Mons Anderson's Lion Statue

Hailey Hudzinski

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Mons Anderson was born in Norway in 1830 and came to America when he was sixteen, settling in Milwaukee. Anderson moved to La Crosse in 1851, recognizing La Crosse as a growing city with great business opportunities.

Upon his arrival, Anderson began working as a clerk in S.T. Smith’s store on Front St. Smith quickly made Anderson a partner and in 1852 Anderson became sole proprietor. In 1856, Anderson built a one-story brick building at 2nd and Main streets and moved his business to this location. The building underwent several additions throughout the years and Anderson had tripled the size of the business area by 1870.

During this time, it was common for businesses to use some sort of emblem as a way to advertise. Anderson adopted the lion to act as his store’s emblem. Two life-size lion statues flanked Anderson’s store for many years, one of which is pictured here. 

Anderson’s use of the lion emblem went beyond the life-size statues. He used the lion emblem on a variety of business documents including stationary, bills, cards, and paper notes. 

Anderson also had his own coins minted with the emblem on them. The earliest known coin is dated 1863. It is believed that Anderson halted the production of these coins around 1880. The coins were the size of a modern penny and were engraved on one side with “Mons Anderson—dealer in dry goods, clothing, boots and shoes—La Crosse, Wis.” The other side featured the lion emblem beneath the words, “Sign of the Lion.”

It was believed that the coins were used as a way to advertise and that they operated like modern-day coupons. However, it is also said that the coins were widely accepted by businesses in La Crosse in place of an actual penny.

Anderson also manufactured men’s work clothes and labeled them “Lion Brand.” The work clothes often featured buttons that were printed with the lion emblem with the words “Lion Brand” beneath it.

Anderson was so connected to his lion emblem that he even had the doorknobs in his home cast in the shape of a lion’s head.

Anderson ran a very successful business for many years. He was so successful, in fact, that he was commonly known as the “Merchant Prince.” Anderson was also known as the “Lion of La Crosse,” as a result of his association with the lion emblem.

Following Anderson’s death in 1905, the two lion statues were separated. One of the statues was given to Anderson’s cousin and good friend, Mons Fladager. This statue was placed in front of Fladager’s store in Spring Grove, Minn. and served as the trademark for more than 75 years. It can now be found in Spring Grove City Park. The other statue remained in La Crosse and was donated to the La Crosse County Historical society in 1970 by Jake Hoeschler. It can now found in the courtyard of the La Crosse Public Library.

Interestingly, Jake Hoeschler was another local businessman who had an animal as a personal symbol. The Hoeschler bull was made of fiber glass, and stood atop the Hoeschler building at 224 N. 6th St. from the late 1970s until 2006, when the building changed hands and his son Jay sold the bull.

The Hoeschler family had for many years promoted their business by saying that they were “bullish on La Crosse.”

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on May 12, 2018.

This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.

Peerless Knife

Michelle Kelly

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

In 1900, the little Mississippi port-town of La Crosse, Wisconsin was put on the map. At the World’s Fair in Paris, France,the John Gund Brewing Company, established by John Gund in 1880, put their best foot forward and presented their brand, Gund’s Peerless Beer, to the judges in a beer contest. They won the first-place medal. When Peerless won again at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, the home of Budweiser, the world took notice.

La Crosse was no longer a sleepy river town, but a thriving national brewing town. The Gund Brewing Company could no longer run on a small retinue of employees, so by 1910, their staff grew to nearly 500. Peerless was no longer just a regional and state brand, but had spread throughout the Midwest and surrounding areas. Production skyrocketed to over half a million barrels.

Sadly, Gund’s success was short lived. During Prohibition, the company could not sustain itself and went under. The Peerless brand, itself, disappeared for almost fifteen years.

During Gund’s wild success of the early 1900s and 1910s, the C. & J. Michel Brewing Company had been lying low. They had been producing regional and state brands such as “Elfenbrau” and “Wisconsin’s Best,” but they were not as well-known as their award-winning counterpart. However, when Prohibition hit in 1919, Charles and John Michel had the great business sense to be able to keep their brewery afloat. They changed the company name to the La Crosse Refining Company and moved production from beer to malt syrup. They were able to survive Prohibition.

Following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the company changed their name again, to La Crosse Breweries Inc. and purchased the rights to the Peerless brand.

La Crosse Breweries Inc. was able to nationalize Peerless Beer, sending it as far east as the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

Unfortunately, only a few years after Peerless was back on top, it fell. La Crosse Breweries Inc. lost their brewmaster and their sales decreased. Following a strike in 1956, the brewery finally closed their doors. Peerless was once again lost after being the driving brand for two important breweries of La Crosse.

This small folding knife, only 2.5 inches long, is an example of the type of promotional material La Crosse Breweries Inc. sent to bars who sold their products. This particular knife travelled from the La Crosse Breweries Inc. factory in La Crosse, Wisconsin to Gene’s Tavern in Garfield, New Jersey in the early 1940s and then back again in 2018.

We know this because in January of this year we received a thick envelope from a gentleman in Garfield with the knife carefully packed inside. His letter explained that it had belonged to his grandfather, who frequented Gene’s Tavern, and probably got the knife there. The donor said he thought it would be nice if the pocketknife came back home. We think so too!

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on May 5, 2018.

This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.

Painting of Grandad Bluff

Carole Mullen

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

This idyllic oil painting by La Crosse artist Charles Loveland evokes a dreamy image of a simpler time.

A woman and three children dressed in white pick flowers in a field in front of the bluffs. The foreground bluff appears to be Grandad Bluff, based on quarrying evident at the top.

Loveland was born in La Crosse in 1881, and he resided here his entire life. In addition to being an artist, he was instrumental in two La Crosse businesses, the Aiken-Gleason Camera Co. and Northern Engraving.

As a young man, Loveland worked for the Aiken-Gleason Camera Co. at Seventh and La Crosse streets — by 1901, it was the Imperial Camera Co. — in the production of folding-view cameras. Imperial was sold a few years later, becoming Conley Camera of Spring Grove, Minn.

For a few years, Loveland was listed in city directories as either an artist or a shipping clerk for the Pamperin & Wiggenhorn Cigar Co. In 1907 he married Clara Ebner, and the young couple began a family, eventually raising four children — Ruth, Charles Jr., Donald and Warren.

Loveland began work with the fledgling Northern Engraving Co., a photo-engraving and nameplate manufacturer, as a commercial artist and partner with James Novak about 1915. He soon moved his wife and then three young children to 21st Street at the edge of the city near the base of Grandad Bluff.

At this time, the eastern edge of La Crosse was open fields and farmland. Loveland’s oil painting is undated, but it may have been from this period. The woman in the painting is dressed in clothing popular in that era, as are the children. Loveland may have imagined this scene, or he may have portrayed his wife and three children in a field near their new home.

Loveland rose through the ranks to become Northern Engraving’s treasurer by 1922 and its president by 1932. He and his family later moved to an elegant home near Cass Street and West Avenue. He remained Northern Engraving’s president through at least 1948.

Loveland died in 1951, and he is buried in La Crosse’s Oak Grove Cemetery.

Whether Loveland’s painting represented an informal family portrait or a fantasy, its historical interest is undeniable. The painting shows us how different the young city of La Crosse and its bluffs looked about 100 years ago.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on April 28, 2018.

This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.