Yesterday in La Crosse
One-way traffic proposed for downtown, 60 years ago
In April of 1958, the city of La Crosse was suggesting one-way streets through downtown as a form of traffic control. The change would affect three north-south streets…3rd, 4th, and South Avenue. Restaurant owner Louis Bantle was one businessman who predicted a change would hurt merchants on 3rd Street. It took a few decades, but 3rd and 4th eventually did become one-ways. South Avenue did not.
President Eisenhower was asking Congress to create a civilian agency to run America’s space program. This was just a couple of months after the U.S. launched a satellite for the first time. Ike wanted to call the organization the “National Aeronautics and Space Agency.” They changed “agency” to “administration,” but kept the acronym NASA.
And a steamboat built in 1899 was being towed upriver past La Crosse for the last time. The General John Newton had been a military craft used by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Newton was taken to St. Paul, where it was converted into what became known as the Minnesota Centennial Showboat, which closed only two years ago. The showboat took one more journey up Old Man River 60 years ago, 1958, yesterday in La Crosse.
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