La Crosse Plow Co. Sales Models

Michelle Kelly

Catalog Numbers: 2014.fic.419 & 420

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Catalog Numbers:The artifacts in the accompanying photos are sales models of two La Crosse Plow Co. plows.

The one in the bottom image is the Ryder Sulky Plow. It stands not quite 8 inches high and is 9 inches long. The writing on the plow indicates the patent for that plow was from Nov. 16, 1880.

Sulky plows were meant to be ridden while being pulled by a mule or a horse.

Most were made from a combination of wood and metal pieces, but because Albert Hirshheimer was a master blacksmith, most of his plows were completely made of metal.

The upper image is also a sulky plow, built entirely of metal; this model is only 5 inches high. A bit more ornate, with gold design and lettering, the second model was made circa 1895.

Born in Wurttemberg, Germany, Hirshheimer immigrated with his family in the 1850s. The family settled in Pennsylvania for several years before moving to La Crosse in 1856.

Hirshheimer soon began a blacksmithing apprenticeship with Barclay & Bantam, a shop in the area that specialized in plows. By 1865, he was considered a master blacksmith and Barclay & Bantam made him a partner in the shop.

Throughout the 1870s, Hirshheimer worked at buying Barclay & Bantam out of their shares of the business. He succeeded in 1881, when he incorporated the company as the La Crosse Plow Co.

Initially the La Crosse Plow Co. was only producing versions of sulky plows, like most other manufacturers.

But in 1911, Hirshheimer expanded his business. He helped incorporate the Sta-Rite Engine Co., an engine manufacturer, and instigated a merger with the Happy Farmer Tractor Co. — bringing tractor manufacturing to La Crosse in 1916. This marked the end of sulky plows and the start of engine-powered tractors in La Crosse.

Albert Hirshheimer’s son, Harry, took over his father’s business after Albert died in 1924. However, by the time of his father’s death the company was struggling. Son Harry Hirshheimer tried to hold on, but in 1929 the company was sold to Allis-Chalmers, a large manufacturing company.

Allis-Chalmers renamed its new location the La Crosse Works, and it was open for decades. In 1969, the plant was down to 400 employees from a postwar high of 1,593, and when the workers went on strike, the company closed the plant.

After the shutdown, the buildings were vacant for many years.

The G. Heileman Brewing Co. purchased the largest tract of what used to be the La Crosse Plow Co. in 1970, and Machine Products, a Heileman business, used the location until 1994. Now, the historic buildings are being developed for mixed residential and commercial use.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on October 29, 2018.

This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.

Ole Tollefson's Violin Patterns

Amy Vach

Catalog Numbers: 2013.029.01-2013.029.14

More than a century ago, La Crosse was home to a violin-maker, Ole Tollefson.

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Tollefson was born in Norway in 1853. At the age of 3, he sailed with his parents to the U.S. The family settled in Detroit, later in Lansing, Iowa, and finally in La Crosse.

For a brief time, Tollefson worked at a grocery store before starting his music career at the Bergh Piano Co. in the violin department. In 1924, he left Bergh and opened his own music store at Fifth and Jay streets making and repairing violins.

In 1927, Tollefson described his life’s work in the La Crosse Tribune: “The violin is a peculiar instrument, and once you become infatuated with its mysteries, you never lose interest.” All of the new instruments sold in Tollefson’s shop were handmade by him.

The patterns pictured were made and used by Tollefson to create his one-of-a-kind violins. These forms were donated to the La Crosse County Historical Society in 2013 by Dan Brodrick, who is himself a luthier -- one who makes or repairs stringed instruments. The items donated include various wooden and wrought-iron forms used to create violins. 

To create his violins, Tollefson used spruce and Pernambuco wood that was guaranteed by his supplier, Rushford and Draper of Liverpool, to be at least 200 years old. That was re-purposed from the masts of old shipwrecks.

The January 1920 edition of The Violinist, a magazine published in Chicago, features violin-makers and shops across the country. In the magazine, Tollefson is described as an American citizen and a dealer who sells all grades of violins, new and old. He is also listed as making violins, cellos, violas, bows and wound strings.

Tollefson died in 1938, and his obituary noted that he was the only recognized violin-maker in western Wisconsin upon his retirement in 1936, and that he was rated among the leading violin-makers in the world.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on October 20, 2018.

This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.

Josephine Hintgen's Jacket

La Crosse County Historical Society

Emily Patwell

Catalog Number: 1981.042.01

This week’s thing that matters is a green and gold silk brocade evening jacket from the 1920s.

Its motifs of cherries and leaves is woven with metallic threads, making it even more elegant and dressy.

Its owner, Josephine Hintgen, would have worn it over her evening clothes to special occasions, or perhaps to meetings with the Vocational Guidance Association, National Guidance Association, or the Board of the La Crosse Child Guidance Clinic, all of which she belonged to.

Few have done more to advance the educational system of La Crosse than Hintgen, a pioneer of the local guidance system.

Hintgen staunchly believed that students could achieve more with a counselor to guide them, that each student had unique strengths and passions, and that every student deserved to achieve full academic potential, no matter how bleak the situation. With these beliefs, she helped forge the guidance system into what it is today.

Born in La Crosse in 1892, Hintgen was a well-educated woman.

In addition to attending La Crosse High School and La Crosse State Teachers College, she sought further education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Harvard University, and several other higher education institutions including Stanford, Oxford and Wellesley.

Early in her career, she taught middle and high school. However, after taking a course at UW-Madison, Hintgen gained an interest in guidance work. She took her first guidance position as an attendance and vocational guidance supervisor for the School District of La Crosse circa 1920 — about the same time she would have acquired this jacket.

During the early 1920s, the school system struggled with students who were repeatedly truant or tardy, were dropouts or who needed to repeat grades.

There was a growing movement in the district that expressed the belief that schools needed to “teach children, not school,” and Hintgen was a firm supporter of this movement.

She was among the first in the guidance program to take a keen interest in the varied capacities, strengths, experiences and home situations of the students in her guidance program. She also addressed the inadequacies of the existing guidance system by bringing awareness to teachers, guidance counselors and concerned parents.

Hintgen’s many contributions to the La Crosse school system, which included exploratory and occupational preparatory courses, achievement testing and the Stay in School program, resonate with today’s guidance system.

She would continue to champion improvements to guidance systems throughout her career, even acting as a guest lecturer at UW-Madison. Eventually, Hintgen became the director of guidance and later assistant superintendent of the school district.

She was so beloved that a local elementary school, Hintgen Elementary, was named in her honor. Though she died Feb. 14, 1981, her legacy lives.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on October 13, 2018.

This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.