A new City Hall in the works, 49 years ago

In 1968, the La Crosse City Council was on its second round of bids for a new building to replace the city hall at 6th and State, now part of the Post Office parking lot.  City Hall had been on that spot more than 70 years.  The new building along La Crosse Street would open in 1970, putting it several years ahead of plans for the new post office.  In order to cut costs, planners decided to eliminate an underground heated parking garage from the design of the new City Hall. 

The La Crosse Community Theatre hired a new director from Canada named John Brown, succeeding Michael Thompson, who was leaving to do plays in New York.  Besides doing stage work, Brown had made documentary films for the classroom.  He only spent one season at LCT.

During October of 1968, the Beatles appeared on American TV in new videos of “Hey Jude” and “Revolution,” which aired on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.”  “Hey Jude” spent 9 weeks at #1 in 1968, yesterday in La Crosse.