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driftless region history La Crosse Historical Society
The start of the Modern Town In 1841, eighteen-year-old Nathan Myrick left New York and traveled up the Mississippi River to Prairie La Crosse. He set up a trading post in what is now Riverside Park. When Myrick left La Crosse in 1848, it was a small village of 20 settlers. By 1892, it had grown to more than 25,000 as people saw the value in La Crosse as a steamboat landing and ideal site for sawmills.
Ho-Chunk
Steamboat Commerce
Ho-Chunk people are the Indigenous people of Wisconsin, and their influence on the county of La Crosse is tied to their continual presence here. Prior to colonization, they were primarily hunters, farmers, and fishermen. The Ho-Chunk people were forcibly removed by the US Government in the mid-nineteenth century, but many families journeyed back to their homeland of Wisconsin.
The steamboat was particularly important to the City of La Crosse. From the 1840s to the 1880s, they brought thousands of immigrant settlers. The boats delivered manufactured goods and supplies and transported the products they produced. 1857 was the peak year for riverboats in La Crosse with 1,569 boats landing here, more than any other city on the upper river. By 1880, riverboats had lost most of their business to the railroads.
An exhibit in the La Crosse Area Heritage Center
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VISITORS GUIDE 2022
