LaCrosse Community Pride projects embody town motto

This picture depicts one of the rock houses in LaCrosse obtained by LaCrosse Community Pride for the purpose of restoring them. The group obtained possession of two houses, three bunk houses and a service station, which they envision turning into a museum showcasing the Missoula Ice Age Floods.

LaCrosse is the "little town that could—and did!" The town tries to emulate this motto and has, in recent years, been making several improvements to keep the town of 320 residents on the map.

Alex McGregor, a board member of LaCrosse Community Pride (LCP), said in a letter to Port of Whitman County Commissioners dated May 28, "We've pulled together, as a community, and overcome the odds of what the Spokesman-Review a few years ago called the inevitable demise of a rural farm town."

The letter details several key things LCP has done to help keep the town afloat and make it a destination for Highway 26 travelers. Two big changes have been the opening of a grocery store, which celebrated two years of operation in January, and the opening of Sterling Bank, now Umpqua Bank, in 2012.

Both have been a draw for keeping residents in the town and bringing more in.

"It's really important for a community to have a solid base of infrastructure. The efforts of everyone in LaCrosse to pitch in with LaCrosse Community Pride to take an old, tired grocery store and convert it to a facility that is now operative is a very dramatic change," McGregor said. "And it has done very well."

The store also doubles as a gathering place and houses the library as well as two businesses.

As for the bank, McGregor said it has become an integral part of the community in a short time.

"It was tough on the town when the bank closed," he said. "It was wonderful when Sterling, now Umpqua, came to town."

The town has had trouble keeping its café open, though.

The café closed in March after the proprietor faced health concerns. The previous café closed in May 2013 when those owners could not handle the work load and wanted to spend more time working on their ranch near Hay, and also closed before that in November 2012 after the prior owners were also faced with health problems.

The café is something LCP, which owns the building, intends to bring back on line.

"We are working on finding a new tenant and hope to have it up and running again by mid-2015," McGregor wrote.

More efforts have also been made in recent months.

McGregor described in the letter to the port that LCP had obtained ownership of property in downtown LaCrosse.

The property includes "lots and the historic rock houses, built during the Great Depression" and comes with plans "to restore and possibly turn the rock house property into a museum to benefit the community and draw people into LaCrosse," McGregor wrote.

Peggy Bryan, a member of LCP, said the plans include creating a museum about the Missoula Ice Age Floods.

"That's what we're working toward," she said.

The funding has not yet been secured for the transformation, though, and Bryan said the houses need some attention before anything can be done. She is looking forward to seeing where this project leads.

"I think it can make a difference for LaCrosse," she said. "It's worth pursuing because we care about our community and want it to succeed."

Efforts to sponsor educational courses for the public in conjuction with a community college are underway, McGregor wrote, noting that the efforts "show great promise."

"We think there's a real opportunity for outreach efforts like that to potentially provide classes that could be of interest to people in the area," McGregor said.

LCP president Jeff Andrews said with their continued efforts they are hoping the town can grow.

"We're just trying to get more people to move into LaCrosse," he said.

The 2010 census put LaCrosse at 313 residents. The most recent estimate, in 2014, put the town at 320, a small growth to some, but huge for the small community that could and did. Prior to the 2010 census, the town had been experiencing population loss. The 2000 census put the town at 380 residents, meaning it had declined by nearly 18 percent by 2010. Census data for LaCrosse dates back to 1930, when the town had 471 residents.

Andrews said the efforts done have been great, and said they need to continue with economic development and bring more businesses in.

"We are really trying to start small," he said.

McGregor is pleased with the work that has been done and knows it could not have been done without the town unifying.

"I'm really proud of that hard work of all the people of the LaCrosse Community Pride board and all the people of the community to show what can be done to help make one of our communities a more special place than ever before," McGregor said.

"It's a dramatic story of everyone pitching in and making it happen. It's been really fun to see what a community of 320 can do."