Education
Brief History of the La Crosse County School of Agriculture and Domestic Economy / Bill Merwin, 1965.
UW – La Crosse Seminar Paper
Brief History of the Wisconsin Business University, La Crosse, Wisconsin / Richard A. Rogers, 1967.
UW–La Crosse Seminar Paper
A Checklist of La Crosse Schools from the Beginnings to 1980 / Compiled by Barbara Nord and Viola Oertel; Edwin L. Hill, General Editor, 1983.
This booklet of 80 pages is intended to answer the questions of prospective students and encourage their application to F. J. Toland’s five business training schools, including one in La Crosse. The booklet contains an introduction by Toland, testimonials by various employers, and information on courses of study, tuition, board and lodging, teachers and methods, and examinations. The majority of the booklet contains the names and photographs of successful Toland school graduates and their employers.
Early Schools of La Crosse County / Estella Bryhn, 1985.
This comprehensive work provides for brief histories of all rural schools in La Crosse County in existence circa 1938. It includes newspaper clippings and photographs of the schools and students. The coverage includes all public schools in the townships of Bangor, Barre, Burns, Campbell, Farmington, Greenfield, Hamilton, Holland, Medary, Onalaska, Shelby, and Washington. Other schools in La Crosse County, such as State Graded Schools and Parochial and Religious, are also included. It does not include City of La Crosse Schools, a list of which is compiled in a “Checklist of La Crosse Schools from the Beginning to 1980.” See online version of this Checklist at: http://murphylibrary.uwlax.edu/digital/lacrosse/ChecklistSchools/text.html
Historical Development of Public Education in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Up to and Including the Year 1925 / Hanson, Willard William, 1951.
This work is a 200 page master’s thesis by Willard William Hanson for his MA degree from the State University of Iowa. The thesis begins with the general development of the free school system in Wisconsin and La Crosse. It then goes into detail on the history of public elementary and secondary education in La Crosse from 1870-1925 and vocational schools from 1912-1927.
History of Hogan School compiled by Janince Snowberg with the help of Richard Snowberg (La Crosse, Wis.: Hogan School PTA), 1980.
History of La Crosse County, Wisconsin, 1881
Schools-This 862 page tome is the preeminent 19th century history of the La Crosse area. It begins with a general overview of the history of Wisconsin but then begins a detailed account of the history of both the city and county of La Crosse including its villages and towns as well as biographical sketches of prominent citizens. It is illustrated with black and white woodcuts. A name index to this volume was compiled in 1977 by Murphy Library and this index is included.
History of Smith Valley School / Irene Radcliffe, 1987.
This 70 page pamphlet was written in 1987 for the centennial history of the Smith Valley School. The School was originally known as District #4, Town of Campbell, La Crosse County. This history was written by a member of the Smith Valley Restoration Committee, who used original school board records, and other primary sources. It includes photographs, a list of pupils who attended the school from 1879-1977, and reminiscences of former students and teachers.
History of the Campus School at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse from 1909 to 1973 / by Troy Richter, 1988.
History Repeats Itself, School Boundaries
Changes in school boundaries have often sparked controversy among parents of school-aged children. Follow the changes since 1949, read about the beginning of the neighborhood school concept in 1971, the 1979 controversy of redrawing the line for high school attendance in the district, the progressive socio-economic balancing goals in 1991-1992, and the need again in 2002 to provide socio-economic balance and diversity among the elementary population.
La Crosse County Historical Sketches, 1931-1955
The Young Men's Library Association and Other Antecedents of La Crosse Public Library / Lilly M.E. Borresen
The La Crosse Medical School / William Snow Miller
Early Kindergartens in La Crosse / Mrs. J.S. Otten
More About Early La Crosse Kindergartens
The First Kindergarten in La Crosse, a Tribute to Miss Mary Williams / Eugene O. Edwards
Old First Ward School Days, Two Episodes / H.J. Hirshheimer & Recalling School Days / E.O. Edwards & Pleasant Memories / Wesley S. Mow
Memoirs of La Crosse County / Benjamin Bryant; 1907.
This work, along with History of La Crosse County, 1881, are the preeminent published sources for 19th century La Crosse history. Bryant’s Memoirs, as it is commonly called, is a wide-ranging work that covers the early history of La Crosse as well as the social, education, government, religious, and business institutions. The book is divided into 22 chapters and also includes brief histories of the smaller towns of La Crosse County. An alphabetical name index to Bryant’s Memoirs was prepared and digitized in 2004 and is available for searching at the “name index” button.
Education - First School District Organized--First Officers-Early Teachers-Statistics of the First Year-First Schoolhouses-Teachers' Wages in the Early Days-Some Ideas as to the Mission of Schools Fifty Years Ago-School-rooms Overcrowded-Demand for Country Teachers- Private and Parochial Schools-Organization of the La Crosse High School-First Graduating Class, 1876-City Superintendents- School Statistics, 1906-New High School Building-Parochial Schools, 1906-Commercial Schools-Onalaska Schools-Village Graded Schools, West Salem, Bangor-County Statistics-Parochial Schools Outside of La Crosse
Origin of the Holmen High School, 1912 / William Henry Stevenson, 1970
This seven page history of the founding and early years of the high school in Holmen, WI includes the names of the students from the first graduating class and was written in 1970 by “The Professor,” William H. Stevenson, who was selected as the first principal in 1912 just after graduating from the La Crosse Normal School.
Public schools of La Crosse, Wis.:Course of Study, Rules and Regulations :Lists and Prices of Text-books (La Crosse, Wis.: La Crosse Public Schools?), 1908.
Curriculum and text book list for elementary and high school in La Crosse public schools in 1908, as well as duties of the Board, superintendent, principals, teachers, students and janitors.
This publication is based on an oral history interview that John Coleman did in 1969 with Howard Fredricks from Wisconsin State University-La Crosse. It includes 68 pages of the interview, edited by Donald Meinert in 1971, and 8 pages of photographs that recount John Coleman’s long career as director of the La Crosse Vocational and Adult School, now called Western Wisconsin Technical College.
Recollections of John P. Bird by Louis H. Pammel (S. l.: s. n.), 1927.
A small press publication is a biography of La Crosse educator and school superintendent John P. Bird compiled by Louis Pammel. Bird spent over thirty-five years in the La Crosse city school district, serving from 1875-1911.
Reminiscences of Early La Crosse, Wisconsin: An Account of the Men and Women Who Lived in La Crosse and Vicinity ... / by L.H. Pammel. Liesenfeld Press, 1928.
This book is a comprehensive, first person account of people and events in La Crosse in the 19th century by Louis H. Pammel. At the time of publication of this 102 page book in 1928, Pammel was a professor of botany at Iowa State College. His book begins with a general history of La Crosse, a description of the flora and fauna of the area, and his father’s emigration from Germany and arrival in La Crosse in 1855. The focus of the book, though, is on the people that Pammel knew or had acquaintance of and events that occurred La Crosse primarily in the 1870s and 1880s. There is a name index at the back that was added at a later date. There are no illustrations.