Scope and Contents

The Park and Recreation Department records are numerous and widely varied. Beginning with the Park department’s fiftieth anniversary (1958), these materials cover finance (1924-1979), planning (1978-1979), recreation (1963-1972), and trees and planting (1971-1973). The fiftieth anniversary materials include the official sticker and a picture of the 1958 Board of park Commissioners as well as program information and other items. The financial materials contain monthly expenditures, bill and payroll reports and various yearly reports. The planning information consists mostly of two project reports and project suggestion forms. Recreation records contain a few community and youth activity programs. The materials in trees and planting contain items regarding Dutch elm disease and flower planting, but considering that the Park and Recreation Department controls most of the trees and planting in the city, there is very little information found here.

Also included in the Park and Recreation Department records are Wisconsin Park and Recreation Association materials from 1974, when their annual conference was held in La Crosse. The miscellaneous (1971-1979) file contains lease information, several undated resolutions, parks and playgrounds naming policy, as well as other materials.

The rest of the Park and Recreation Department materials consist of site information. Most of the eighteen sites listed have very little information about them, except for Hixon Forest, Pettibone Park, and Riverside Park, which have a little more information than others. The single site with the most information is Campbell Cemetery (1860-1992). The cemetery information is divided into burial permits (1897-1979), financial journals (1860-1932), indexes, maps, and miscellaneous (1916-1992). Burial permits contain permits for burial and disinterment. Finance, which is contained in two volumes, has very early meeting minutes as well as information on who bought burial plots. There are several different indexes: deeds sold (alphabetical), tombstones read and tombstones read (alphabetical), and burial permits (alphabetical and chronological). All three maps plat the cemetery differently.

One of the maps, dated 1931 and marked void is completely different from the others. It shows two circles containing burial plots in the middle of the cemetery. It could not be determined if the circles were actually still there or how that specific plat map fit into the mapping of the cemetery. Miscellaneous materials contain some genealogical inquiries and information and some copies of burial permits.