Gillette Street Fire Station 4 named local landmark

The Gillette Street fire station in La Crosse has now officially been declared a local historic landmark. 

The vote by the city’s heritage preservation commission came after a brief public hearing Thursday night.  The designation now means the plans for a new north-side firehouse, to replace the current one built in 1940, will have to be changed to allow the old building to remain standing. 

Fire chief Ken Gilliam has been frustrated over the last-minute nature of the preservation drive, after years of planning to take down the building, but he is ready to change the designs for the new building.