Q: Was La Crosse’s old Mary E. Sawyer Auditorium used for anything between the time the La Crosse Center was built and the auditorium was razed? Also, can you provide a brief history of the planning and building of the La Crosse Center?

A: The Mary E. Sawyer Auditorium, which was built in 1955 on Vine Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Street, remained essentially unused from the time the La Crosse Center opened on Oct. 11, 1980, until the auditorium was razed in March 1988. The last official event staged at the Mary E. Sawyer Auditorium was a campaign rally for presidential candidate Ronald Reagan one week before the La Crosse Center opened.
The city wanted to sell the empty auditorium, and private developers, Western Technical College and La Crosse County were among the interested parties. The county bought the building in 1987 and razed it in March 1988 to make way for a new county building.

The concept for the La Crosse Center came about around 1975 when it became clear the Mary E. Sawyer Auditorium was no longer adequate to host trade shows or conventions. Mayor Pat Zielke made building the La Crosse Center one of his top priorities. Land became available in the new Harborview Plaza development area when larger retailers like Dayton’s chose not to locate there.

In order to obtain federal money for the project, a hotel had to be located next to the center, along with another business. Russell Cleary built the headquarters for G. Heileman Brewing Co. on the north end of the development, satisfying one of the federal requirements, and the Radisson Corp. said it would build a hotel if local investors provided money for half the cost of the project.

City voters in 1978 passed by a large margin a referendum on whether the convention center should be built. Construction began later that year, but the financing package for the Radisson Hotel was not in place until 1979. Local financial institutions, led by First Federal, provided interim financing for construction of the Radisson.

Building the La Crosse Center cost slightly less than $10 million, with the federal government providing a little more than $4 million for the project. The Anthony Grignano Co. of Madison was the general contractor.

In cooperation with the La Crosse Public Library, the Tribune invites readers to call or e-mail questions of local interest. We’ll try to find the answers and publish them. The phone number for Ask the Trib is (608) 791-8450. Send questions by e-mail to news@lacrossetribune.com.

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