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The 750-page book, goes on sale Thursday at a book signing in the
La Crosse County Historical Society’s Swarthout Museum, adjacent to the
La Crosse Public Library.
Former La Crosse Tribune reporters Susan T. Hessel and Gayda Hollnagel wrote “A History of La Crosse, Wisconsin in the Twentieth Century: Reinventing La Crosse Again and Again.” They will be available to sign books and talk about writing it from 5 to 8 p.m. in the museum.
It’s the first comprehensive history of the city sponsored by the historical society since “A History of La Crosse, Wisconsin 1841-1900” by Albert H. Sanford and H.J. Hirshheimer, published in 1951.
“A lot of history has gone on in the city since that time,” said Carl Miller, the historical society’s executive director. “You probably need to do this about every 50 years.
“I think it’s very well-written,” Miller said. “We’re just pleased we got it done.”
About 2,000 copies were printed, of which about 400 are hardcover, Miller said.
“It’s a real honor to follow Sanford and Hirshheimer in doing this,” said Hessel, a personal historian who has written a dozen books about La Crosse. “It’s a thrill to be part of the community and feel this passion for the place where we live.”
Hessel said the book demonstrates history is for everyone. “It is filled with stories about people who are part of our history, from the ordinary to the extraordinary,” she said.
Hollnagel said one of the topics she most enjoyed writing about was entertainers. A century ago, La Crosse attracted many national entertainers because of its location between Chicago and the Twin Cities, she said.
A chapter on controversies includes three pages, with photos, on Elvis Presley’s 1956 performance (which the local Parent-Teacher Association opposed) at the Mary E. Sawyer Auditorium. Hollnagel, a teen at the time, attended the show and said she didn’t care for all the screaming from the audience.
“It was fun to remember some of the controversies I wrote about as a reporter,” Hessel said. For example, in February 1976 she covered simultaneous rallies for and against saving the old La Crosse post office, which ultimately was demolished and replaced by the current building. In the book, she quotes a motorist who drove between the rallies as saying, “I think you’re all fools.”
Hollnagel and Hessel are available to speak to groups, and have come up with different pop quizzes about La Crosse history to entertain their audience.
About the Book
WHAT: “A History of La Crosse, Wisconsin in the Twentieth Century: Reinventing La Crosse Again and Again,” a book by Susan T. Hessel and Gayda Hollnagel.
BOOK SIGNING: The authors will sign copies from 5 to
8 p.m. Thursday in the Swarthout Museum at Ninth and Main streets, adjacent to the La Crosse Public Library.
PRICE: The book is available in hardcover for $69.95 and in softcover for $59.95, plus tax, from the authors or at the La Crosse County Historical Society offices in the Swarthout Museum. For more information, call (608) 782-1980 or e-mail Hollnagel at ghollnagel@ yahoo.com or Hessel at sue@lessonsfromlife.com.
Steve Cahalan can be reached at (608) 791-8229 or scahalan@lacrossetribune.com.
Pop presidential quiz
Match the visiting U.S. president with his comments in La Crosse
1. Richard Nixon
2. Harry Truman
3. George H.W. Bush
4. George W. Bush
5. Ulysses S. Grant
6. William Howard Taft
7. Franklin D. Roosevelt
8. John F. Kennedy
9. Ronald Reagan
10. Bill Clinton
A. “La Crosse is a very moral city.”
B. “I’m wet.”
C. “I don’t know where all of the young people came from. You’re a mighty good-looking crowd.”
D. “I will never forget looking out at this sea of people tonight, this beautiful old restored street, all the American flags, reading the stories of the American heroes.”
E. “Judge, it affords me pleasure to visit the city and meet so many of the citizens of La Crosse.”
F. “Be sure to go to the polls. We’re going to show those pundits wrong, and we are going to win.”
G. “As Wisconsin goes, so goes the nation.”
H. “We conservatives don’t doubt the motives of liberals. But if your house is on fire, it doesn’t much matter if it was an arsonist who did it, or some fool playing with matches.”
I. “I was most impressed that the school raised a banner for the academic superstars.”
J. Farmers were warned they were selling their “birthright of freedom for a mess of potage, and I say the worst mess ever concocted by irresponsible, vote-seeking politicians.”
Source: Gayda Hollnagel and Susan T. Hessel
Answers: 1-J, 2-C, 3-F, 4-I, 5-E, 6-A, 7-B, 8-G, 9-H, 10-D.
