History museum plan moving along steadily after one year

Just before Christmas last year, La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat stood in front of an old fire wagon at City Hall and launched a campaign for a local history museum.  

One year along, a museum planning task force is busy doing research on established history museums and scouting out possible locations for one in La Crosse.

Museum supporters are slowly gathering information they’ll need to figure out what kind of establishment they want.

The museum task force recently consulted with Jerry Enzler from the National Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque, Iowa.

“I would say that it was, by far, the best meeting we have had,” La Crosse County Historical Society director Peggy Derrick, serves on the task force, said. “I learned more listening to him than I’ve learned in the last year.”

Derrick believes the group is working at the right pace for getting a museum plan together.

“I didn’t expect to be breaking ground and it’s good because we’re nowhere near that, anyway,” she said.

The task force has been touring local buildings that house historic exhibits. Derrick would like to see a museum open along the riverfront, or elsewhere in the downtown area.

“If we could find an appropriate building that would fit our needs and would have room or space for growth in the future, I would absolutely consider that, as well,” she said.

More museum tours are being planned by the task force early in the new year.