Hometown Icon: Tobacco Pool Warehouse

 

(LaCrosse Tribune) A decorative building in Viroqua is a symbol of days gone by and a reminder of what was once the cash crop of Vernon County - tobacco.
The Northern Wisconsin Co-op Tobacco Pool Warehouse, also called the Bekkedal Leaf Tobacco Warehouse, on East Decker Street is now privately owned, but the front is emblazoned with the name of what it was built for in 1906. Martin Bekkedal was a Norwegian who immigrated in the 1880’s and became a dominant force in the tobacco leaf wholesaler business in the region by 1900. Continued