1407 La Crosse St

Summary

Oak Grove Cemetery 1407 La Crosse Street La Crosse, WI Oak Grove Cemetery originated in the mid-nineteenth century as a privately-owned secular cemetery known as Wautonga Cemetery (reportedly, a Native American term for “Oak Wood”). At that time, little attention was paid to landscape design or groundskeeping and the cemetery soon became heavily overgrown with broken fencing, weeds, and unkempt pathways. The Oak Grove Cemetery Association was formed in 1872 as a means of acquiring and improving the old cemetery grounds. Henry I. Bliss, secretary of the Oak Grove Cemetery Association and La Crosse County surveyor, drew plans for the site’s new landscape design. These plans represented the ideals of the Rural Cemetery Movement that had become popular in the United States during the mid-nineteenth century. So-called “rural” cemeteries (named for their spacious and rustic landscapes rather than their locations) were typically located at the edges of the cities they were meant to serve and featured meandering pathways, heavy tree growth and other naturalistic plantings, and rolling topography that frequently rose to create scenic vistas. Site work began in 1878 and within about a year, the cemetery grounds had been completely redesigned. As additional space was needed after the turn of the twentieth century, the Cemetery Association hired Chicago landscape gardener John Thorpe to expand the cemetery to the east; Thorpe’s considerate design mirrored the original naturalistic aesthetic of the 1878 plan. Throughout its history, numerous monuments and memorials were installed at Oak Grove Cemetery, including grand memorials to Governor C.C. Washburn, Joseph Losey (long-time benefactor of the Oak Grove Cemetery Association), and area Civil War veterans. The site also became home to a sizable community mausoleum (constructed in the Neoclassical style in 1912) and several small family mausoleums. In addition, Oak Grove contains an especially fine and varied collection of smaller-scale burial markers and monuments that are excellent examples of American funerary art and architecture from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Property Details

Criteria	Architecture/Engineering
Area Of Significance	Landscape Architecture
Period of Significance	1878-1973
Architectural Style	Art Deco,Classical Revival,Gothic Revival
Architect	Thorpe, John (cemetery planner 1904-1910),Bliss, Henry Isaac (cemetery planner 1878),People's Mausoleum Company (builder, 1912 mausoleu,Pond and Pond (1913 Hixon Family Monument)
Resource Type	Site
Historic Use	Cemetery,Graves/Burials

Resources Within The Property

Contributing Buildings	1
Contributing Sites	1
Contributing Structures	3
Contributing Objects	1
Non-Contributing Buildings	3
Non-Contributing Sites	0
Non-Contributing Structures	1
Non-Contributing Objects	1

Designations

Historic Status	Listed in the State Register
National Historic Landmark Listing Date	Aug 18, 2023
Historic Status	Listed in the National Register
National Historic Landmark Listing Date	Dec 11, 2023