What to do with La Crosse’s Memorial Pool

One group wants to declare
it a historical landmark

La Crosse’s oldest public swimming pool may get some more study before its fate is decided by the city.  

At least, that’s the hope of the Grandview Emerson Neighborhood Association (GENA). 

GENA hopes to get Memorial Pool declared a historic landmark, maybe at the national level. 

“If it actually got on the national register, that would slow things down. It would take a lot more to make significant changes,” GENA co-chair Barb Janssen said.

Janssen said there’s an options ito keep the pool open this summer, despite a park board recommendation to have it closed, because it’s very expensive to maintain.

“What is the actual problem and then, let’s look at what are the options, before we immediately go to, ‘Sell the property, tear it down,'” Janssen said.

The city’s heritage preservation committee was supposed to take up the Memorial situation last night, but the meeting was postponed due to lack of a quorum.

“We want the city to bring in experts that know what they’re doing, so they can acutally come up with a realistic plan and find out what actually needs to be done,” Janssen said. “Decisions, right now, are being made on what we think needs to be done, but we’re not sure.”