Common Council resolutions and reports began to be organized by a numbering system in Dec. 1932. Before that time the resolutions were kept folded up in chronological order, roughly by subject or Council committee (such as Parks, Judiciary, Fire, Police, etc.). This set of pre-1932 resolutions represents those labeled as Charter Amendments, and date from 1865-1911. These materials do contain some resolutions, but by and large are drafts and approved amendments to the city Charter by the state legislature. The original order of these reports was maintained, and the series contains 20 documents. The documents have been surface dry cleaned and some have been encased in mylar sleeves for protection.
While the series of amendments is not complete, it does offer some interesting changes, such as an amendment to allow the city to pay Civil War Union volunteers from the city coffers and to exact a tax (approved by the legislature Jan. 25, 1865); a number of amendments of 1869 relating to education and the superintendent’s authority and a railroad enabling act; the authorization to add a Police Chief and police department to the municipal governmental organization (Feb. 24, 1870); and finally the addition of the Village of North La Crosse into the city limits of La Crosse (March 25, 1871).
