10th St. and Division St.

Here’s what the guild says about the Ho-Chunk treaty of 1837: 

“A delegation went to Washington in 1837 to plead for the tribe’s remaining lands, but its members were not allowed to go home until they ceded them. They finally agreed because they feared for their families well-being and believed verbal assurances that they would have eight years to leave Wisconsin, though the treaty allowed eight months and the treaty-abiding faction of the Ho-Chunk were moved to neutral ground around Iowa’s Turkey River.”⁶ 

In summary, the land that La Crosse sits on today was, for thousands of years, a communal border village/lacrosse field of the Ho-Chunk and the Dakota until 1837, when the Dakota sold the land to the United States. Soon after, both tribes faced deadly removals.

Then, in 1871, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration built the St. Rose Convent on Market and 10th Street, on that same land. About ten years later, the group founded St. Francis Hospital.⁷ In 1923, the Skemp Clinic was created, and finally, in 1995, St. Francis and Skemp merged with Mayo Clinic as we know it today.⁸

In 1900, however, the parking lot was still a group of houses, housing mostly working class individuals–some renting and some owning, a few European immigrants, and later on, young female nurses.⁹ By 1992, most of these houses had been demolished and made into parking spaces. It wasn’t until 2010 that the last house was removed and until 2020 that the lot was completed.¹⁰

The new housing northwest of Mayo is entirely for profit. One of the two new buildings is composed of expensive townhouses with exclusive communal centers. The other contains cramped ORI studios. ORI studios are too small to even fit a bed; they have an innovative technique that raises the bed into the ceiling to make the 300 sq. ft. apartment actually livable.¹¹  These apartments are meant to maximize people and profit and generate wealth for monopolizing corporations. They’re taking up space that could be used for strengthening community, like the Washburn Community Garden that these apartments are built on top of.¹² Community spaces are integral for the public, and corporations like Mayo are ripping them away.

Historically, hospital leadership has tried to rehabilitate some of the communities affected by these practices.  The Franciscan Sisters made a historic land transfer, selling land in northern Wisconsin back to the Indigenous communities they harmed. The Indigenous community purchased the land at the exact price the sisters had paid for it in 1966.¹³ 

Unlike La Crosse County, counties such as Jackson, Monroe, Wood, Sauk, and Shawano all host large Ho-Chunk developments, including seven neighborhoods and multiple apartment complexes throughout the state.¹⁴ One of the Nation’s most innovative new developments, Cloud Village in Baraboo, was just recently completed.¹⁵  This 65,000-square-foot development delivers 40 apartment units in a mix of two- and three-bedroom layouts, featuring both underground and surface parking, basketball courts, and community amenities. Designed by Dimension IV Madison Design Group, Cloud Village incorporates sustainable features such as high-efficiency appliances, electric vehicle charging stations, and advanced storm water management. The project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget, thanks to the collaboration of Greenfire Management Services, the City of Baraboo, Colin Price,¹⁶ and the Ho-Chunk Nation.

When local governments work with Tribes, they achieve mutual prosperity, bridging the gap with benefits like the following:

Infrastructure Grants¹⁷: In Crawford County, for example, tribal partnership helped fund a critical bridge replacement. By designating the route as a “reservation access road,” the county secured $440,000 in federal funds for the project, in 2014. Crawford County Board Chairman Pete Flesch noted, “Financial assistance from the Ho-Chunk Nation has been essential in funding the work of Crawford County.”

Direct Payments¹⁸: Per the Gaming Compact, the Nation provides annual payments to counties for land held in federal trust. For every acre of trust land, the county receives $1,000. For instance, if Jackson County has 500 acres of trust land, they receive a direct payment of $500,000 each year to support local services.

Hosting Ho-Chunk developments actively creates a more prosperous community, but for years, La Crosse has sabotaged efforts to do so. Instead of having useless parking lots, we could have affordable housing and community structure.