Wisconsin Theatre
516 Main Street,
La Crosse,
WI
54601
516 Main Street,
La Crosse,
WI
54601
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A postcard view of downtown La Crosse from 1950 looking down Main Street toward the Mississippi River. On the left is a partial view of the Wisconsin Theatre. The feature movie is “The Savage Horde” starring “Wild” Bill Elliott.
Here is an account of the fire on 12/29/52:
Blaze Ruins Old Theatre In LaCrosse
Fire believed to have started in the projection booth early Sunday morning destroyed the Wisconsin Theatre at La Crosse. Firemen are shown pouring water on the $100,000 blaze after the roof and one wall had collapsed. The fire occurred in near-zero weather.
A fire that raged for more than two hours Sunday reduced the 43-year-old Wisconsin Theater in downtown La Crosse to a battered shell. The fire traveled from the rear of the theater to the front. Shortly after the blaze began, the theater’s rear wall collapsed, firemen ripped down the side walls which were tottering. All of the city’s fire fighting equipment was called out to control the blaze. Two firemen were overcome by smoke and were hospitalized.
Damage was estimated unofficially at more than $100,000. The theater was built in 1909 and was first known as the Majestic. It was converted from a vaudeville theater into a motion picture house recently and was renamed.