Home to Pettibone Beach House, Pettibone Beach, Pettibone Rentals and three Fishing Platforms. 

Pettibone Park is a large park covering 230 acres, with a beach on the Mississippi River and a disc golf course. It also has the distinction of being the park which led to the creation of a parks system in the City of La Crosse.

Pettibone Park was originally called Barron’s Island and located in the state of Minnesota. Alonzo Barron filed plans to develop an Island City there in 1857, which never happened. The land was partially acquired by Mayor Frank Powell and Buffalo Bill Cody before being purchased by Albert Wells Pettibone in 1901. Mr. Pettibone promptly deeded the land to the Pettibone Park Commission for use as a public park by the citizens of La Crosse, even though it remained in Minnesota until 1918, when an act of Congress transferred the island to the state of Wisconsin, and it could be annexed by the City in 1919. A.W. Pettibone was a leading lumber merchant who was elected mayor of La Crosse in 1862,1863, and 1864. He spent $80,000 on improvements to the Park, including dredging and filling in the marshy land. The City of La Crosse established two park districts and a Board of Park Commissioners on May 15, 1908, largely through A.W. Pettibone’s example.

In 1902 a beautiful gazebo was constructed of native Minnesota sandstone and is still enjoyed by visitors today. A bathhouse was constructed in 1903 and was replaced in 1926 with a bathhouse designed by Otto Merman in the Mediterranean Eclectic Revival style. This building is still standing and was renovated in 2001.  In 1930 the Lagoon Shelter was constructed, and in 1931 the Lagoon Bridge was built.

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