Historic commission believes Memorial Pool’s “historic” bathhouse can be saved

Group toured the pool site on Tuesday 

Plans for Memorial Pool remain up in the air, after the city council decided its current location would be the only place a new or renovated pool. 

Issues over the bathhouse at the pool were the reason for a tour from the La Crosse Historic Preservation Commission on Tuesday.

Commission chair Jessica Olson came away from that tour pleasantly surprised, despite some issues.

“The biggest surprise here today is that it can be saved and the challenges are not at all insurmountable,” Olson said of the 81-year-old structure.

Olson says they will be fighting hard to provide info to the full city council that the building can be restored, and it would cost a lot less money than bulldozing it.

“It’s easy to talk about saving money or writing something off that’s not worth saving,” she said. “A lot of times, buildings, their historic value won’t become evident until enough time passes.

“We do want to evaluate this building carefully before we let it go to make sure that we’re not throwing away a gem.”

Back in July, the city council approved spending money on planning pool designs for only the Memorial Pool site, despite it being fourth on a consultant’s list of seven possible areas to put a new pool in the city.

The council entertained pool options ranging from $1 million to $12 million on those sites.

In June of 2016, the city paid Burbach Aquatics $4,950 for a feasibility study, which concluded that replacing the pool – not fixing it – would be the best route. The firm determined replacing the pool would cost $4.4 million, while fixing it would cost $3.9 million (fixes that wouldn’t last as long as a new pool).