Yesterday in La Crosse
The worst winter storm of ’59…temporarily
On one day in February of 1959, La Crosse got 8 inches of snow. It was called the worst winter storm of that season…until another storm a month later brought 13 inches of snow in a single day. The February storm left cars buried in a blanket of white. A Tribune photo showed one snowed-under car on 3rd Street, in front of the Hub loan office, the Melody Mill Tavern, and the former location of Coney Island hot dogs.
The 78-inch snowfall during the winter of 1958 and ’59 set a new record in La Crosse…that stood for only three years.
The president of the UW had a “Wisconsin Idea” about young people who wanted to become doctors. Conrad Elvehjem told a medical convention in Chicago that there are three common motivations for people to study medicine. One motivation is to save lives and ease suffering. A second is the desire to learn more about science and the human body. And the third motive is to make money. Elvehjem said that if a student wants to be a doctor just for the high pay, then he should be denied admission to medical school.
Woolworth’s on Main Street in La Crosse was advertising “mystery voodoo bulbs”…flowers that didn’t need water or soil, and would bloom in three weeks. A mystery bouquet in 1959, yesterday in La Crosse.
