The Family Service Association of La Crosse was founded March 28, 1881 as the Organized Committee for the Wisconsin Humane Society of La Crosse. Its original purpose was the prevention of cruelty to animals, but from the beginning the organization actively worked to ameliorate the lot of unfortunate human beings. Children and the elderly, in particular, benefited from the Society's work. From 1904, the Humane Society cooperated in the work of Associated Charities, Inc., of La Crosse, which was responsible for oversight and cooperation among city charities. Both groups received funding from the County Board. By 1908 the Society's activities included anti-tuberculosis and anti-rabies programs, provision of aid and clothing for the destitute, and attempts to establish a “pest house” and earlier closing hours for saloons. Funds were raised to sponsor a visiting nurse, and in 1911 the first trained and salaried executive secretary and social worker was hired.
In 1921 the organization became the Social Services Society, and in addition to its own fund-raising, received grants from the City Council, La Crosse Community Council, civic groups, and an annual Charity Ball. The board of directors authorized increased cooperation with other city charities, and in 1922 the Society helped form the Community Chest. During the 1930s and 1940s, the Society, and its successor, the Family Welfare Association, housed and fed transients and local families, distributed food and clothing, and placed children in foster homes. Other programs and work included child welfare, marriage and family counseling, better housing, relief for military personnel, Travelers' Aid, securing a mother's pension and a dance hall ordinance, and funding a school nurse and a probation officer. Because of its casework files, the agency became a clearinghouse in La Crosse to which other community groups could turn for information.
The name Family Service Association was adopted in 1955. The organization is now a member of the La Crosse Community Chest and is affiliated with the National Family Service Association of America. Today its sphere of activities includes counseling of marital, parent-child, unemployment and emotional illness problems, and problems related to old age and youth; and physical relief during times of illness, emergency, and natural disaster.
