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LaCrosse County

Home » Wisconsin Counties and Towns » LaCrosse County

Established: 1851
County Seat: La Crosse
Parent: Unorganized Territory

* Records before the establishment of the county may be in the parent records.

Neighboring Counties

From: Handbook of Wisconsin by S. Silas, 1855

LACROSSE.

pg. 79-80

La Crosse has recently attracted more attention than other Counties, from the fact of its being on the Western terminus of the La Crosse and Milwaukee Rail Road. Settlers have been attracted there, because the soil is good, and affords good encouragement to agriculture. Its future prospects for prosperity are founded on the expectation of the advantages to be derived from the opening of the Rail Road above alluded to, and its present situation on the Mississippi, which affords it conveyance for all its surplus products, and its occupying the mouth of Black River, down which the lumber floats to the Mississippi. A lumber field is as sure to make market for produce and merchandise as a New England factory, and is more certain of being an open market at all times.

The village of La Crosse occupies just such a position for trade, which has called in a population rapidly. It is situated on a high, rolling, and somewhat broken prairie, from 25 to 40 feet above high water mark on the Mississippi River. The prairie is six or seven miles long, and three or four wide, with a light sandy soil, well adapted for gardening and the growth of shrubbery. It is situated at the mouth of the La Crosse River, and through the broad valley above the town, also, comes down one of the chutes of the Black River, and this is therefore the natural outlet of both. The place, like many others in the State, lacks a good hotel, and if there ever be another, we are sure travelers will avoid the Mississippi House, at least if they are desirous of decent treatment.

General Genealogy and History Links

This section contains links to websites that have multiple databases or webpages with genealogical information.

Vital Records

Birth, Death, & Marriage Records:
Earliest Registration Dates*:
Births 1877
Deaths 1876
Marriages 1851

La Crosse Register of Deeds
400 N. 4th St., Room 106
La Crosse, WI 54601-3227
Telephone: (608) 785-9644

Cemetery and Obituary Links

Census Links

Censuses contain valuable information about families. This section contains links to transcribed censuses, census indexes or census images for the county.

  • La Crosse City Directories - The first city directory for La Crosse was published in 1866. Until 1922, wives' names were not listed unless she worked outside the home. -

Residents of the County

This section contains links to family tree websites, biographies and information about individuals that lived in the county.

Area History

This section contains links of published histories and historical information about the county, its villages, cities or towns. Sometimes within these histories is information about founders, or other people that settled in the area. It may also include ethnic or religious histories of the communities.

Maps and Atlases

Military

Societies, Libraries and Offline Resources