Yesterday in La Crosse
A long career in Congress begins in 1931
Gardner Withrow of La Crosse was a former railroad man when he first went to Congress in 1931. Withrow served four terms in the House as a Republican or Progressive before losing his seat in 1938. He also lost the next two elections, but returned to Congress in 1948, and served six more terms until retiring in 1960.
A multiple murder in southeastern Wisconsin made news around the state in ’31. A farmer and three children at Burlington, Wisconsin were shot to death by a farmhand named Frank Gray. A newspaper report said Gray ran amuck with a shotgun, and had complained about “too many cows to milk.”
Odin Oyen died in 1931. Oyen was a designer who ran a company at 5th and Main in La Crosse. The firm closed after his death. Years later, it was the headquarters for Soell’s Liquor, and when Soell’s closed, the Oyen building was restored to its old look and the Odin Gallery opened there. Odin Oyen and Gardner Withrow are both buried in La Crosse’s Oak Grove Cemetery.