Summary Information
Pettibone Park Commission Records
1900-1977
- Pettibone Park Commission (La Crosse, Wis.)
La Crosse Mss BQ
0.6 cubic feet (1 archives box and 1 flat box)
UW-La Crosse Murphy Library / La Crosse Area Research Ctr. (Map)
Records of a commission established in 1901 to administer a Mississippi River park designed by landscape architect Frank H. Nutter and given to the city of La Crosse by Albert W. Pettibone. Included are correspondence, deeds, a map, minutes of meetings, leases, annual reports, clippings, articles of incorporation, and financial records.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-lx00bq ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Pettibone Park, located on Barron Island in the Mississippi River between La Crosse, Wisconsin and La Crescent, Minnesota was originally a place of ill repute, frequented by river men, lumberjacks, and prostitutes. In 1900, Albert Wells Pettibone (1827-1915), a La Crosse lumber baron and civic leader, purchased part of Barton Island, then legally part of Minnesota, having long desired to clean up the island and turn it into a public park. In 1901 he gave the island to the City of La Crosse, together with fifty thousand dollars that was to be dispensed by a private commission. In addition to this trust fund, during his lifetime Pettibone spent an estimated additional fifty thousand dollars in order to improve the land.
Throughout its existence, the Pettibone Park Commission was a body of six unpaid members, one of whom was always the current city mayor. Other members were chosen as the original membership retired or died. After its first few years, the commission met only once a year to elect members and transact business.
In 1918 the island became part of Wisconsin, and on May 9, 1919 it became part of the City of La Crosse. In the 1920s the park commission began leasing land to private individuals and groups and allowing the construction of cottages on part of the island. This practice intensified in the 1950s. About 1957 the commission entered into a twenty-year contract with the La Crosse Pettibone Boat Club to lease them land for a clubhouse and marina for one dollar a year. The commission also lent the club at low interest the sum of fifteen thousand dollars to be paid back over twelve years.
At the same time increased use of the island led to demands for improvements in access and the construction of new and better bridges. In addition, the island, which was always subject to flooding experienced two bad floods in the 1960s: one in 1965 and another in 1969. These floods damaged the bridges, the park, the leased cottages, and the boat club. Because the commission did not have the money to make repairs, its members determined to turn the park and the remainder of the trust fund over to the City Parks Department.
Scope and Content Note
The Pettibone Park Commission Records is a small collection documenting the financial administration of a popular La Crosse park. Unfortunately, the papers reveal little about Pettibone or the other civic leaders who administered the trust fund or of the activities that took place on the island over the years. Even the administrative documentation is incomplete, as there are only minutes for the period prior to 1941 while the financial records are complete only for the last years of the commission's existence. The collection is divided into three series: correspondence, minutes, and business and financial records.
The CORRESPONDENCE runs from 1900 to 1969, with the exception of one 1977 letter from a concerned citizen urging that the lease of the La Crosse Pettibone Boat Club not be renewed. Also included in this file are the incorporation papers and a deed.
The MINUTES, which also include annual reports and clippings, are chiefly from the period 1901 to 1931 and 1938 to 1941. After that the correspondence between H.K. Holley of the La Crosse Trust Company and John Pettibone contains some of the information previously recorded in the minutes. The annual reports and the correspondence deal with the landscaping of the park (including a three-page letter in 1902 from landscape architect Frank H. Nutter), construction of bridges and roads, installation of utilities, the building of cottages, and the leasing of some of the park.
The BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL RECORDS consist of leases and mortgages (all from the 1950s and primarily concerning the La Crosse Pettibone Boat Club), ledgers, reports, and tax returns. The ledgers consist of records of stock investments, 1901-1971, and operating expenses from 1900 to 1969. The latter series is contained in five different volumes, and the information recorded changes over time (the fifth and sixth books, for example, cover only receipts from park property rentals between 1955 and 1969). Other financial records are auditor's reports from the last three years of the commission's existence and tax returns from the last ten years of park operations.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by the La Crosse Trust Company via Edwin Hill, La Crosse, Wisconsin, 1988. Accession Number: M88-104
Contents List
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La Crosse Mss BQ
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Series: Correspondence
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Box
1
Folder
1-3
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1900-1977
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Box
2
Folder
1
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Deed and articles of incorporation, 1900, 1901
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Box
1
Folder
4-6
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Series: Minutes, 1901-1941
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Series: Business and Financial Records
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Box
1
Folder
7
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Leases and mortgages, 1953-1963
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Box
1
Folder
8
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Rent receipt books, 1955-1969
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Box
1
Folder
9
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Auditor's reports, 1967-1969
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Box
1
Folder
10
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Tax returns, 1959-1969
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Box
1
Folder
11
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Stock investments, 1901-1971
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Expenses
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Box
1
Folder
12-13
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1900-1912
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Box
2
Folder
2
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1913-1948
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