VIROQUA Wis. – The Viroqua Historic Preservation Commission announced today that they have received a $60,000 pledge from the James P. Bigley Foundation towards the Viroqua Welcome Center Project. This project will renovate Viroqua’s historic WPA Bathhouse Building into a center that will serve the community and visitors alike. Only $79,000 more is needed to meet the $242,000 match for the grant that will allow the project to move forward.
“The trustees all felt that if Mr Bigley would still be alive he would still be in favor of this project.” said Richard Endicott with the James P. Bigley Foundation.
James P. “Phil” Bigley a local banker and phone company president who died in 2001, was a driving force and major donor behind the indoor Bigely Pool attached to the Viroqua High School.
Bigely had been deeply affected by the drowning of two Viroqua brothers in 1983. He began making donations to a pool fund administered by the school district. Eventually, $1.6 million was raised, mainly through Bigley donations, but the community twice turned down referendums for the additional $1.5 million needed to build the pool.
After Bigley’s death, his estate donated the additional $1.5 million to the district. Then, when it was found during planning that another $185,000 would be needed, the estate again came through with the money.
Key aspects of the Welcome Center project include: visitor and community information center, meeting and community gathering space, public restrooms, and trail head for outdoor recreation opportunities.
As the project continues to gain momentum, the Viroqua Historic Preservation Commission remains dedicated to engage with the community and seeks additional support from individuals, businesses, and organizations. With the James P. Bigley Foundation’s pledge, and ongoing contributions from the community, the vision for the Viroqua Welcome Center is closer than ever to becoming a reality.
The bathhouse building is an historic landmark that was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) under Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s. The Bathhouse served as the entry to Viroqua’s outdoor pool until about 2004 when the city closed the pool because the pool needed too many repairs. The city did look at options to rebuild an outdoor pool at the site a couple of times, with the last attempt in 2013 when they hired a pool company to do an assessment, and that assessment showed it would cost about $2.4 million to replace the pool. The city declined moving forward with that project
The building has been vacant since the pool closed and had fallen into disrepair. The roof was removed at one point because it had developed leaks and was at risk of collapsing.
According to the Welcome Center Website:
In the fall of 2022, the City Council of Viroqua gave the Viroqua Historic Preservation Commission (VHPC) permission to research possibilities for the city’s bathhouse building, a historic landmark. The VHPC hired Marc Zettler, a preservation architect, to inspect the building and write an evaluation. His evaluation stated, “After analyzing the building on site, it is my professional opinion that this building is in a condition that warrants rehabilitation rather than removal. The walls are structurally robust and, if maintained, can last for many more decades, possibly centuries. It would be a significant waste of embodied energy to remove the structure.”
Also in the fall of 2022, Aaron Van Loo, a student in Architectural Technology at Western Technical College, contacted the VHPC and made his capstone project, a plan for renovation of the WPA bathhouse building, available to the commission. Aaron’s project design, complete with floorplan and computer images, calls for renovation of the historic bathhouse into a four-season building.
The VHPC presented Marc Zettler’s evaluation and Aaron Van Loo presented his project design to the Viroqua City Council on Tuesday, November 22, 2022. The VHPC also laid out a way to pay for the renovation using a Community Development Investment (CDI) Grant funded by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). The Viroqua City Council gave the VHPC permission to apply for the CDI Grant, which is a one-to-one matching grant of up to $250,000. The city allocated $238,000 for the project, $200,000 in funding from Tax Incremental Finance District (TID) number six, and $38,500 previously budgeted for the bathhouse to help meet the grant’s matching funds requirement.
The Viroqua Historic Preservation Commission (VHPC), with the approval of the City, then created a WPA Building Task Force to address the planning and fundraising needed to apply for the CDI Grant.
The members of the project task force are:
Aaron Aslin- Fundraising and Communication Manager
Christina Dolhausen – Vernon County Economic Development
and Tourism Coordinator
Jean Driscoll – community advocate
Cyndy Hubbard – Sixth Ward Viroqua Alderperson, Park & Rec Committee member, VHPC member
Karen Innis – realtor, VHPC member
Ariana Langdon – community advocate
Randy Skinner –VHPC member, community advocate
Steve Willis – Ninth Ward Viroqua Alderperson, Park & Rec Committee member
Sue Noble – unofficial advisor to the group
Christina Dollhausen and Karen Innis conducted surveys of community members to determine how the building could best serve the community. The results were that there was a need for accessible public restrooms, a visitor and community information center, and a space that could accommodate small public or private events.
Mike Adler of River Architects of La Crosse was asked to visit the site and develop plans and a cost estimate. Mike also created the computer images that are on the website. Aaron Parker, an architect and member of the task force, made some additions to Mike’s floorplan.
For more information about the Viroqua Welcome Center project or to make a contribution, please visitwww.viroquabathhousewelcomecenter.org or email info@viroquawelcomecenter.org.
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