Railroads

City Atlas of La Crosse, Wisconsin: Compiled from Actual Surveys and the City and County Records (1898) by H. J. Biddenback

Similar to a fire insurance map, this map of the city of La Crosse shows building outlines on lots.  However, the building shape wasn’t as accurate as the Sanborn maps.  These are used to help research the history of property and building in the city.  Railroad lines are also prevalent on this map.

Company Articles of Incorporation of the Minnesota and Plank Road  (1873)

The articles of incorporation and a map of the Minnesota and Plank Road Company filed with the State of Minnesota that planned to build two toll roads over the Mississippi River connecting the city of La Crosse to points west in Minnesota.  Proposed railroad lines are also included on the map in red.

Grassroots Rebels: Municipal Power and Railroad Regulation in La Crosse, Wisconsin, 1883-1900 / Eric J. Morser

An article by Eric J. Morser, then visiting professor of history at the University of New Mexico, that appeared in the Business and Economic History On-Line, volume 3, 2005. The La Crosse municipal government in the later part of the nineteenth-century forced a wealthy and influential Chicago, Burlington & Northern Railroad line to reconsider its practices and to act in the public interest.

La Crosse County Historical Sketches, 1931-1955

The Building of the Southern Minnesota Railroad / H.E. Rogers

Bridging the Mississippi at La Crosse and Winona / H.J. Hirssheimer

The Car Ferry from La Crosse to Grand Crossing, Minnesota / H.E. Rogers

Opening Celebration of the Southern Minnesota Railway, 1870

This reprint of an article from La Crosse Morning Leader newspaper, Nov. 18, 1870 reports on the celebration of the completion of a branch railroad, the Southern Minnesota Railway, which connected La Crosse with the Minnesota cites of Hokah, Houston, Rushford, Lanesboro, and Fountain.