf West Drive Pettibone Park Pavilion Pettibone Park The Wagon Bridge Bishop Schwebach's Residence Convent of St. Rose Convent of St. Rose Chapel Rice Lake - The Home of the Mallard - Three Miles North of City Front Street - North from Main Street Front Street - South from Main Street Birdseye View of the Mississippi - Taken from Bald Eagle Bluff, Four Miles North of City - Looking East and South - La Crosse in Distance L.F. Easton Residence F.P. Hixon Residence S. Gantert Residence Mrs. Jessie M. Holway Residence La Crosse River - Taken from the North Side Bridge In 1500 Block Madison Street A Mississippi River View Opposite Ferndale View From Courthouse - Looking Northwest On the West Bank of the Mississippi - Looking North Towards Bald Eagle Bluff In 1400 Block State Street In 1300 Block Main Street In 400 Block South Fourteenth Street In 400 Block South Fourteenth Street Lake Como - Eight Miles West of City - Taken from Steve's Idlewild First German M.E. Church First Congregational Church Christ Church (Episcopal) First Church (M.E.) Bostwick Valley - Looking North from St. Joseph Ridge La Crosse Lutheran Hospital La Crosse Hospital St. Francis Hospital On the Mississippi - Str. Carson and Bow Boat, with Lumber Raft in Tow - Taken from Wagon Bridge, Looking North Third Street - North from Main Street Third Street - South from Main Street Schaghticoke Country Club Golf Grounds - Taken from Club House Looking East View of Driveway, Grandad's Face, Club House and Cliff on Grandad Bluff In 100 Block South Fifteenth Street Country Scene - Three Miles North of City, On Road to West Salem J.M. Hixon Residence John Paul Residence Charles Michel Residence W.S. Cargill Residence Lagoon, Pettibone Park Third Street - South from Jay Street Myrick Park (Formerly Lake Park) Upper Mississippi River Improvements by U.S. Government Wing Dam in Course of construction Brush Mat Ready for Submersion Building Shore Protection U.S. Str. Alert with Barges of Rock and Brush in Tow Drive to Medary - East End of City Limits Como Falls - Eight Miles West of City Hotel Stoddard Building Park Store Building McMillan Building Linker Building Scenes at Oehler's - Four Miles South of City Cave, Mill Pond, Mill, Mill Dam M. Funk Residence W.W. Withee Residence W.W. Cargill Residence J.J. Hogan Residence A Mississippi River Bottom Pasture Fourth Street - South from U.S. Government Building Fourth Street - North from Jay Street View Taken from Funke Building, Corner Front and State Streets - Showing Conjunction of the Mississippi and Black Rivers The Foreground in this view, Extending North to Elevator, is Being Filled in for the Purpose of River Front Park Arrow - The Mississippi River Dagger - The Black River P - Pettibone Park X - Where La Crosse River Empties into Black River King Street - East from Eighth Street On the Mississippi - Str. Glenmont and Bow Boat, with Log Raft in Tow - Taken from Wagon Bridge - Looking South View Taken from Deck of Str. Alert - Mississippi River and Bluffs Three Miles North of City
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