Politics
Resources
—Prohibition—
Description:
Charles Conrad was a La Crosse area resident for his whole life, born in the late 1800s and growing up on a farm just outside of the city. In his interview, he discusses subjects like: his ancestry, Indigenous peoples, education, family life, working at a saw mill and grocery store, religion, movie theaters, the Red light district, Prohibition, clamming, the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), Black families, racism, early doctors and home remedies, and the Great Depression.
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Author:
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Oral History Program
Description:
Edwin Dohlby begins this interview discussing his genealogy, family life, and relationship with his mostly absent father. His mother was a midwife and he left school early to work various jobs to support his family (butchering, grocery, auto parts factory). He touches on many social and cultural topics in La Crosse history, including but not limited to: North Side and South Side, taverns and beer, recreation, area rivers, La Crosse Rubber Mills, Auto-Lite, Red-light District, the railroad industry, Prohibition, La Crosse Rubber Mills, dance halls and theaters, dating, local politics and business, anti-German discrimination, Wisconsin Progressive Movement and Robert LaFollette, the Great Depression, and the La Crosse River Marsh.
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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.
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Author:
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Oral History Program
Description:
In this interview, Paul Cuta and Alberta (Cuta) Gund primarily discuss German and Czech culture during the early 20th century in La Crosse. Topics include but are not limited to: the family home (1016 Farnam Street), Bohemian (Czech) traditional names, Catholicism, parental roles, cigar making, commercial fishing, wooden boat building, Funke's Candy Company, gardens and growing vegetables, paternal grandparents, life in the family home, Hood-Powell Park neighborhood, religious divisions in town; German-Lutheran, German-Catholics, Bohemian-Catholics, Irish-Catholics, Holy Trinity Parochial School, activities at schools, fundraisers, sports, dancing, traditional Bohemian (Czech) food, World War II, La Crosse Tribune, fashion, war rations, street cars, Protestant and Catholic neighborhood relationships, The Strand Theater, recreation activities, school yard games, home remedies, Powells Park, Lapitz Grocery Store, shoe stores and cobblers, home funerals, Hammes Grocery Store, Bruha Selrite Grocery Store, Aboto's Confectionary, bicycling in 1940s, communications during Korean War, home-brew alcohol served in Bohemian Hall, Humms Bakery, Tabbert's Dry Goods Store, taverns, gasoline industry, Tomicek Car Service, financial loans, soap rations during WWII, Baum's Butcher Shop, Shimshack's Shoe Repair and Tavern, Not Your Uncle's Tavern, and the Prohibition era.
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Author:
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Oral History Program
Description:
Raymond Bice discusses his childhood and early life, talking of fishing, hanging out at rail yards, his school delinquency, some of his teachers and his principal, as well as his story of eventually dropping out of high school. He also talks about his adult life, including his political career and the greater political climate of La Crosse, specifically at the County level. Bice talks in detail about the Trapper's bill and law, the Speed Limit bill and law, the Highway Safety bill and law, Liquor tax, and lobbying groups. He also discusses general topics like the Great Depression, Prohibition and bootlegging, neighborhood rivalry, and Syrian immigration to La Crosse.
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