Catalog Number: 2012.013.01
This Thing that Matters from the artifacts of the La Crosse County Historical Society seems so simple. But it conjures memories of a time when purchases were wrapped in paper pulled off from a 12-inch roll in local stores and then tied with string. Shoppers put each purchase into their own shopping bag.
This wrapping paper with its red fleur-de-lis and black design on off-white paper was a form of advertising. Note the words: “La Crosse’s Leading Prescription Pharmacy” and: “Prescription Headquarters, complete liquor and cosmetic departments, school supplies, greeting cards, wheel chairs, etc.”
Frank Hoeschler was a dentist in partnership with his brothers in the pharmacy at Fifth Avenue and Main Street. Later, he turned into a real estate developer, changing Fifth Street into Fifth Avenue, making it into the premiere shopping area of La Crosse. He even brought in the first national retailer to La Crosse — Montgomery Ward.
Hoeschler was a visionary in all but one area – he once suggested filling in the La Crosse River Marsh to unite La Crosse’s North Side and South Side. That never happened, of course.
This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on February 7, 2015.
This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.
