Ellen Hixon’s garden

Peggy Derrick

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Most of the time we try to preserve historic artifacts by storing them in acid-free conditions and inside rooms with controlled temperature and humidity. But this week’s artifact is left in the dirt, exposed to the elements, and gets water and composted manure dumped on it. That’s because it is a garden, Ellen Hixon’s rose garden, to be exact.

For many years after Hixon’s death in 1913, her gardener, Henry Puent, continued to maintain the grounds in the manner in which she had taught him.

The La Crosse County Historical Society’s major Hixon House restoration project in 2004-05 included research by a landscape historian who studied Hixon’s letters, old photographs and the remains of flower beds to confirm the original form of the formal flower garden on the south side of the house, as well as the varieties of roses, peonies, dahlias, irises and other flowering plants that either had been grown, were still there or would likely have been there.

We know that Hixon was passionate about her garden. She was a member of the local Northwestern Horticultural Society and reported to the group about which varieties of roses and other perennials she found were suitable for the La Crosse climate. Her report reached a conclusion that many northern gardeners will recognize:

“After many experiments and repeated failures with ‘novelties’ with high-sounding names and beguiled by flattering descriptions, we are forced to admit the fact of a soil and climate adverse to the cultivation of any but the most hardy, and we might add, common, varieties, and that ‘eternal vigilance’ is the price of success.”

Hixon grew hybrid roses, which were dug and stored each winter, in the greenhouses at Oak Grove Cemetery. But she also grew hardy, own-root roses — along with peonies and irises — all of which grow in profusion in the garden today, according to the plan produced by the landscape historian, Peggy Beedle.

Most of the plantings are flowers that bloom from late May through June — the garden will never look lovelier than it does in these next few weeks. There is no better time to visit the house than when Hixon’s roses and peonies are in full bloom.

In April of 1907, when she was on a trip to Europe, Hixon wrote home to a friend, “I have visions of my garden waking from its winter sleep, and it is a great magnet.” At this time of year, it is especially poignant to imagine her presence among the awakened beauty in this garden.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on May 26, 2017.

Josephine Bangsberg’s doll

Amy Vach

Catalog Number: 1981.021.01

Branson De Hart was stationed in Manila during the Spanish-American War. While in the in the Philippines, he picked up this small bisque and papier-mache doll as a souvenir. He gave the doll to his 10-year-old niece, Josephine (Mahoney) Bangsberg when he returned to the United States in 1898.

This gift from her uncle created a lifelong love for Josephine. In her free time, she cared for her dolls and helped mend the dolls of friends, then those of her grandchildren. Later in life, Josephine opened a doll hospital called Jo’s Dolls to extend her services to even more young children.

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Josephine came across many dolls in her life, but the one from her uncle was always her most cherished. The doll is still wearing the original clothes it wore when Branson found the doll on the streets of Manila. Josephine only undressed the doll once so she could mend the doll’s body.

When the doll was donated to the La Crosse County Historical Society in 1981, it came with a letter describing the doll’s experiences through her own eyes:

“My name is Calamity Jane. It is not my real name. That I do not remember because you see I am very old. I belonged to a little girl who lived in Manila at the turn of the century (1900), and I was always carefully cared for and wrapped in a fine fichu whenever I went to walk.

“We were forced to flee from our home when Dewey landed in Manila in August 1898. In the hurry, my mistress dropped me in the street and I lay unnoticed for a long long time until a fine young Army soldier, Branson De Hart, walking by chanced to see me. He picked me up and slipped me in the bottom of his knapsack, where I rode safely for seven long months.

“When the soldier went to America far across the Pacific, I went with him. He went to a big ranch on the Boulder River, where I was given to a little girl, his niece. She named me Calamity Jane. Many famous people including a man who was later to be the president looked at me and two or three offered much money for me, but my mistress loved me for the sake of her uncle and later for myself.

“I went away to school with her and slept in a little box in the back of a dresser drawer, and then we went to college together. My mistress never undressed me. She let me wear my little lace-trimmed cotton dress that I wore when I left Manila.

“We have always been together: When my mistress married, I was placed in the bottom of her cedar chest. My mistress was very busy and I didn’t get me out very often, but once in a while she took me out and I met her children, but they never played with me nor loved me as my mistress loved me.

“Now my mistress is getting old, her hair is white, but I have never changed. I look as I looked on the day that gay young soldier snatched me from the gutter in far off Manila. I have a place of honor on the mantle of my mistress’ home. You all, I have seen history in the making.”

Artifacts do not always come with detailed histories — sometimes they are simply appreciated and valued for the history they represent. This doll tells an additional story, and is not simply a toy from the 1890s. She is a souvenir from war that was treasured for a lifetime and created a love for dolls that led Josephine to want to care for others’ dolls.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on May 13, 2017.

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

William and Joan Fancher’s dollhouse

Amy Vach

Catalog Number: 2004.061.01

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

I still remember fondly the year that my dad made me a dollhouse for my birthday. It was a kit, but I still was able to personalize colors, flooring and wallpaper. It was a simple two-story Cape Cod-style house with four rooms, and it was perfect. I enjoyed decorating the interior of my dollhouse more than I think I ever played with it.

The same can be said for this dollhouse made by William and Joan Fancher.

The La Crosse County Historical Society has a few dollhouses in its collections, but this one is by far the most extravagant. William followed a plan, but he made everything on his own. He spent 1,440 hours (about two months time) making the dollhouse. There are 2,250 handmade shingles and individual floorboards. Joan did all of the needlework in the house, including wall hangings and rugs.

Joan designed her dollhouse as a tribute to her favorite parts of her own house, as well as those of family members. She chose the Pepperwood Farms plan because it was similar to the home her grandparents had lived in.

The kitchen has bright blue furniture that matches the furniture Joan had in her kitchen. The attic playroom is similar to that of her mother’s cousin’s house, where she loved playing as a child. The dollhouse has a Christmastime theme because that was Joan’s favorite time of the year. A Santa Claus and reindeer decorate the roof, and there are Christmas trees, presents, wreaths, and a Nativity scene throughout the house.

Not only did the couple make the dollhouse, they also kept a scrapbook that detailed each room and where each item was from. Some of the items were given to the Fanchers as gifts from friends’ vacations — a black cat came from Hong Kong, and a small ivory dog was a souvenir from the Holy Land.

The scrapbook contains progress as well as final photos, showing where each item was supposed to be in every room. When the historical society moved, the dollhouse was packed up, room by room, just like a regular house so it’s not presently set-up how the Fanchers had it.

The final pages of their scrapbook serve as a guestbook, recording the names of all the people who came to visit the dollhouse and admire William and Joan’s handiwork. The dollhouse has more than 200 signatures in its guest book.

William Fancher donated the dollhouse to the historical society in 2004, the same year his wife, Joan, died.

What makes dollhouses like this one and the one made by my father special is that they are filled with personalized touches. Each is unique and tells its own story. The Fanchers’ dollhouse tells the story of a husband and wife who worked together, with the help of their friends, to create their “ideal home.” It was a family project that gave them a shared goal and shared pleasure.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on May 6, 2017.

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