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Intro (01:30)
Wisconsin Hometown Stories: La Crosse follows the evolution of the city at the junction of the Mississippi, Black and La Crosse Rivers from its earliest days to the present.
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Early History (06:14)
The city that grew up on a river prairie today retains that beauty, thanks
to the un-glaciated topography and the confluence of three rivers.
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Oneota (05:08)
In the 1920s and 30s, archaeologists from the Milwaukee Public Museum found
artifacts that began to define a culture called the Oneota.
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Steam (08:50)
In 1858, the Milwaukee and La Crosse Railroad tunneled through the hills near
Tomah, and arrived in La Crosse, beginning an era when steam engines, steamboats,
and steam-powered sawmills drove the economy.
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Medicine Men (10:10)
In 1891, a newly-minted physician from Norway named Adolf Gundersen arrived
in La Crosse, and medical care in the city would soon undergo a revolution.
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Reinvention (10:36)
As the lumber industry that built the city of La Crosse disappeared, and the
city set about the task of reinventing itself.
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College Town (04:22)
The growth of its three colleges aided the city’s adaptation to the post-lumber
economy.
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Ebb & Flow (09:29)
High tech and higher education now characterize La Crosse, as it now hosts
more than 15,000 college students at its three colleges, and its regional medical
industry has become the city’s largest employer.
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