Copeland



Some hopeful signs of spring upon us, the Cactus League season in Arizona over and our

Milwaukee Brewers a legitimate dark horse contender in the N.L. Central this season...what better way to build a bridge of interest between the dying of the boomtown sawmills and another long time La Crosse institution, baseball, than mention a word about our grandaddy city park.   

Not a lot of information is given concerning the advent of Copeland Park.  We do know, however, that Frederick Allen Copeland was the owner of the La Crosse Lumber Co. – one of the primary sawmills in the boom years of the late 1800's – and one-time mayor of La Crosse 1891-1892.  At the end of the boom, he donated the land along the Black River that would become Copeland Park. 30 years later, in 1936, a wading pool was installed to allow kids to keep cool and have fun in the

summer.  "A year later tennis courts were added.  After a few years of just land, the city decided to install a curb and gutters on the east side of Copeland Park Road (1941).  In  more modern times, baseball fans have come know Copeland as the highlight venue for hosting Stars of Tomorrow little league championships, Legion baseball, and now, appropriately named, the Loggers semi-professional team, bringing to La Crosse a steady stream of

ball players often on the cusp of pro stardom with names like Max Sherzer (2013 Cy Young Award Winner!) and Chris Sale, pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, among many others.

On a summer night, overlooking our river heritage at the Black River, as we watch from the stands of a recently made-over ball park, we might better appreciate the field's nickname "The Lumberyard."