LaCrosse downtown. 2015.
Downtown LaCrosse, 2015.
LaCrosse is an town in Whitman County, Washington. The population was 313 at the 2010 census. LaCrosse has several spellings including; La Crosse, LaCrosse, and Lacrosse.
History[]
In 1888, the O.R. & N Railroad finished a line between Riparia and LaCross. George Dawson and his wife built a shack constructed using leftover railroad ties.
The town of “LaCrosse”, Washington had its first post office name changed to “Dunlor,” the name coming from the first three letters of “Dunphy” (an engineer on the railroad) and the last three from “Taylor”, the first postmaster. This was not a popular choice name. A copy of the official petition to adopt the name of “Dunlor” is dated August 14, 1889, and signed by Mr. Taylor. “LaCrosse” is marked out and “Dunlor” is written in. The application also showed the town population as 12 and a service area of 25 families. By 1896, Washington DC responded back on the application and had the name as LaCrosse.
LaCrosse downtown in the 1920s.
William H. Hite, who followed Taylor as the train station agent, decided to separate the post office from the railroad, so he moved the post office across the tracks to a small building.
In 1899 Tom Shobe put a general stock of goods in the Hite building, thus starting the first real store in the village. Shobe later moved both store and post office to the west corner of Second and Main streets. Later William Rudolph moved the post office down the street to the south.
There was a fire in 1911 and bigger fire in 1914 that almost consumed the town, but it was spared. The town's population has never reached over 600 citizens.
LaCrosse was incorporated on February 19, 1917.
Geography[]
La Crosse is located at 46°48′51″N 117°52′48″W (46.814289, -117.880097).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.78 square miles, all of it land.
Climate[]
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, La Crosse has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.
La Crosse is mild during summer when temperatures tend to average in the 60's and 70's and very cold during winter averages when temperatures tend to be in the 30's.
The warmest month of the year is July with an average maximum temperature of 88.00 degrees Fahrenheit, while the coldest month of the year is January with an average minimum temperature of 24.20 degrees Fahrenheit.
Temperature variations between night and day tend to be relatively big during summer with a difference that can reach 36 degrees Fahrenheit, and fairly limited during winter with an average difference of 15 degrees Fahrenheit.
The annual average precipitation at La Crosse is 14.82 Inches. Rainfall in is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. The wettest month of the year is December with an average rainfall of 2.20 Inches.