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LA CROSSE, Wis. - The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of Oak Grove Cemetery in La Crosse on the National Register of Historic Places. The cemetery was listed on December 11, 2023.

The cemetery originated in the mid-nineteenth century as a privately owned secular cemetery known as Wautonga Cemetery. The Oak Grove Cemetery Association acquired the grounds in 1872 and created a new design that exemplified the ideals of the Rural Cemetery Movement that had become popular in the United States. These rural cemeteries were typically located at the edges of the cities they served and featured meandering pathways, heavy tree growth, other naturalistic plantings and rolling topography that created scenic vistas.

Among the numerous monuments and memorials installed at Oak Grove Cemetery are those dedicated to Governor C.C. Washburn, long-time benefactor of the cemetery Joseph Losey and area Civil War veterans. The burial grounds include a community mausoleum that was erected in 1912 as well as several small family mausoleums. Oak Grove contains an especially fine and varied collection of smaller-scale burial markers and monuments that are examples of American funerary art and architecture from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 

Additional information for Oak Grove Cemetery is available at:

https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/NationalRegister/NR2783 

To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit: www.wisconsinhistory.org.

About the Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit wisconsinhistory.org.