Property Record
201 MAIN ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | ONALASKA STATE BANK |
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| Other Name: | |
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| Reference Number: | 136205 |
| Location (Address): | 201 MAIN ST |
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| County: | La Crosse |
| City: | Onalaska |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
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| Year Built: | 1912 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 20052015 |
| Historic Use: | bank/financial institution |
| Architectural Style: | Neoclassical/Beaux Arts |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
| State Register Listing Date: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation-Public History. DOE signed 7/14/2011. Windows fixed w/leaded glass headers, parapet w/cornice and dentil details, brick pilasters, and concrete watertable. 2016 Community Survey write-up: Rising from a raised stone foundation, this small, one-story, commercial building is topped with a flat roof and faced with brick. A brick parapet rises from above a prominent cornice that features dentil trim that runs along the front (south) elevation of the building and around to the west, along 2nd Avenue N/STH 35. A large, two-light, plate-glass window with a continuous stone sill punctuates the entrance elevation, along with a replacement door. The west elevation includes a door that is flanked by a single, plate-glass window to either side. Although the building is, today, utilized as a wine bar, the first-floor interior of the former bank building retains the original vault, while the former public banking area is an open area (with tables). A room at the rear, which includes a decorative tin ceiling, now functions as an office. The lower level also includes a vault, which is believed to have been added when the building served as a bank for a second time, from 1968-1970. Historic, but undated photos of the building--when it served as the Onalaska State Bank, indicate that the entrance elevation originally featured a parapet front and that brick pilasters divided the primary elevation into four bays. The cornice that is evident today, as well as the parapet that raises above it, is not original to the building. In fact, the structure appears to perhaps have been re-bricked, for the stone insets that are located in the outer pilasters of the entrance elevation are also a later alteration. With no available photos of the building from the mid-1930s to the 1960s, it is unknown as to when those alterations were made. It is possible that they were completed when the building was converted for use as the post office. The Onalaska State Bank received their charter from the Wisconsin State Banking Commission on 27 May 1912, approximately six months after area businessmen determined that the village needed its own banking facility. Directors of the bank included Abel N. Moore, Thomas G. Aiken, Gustave A. Kaeppler, R. D. Gordon and Ellsworth. T. Johnson. Officers of the institution included Moore as president, Kaeppler as vice president and John Aiken as cashier. When the bank opened, it was among thirty-four other state banks to open in Wisconsin. Bid information for the building indicated that it was to be faced with “Mormon Coulee” brick and interior floors to be of yellow pine. Teller booths were located at the front of the building (fronting a vault) and the bank director’s office was at the rear. As of the end of 1917, bank resources were reported as $176,289.61, up from the mere $17,035.80 noted in the first year of operation. In 1929, the bank was robbed of approximately $1,950 by a La Crosse resident, who was apprehended shortly thereafter in Eveleth, Minnesota. Following the National Bank Holiday of 1933, the bank never recovered and closed shortly thereafter; however, all assets were not fully liquidated until 1943. Following some interior renovations, the building was used from 1937 to 1957 as the Onalaska Post Office, after which it served as a sporting goods store (1957-1966). As of April 1968, the structure was again used as a bank—the Bank of Onalaska—which would later move to their new facility at 1145 Main Street. The establishment of the Bank of Onalaska was the first banking facility to establish itself in Onalaska since the failure of the Onalaska State Bank. It was thereafter used as a real estate office (1972-1974); day care (1975); and gift shop (1979-1980). Since 1981, it has served as a restaurant and, most recently, a wine bar. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Citations for 2016 information below: Historic photos of the bank are included in Dolbier, From Sawmills to Sunfish, 126, 312. A citation in the 1907 Memoirs of La Crosse County notes that a bank was started in Onalaska circa 1856; however, it was not able to “weather the financial crisis” that occurred soon thereafter, Bryant, ed., Memoirs of La Crosse County, 166; “Annual Banking Report Issued,” The Grand Rapids (WI) Tribune, 8 January 1913, 2/6; Twenty-Third Annual Report of the Commissioner of Banking on State Banks, Mutual Savings Banks and Trust Companies (Madison: Democrat Printing Co., 1918), 277 (includes date of charter); “Onalaska Robber Held at Eveleth,” The Sheboygan (WI) Press, 23 February 1929, 8/3; Dolbier, From Sawmills to Sunfish, 126; “Onalaska State Bank,” Determination of Eligibility (DOE), Prepared by Barbara Kooiman, March 2011, DOE on file at the WHS. “Post Office Moves to New Building,” The La Crosse Tribune, 21 February 1957, 14/5; “Onalaska State Bank,” DOE, n.p.; “8 Propose Onalaska Bank; Hearing is Set,” The La Crosse Tribune, 27 June 1967, 9/3-4; “Onalaska Bank Draws No Opposition,” The La Crosse Tribune, 7 July 1967, 9/4; “Onalaska Bank Plans to Open In 2 Months,” The La Crosse Tribune, 3 February 1968, 4/6; Bank of Onalaska, opening ad, The La Crosse Tribune, 30 August 1970, page 14, bottom half. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |