LA CROSSE HISTORY
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THE LA CROSSE AREA'S HISTORY, DIGITIZED
Immigrants & Migrants
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Resources
—Immigrants and Migrants—
The resources listed below are unique to this page, and fall under this general category. Browse the sub-categories in the carousel above if you are looking for a resource that falls under a more specific topic.
Author:
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Oral History Program
Description:
Swords and Schmidt discuss their experience as siblings growing up during the early 1900s in the Goosetown area of La Crosse, Wisconsin. They describe family relationships, the Goosetown neighborhood, sports and games, and entertainment options.
Author:
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Oral History Program
Description:
Henry Norcross (b. 1899) describes his family background and life on French Island. Topics include but are not limited to: German ancestry, festivals, Milwaukee Railroad, farming, French Island and La Crosse tensions, education, winter, drowning accidents, diseases and quarantine (mumps, measles, chicken pox), Frank Powell and Buffalo Bill Cody, circus, summer fairs, Mary Hauck (doctor), early electric cars, Dr. McLoone and Bessie Moore murders, home remedies, Rubber Mills, railroad engineer, anti-German propaganda during WWI, Prohibition, bootleggers, tobacco usage, Great Depression, unemployment, being member of Ku Klux Klan (KKK) (audio cuts out here in the middle of his story), Lodge 754, union strikes and involvement, anti-Black racism and his perceptions of white working-class discrimination.
Content warning: this interview contains racist ideas and language.
Tape 2
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Tape 4
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Tape 4
Author:
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Oral History Program
Description:
John Haddad discusses his family's emigration from Lebanon and their settlement in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and describes his service during World War II. Topics include but are not limited to: training and involvement in the family business importing Oriental rugs, expansion of Haddad Rug and Carpet Company, community members Carson Pirie Scott and John Pappus (as customers), father's vineyard, Eastern suppliers network, father's experience in Lebanon, religious conflicts between Christians and Jews (early 1900s), imitation rugs, nation-wide importing rug networks (1936), Iranian traders, Great Depression and the Importation business, and uncle's ice cream shop.
Tape 2
Tape 2
Author:
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Oral History Program
Description:
Haraldson begins his interview discussing his family history, early childhood in Norway, and his immigration journey to the U.S. as a young man. He first arrived in Westby, where he worked on a farm. When he came to La Crosse, he began working in the shoe trade. Topics include but are not limited to: cobbling in Norway, railroads as a form of transportation at the turn of the century, Norwegian community in Westby (WI), tobacco farming, Arenz Shoe Store, Fry Shor Company, WWI, local shoe-making industry, businessmen's club, Adolf Gundersen, Trinity Lutheran Church, night school and furthering education, store fire, Judge Lincoln Neprud.
Tape 2
Tape 2
Author:
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Oral History Program
Description:
Van Loon discusses her ancestors' 1856 emigration from the Netherlands to Wisconsin, where they settled in New Amsterdam. She focuses on her father, John Van Loon, and also discusses general family life and her childhood growing up on a farm in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Topics also discussed include but are not limited to: ancestry, immigration from Holland, LaFleur family, New Amsterdam, Native Americans, Presbyterian Church, marriage and work, Childhood memories, diseases, Joseph Losey, her childhood home, her parents railroad tramps, birthday celebrations, farm animals, Christmas celebrations, farming and harvesting, education, Perkins family, Black Americans, childhood games, bluff hiking, agricultural and horticultural societies, traffic concerns with horses and cars, horse races, bird watching, food and cooking, farm labor, as well as local newspapers papers.
Warning, some bits of this recording has sound issues and the audio is incomprehensible.
Tape 2
Tape 3
Tape 4
Tape 5
Warning, some bits of this recording has sound issues and the audio is incomprehensible.
Tape 2
Tape 3
Tape 4
Tape 5
Author:
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Oral History Program
Description:
Paul G. Pappas discusses growing up as one of five sons born to Greek immigrants who settled in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Topics include but are not limited to: the downtown business environment, the Elite, family background, Imperial Ice Cream Shop, childhood, Greek Food, church, religion, dating, sports and recreation, WWII, transportation, YMCA, Valley View Mall, 20th century technology changes (refrigerator, television), atomic bomb, Korean Conflict, McCarthyism, voting, local politics, Vietnam War, Civil Rights Movement, and marriage.