The Development of Copeland Avenue

The Development of Copeland Avenue. . The history of Copeland Avenue dates back to 1856, just a few months after the City of La Crosse was incorporated. The road was originally not more than a footpath and barely wide enough for one wagon. Copeland Avenue connected the northern and southern sections of the City through a marshy stretch that often flooded, becoming impassable. Residents of the North Side enlisted the expertise of William R. Sill, an engineer with the La Crosse Onalaska Plank Road Company. He supervised the building of a 20-foot wide pine road that was raised 3 feet above the marshy water and was dubbed Plank Road. To pay for its construction, tolls were gathered by its iron-fisted custodian, Gotthelf Herrold., Within a decade, the City was making more improvements to the road, raising it higher above the marshland, widening it to 100 feet, and applying a macadamized (a compacted layering of broken stone and sand) limestone surface. Plank Road then became known as the Causeway. With the boom in the lumber industry over the following twenty years, traffic over the Causeway increased dramatically, as did the commercial and residential development of the North Side. Small businesses, hotels, and churches dotted the neighborhood, many catering directly to the lumber community. Large mills were located along the northernmost section of the Causeway, resulting in the road picking up a new moniker, Mill Street. Where the Causeway segued to Third Street on the south side, it became alternatively known as North Third Street. The names Mill and North Third were used interchangeably until 1923, when the City officially changed the name of the entire stretch to Copeland Avenue, named after Frederick A. Copeland, the prominent lumberman and former mayor of La Crosse. By this time the road had been resurfaced with brick., In 1984, two viaducts were created, one on Copeland and one on Rose Street; traffic was designated one-way on each street. Copeland Avenue's southbound traffic cuts through a 5-acre strip of land that had been donated to the City by Mayor Copeland for use specifically as a park. The commercial aspect of the immediate neighborhood has continued to develop over the decades and remains the heart of the North Side., Captions: , View North Along Mill Street, c. 1887. On the left in the foreground is the Franklin Iron Works, which made steam engines, boilers, and sawmill equipment for the neighboring mills. Note the street-car tracks in the middle of the road. Today this section of the street is occupied by the Copeland Avenue viaduct. Courtesy Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin La Crosse., Toll fees collected prior to 1860 to pay for the construction of Plank Road, later Copeland Avenue., North Side Laundry, 728 Mill Street. Mrs. L.B. Sullivan opened this steam laundry in 1907, with the claim of using "the latest machines" so that" the finest fabrics can be cleaned and laundered without tearing or injuring the material or color." Hers was among many small businesses that blossomed along Mill Street as the North Side population grew. Courtesy Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin La Crosse., Manke Blacksmith Shop, 533 Mill Street, c.1907. John C. Manke started as a horseshoer for a local livery on Mill Street, progressed to blacksmithing, and eventually expanded to servicing automobiles, adapting to changing industry needs. The business became Manke's Auto Spring Shop in 1925 and later relocated. Courtesy Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin La Crosse., St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Church, 716 Copeland Avenue. Built in 1912 in the Gothic Revival style, St. Elias has served the La Crosse community's Syrian, Lebanese, Greek, Serbian, and Russian Orthodox families for over a century. The interior features a beautiful Iconostasis, or wall, upon which icons (sacred images) are hung to serve as "a window between heaven and earth." Courtesy Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin La Crosse., Moss Barber Shop, 532 Copeland Avenue. In this photograph from the 1920s, Zack (left) and Orby Moss attend to a couple of customers. Zack's father, Zacharies Louis Moss, established the business on the City's North Side sometime before 1859, when La Crosse was the third largest port on the Mississippi River and almost all the barbers were black. The shop was operated by three generations of the family, and the building was torn down in 1992. Courtesy La Crosse Tribune and La Crosse Public Library Archives., Dancing at the Avalon, c. 1968. The Avalon Ballroom at 206 Copeland Avenue was built in 1928 and quickly became a popular destination for generations of La Crosse residents. In this photo, dozens of dancers are gliding across the 90' x 63' floor to the sounds of Al Souchek and the Five Yanks. Members of the band included: on drums Wally Stuhr, banjo Tony Jorgenson, bass Terry Groskopt, and accordion Al Souchek and Roger Nelson. Courtesy Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin La Crosse and the La Crosse Tribune.