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Photograph of Westby Coon-Prairie Lutheran Church
Photograph by Westby Coon-Prairie Lutheran Church, CC BY 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Norwegian Evangelic Lutheran Church and Cemetery

Built in 1909 (Gothic Revival). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

From the record

“Westby Coon-Prairie Lutheran Church is an ELCA Lutheran church located in Westby, Wisconsin and is part of the La Crosse Area Synod. It is currently served by Pastor Alyssa Weaver.”

Wikipedia article Westby Coon-Prairie Lutheran Church, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 12 National Register listings published here for Vernon County · listed in 1986 · category: Building · built in 1909, Gothic Revival, by Parkinson & Dockendorff.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • Address. Coon Prairie and E. Coon Prairie Rds., Westby, 54667
  • When was it listed? July 1986
  • Category. building
  • Town. Viroqua town
  • When was it built? 1909
  • Architectural style. Gothic Revival
  • Architect. Parkinson & Dockendorff
  • National Register reference number. 86001719 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

5 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Norwegian Evangelic Lutheran Church and Cemetery between 2018 and 2020, burning about 25 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Arson/incendiarism1
Debris and open burning1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
24 July 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources411
9 May 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources537
28 April 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined20 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources18054
20 April 2019Arson/incendiarism5.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources1900012
7 October 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources20162

Every fire recorded in Vernon County

Mines and quarries near this property

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Norwegian Evangelic Lutheran Church and Cemetery: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Clockmaker QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Rumdee QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Vernon County

Storms near this property

30 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Westby, the town this property stands in, in 30 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 17 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 3 funnel cloud, 1 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 1998Thunderstorm WindWestby$60,000Roof blown off bowling alley
June 1998HailWestby$30,000no account filed
June 1996Thunderstorm WindWestby$30,000no account filed
May 1995Thunderstorm WindWestby$30,000no account filed
June 1998HailWestby$15,000no account filed
September 2007Thunderstorm WindWestby$10,000Trees and powers line down.
June 2000Thunderstorm WindWestby$5,000no account filed
June 2013Thunderstorm WindWestby$3,000Trees and power lines were blown down in Westby.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindWestby$2,000An NWS Storm Survey estimated 80 mph wind gusts near Westby with extensive damage that included many snapped maple trees.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindWestby$2,000Volunteer observers reported multiple downed power lines with widespread power outages.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindWestby$2,000Trees were blown down across U.S. Highway 14/61 in Westby.
August 2011LightningWestby$2,000Lightning from an early morning thundestorm struck a house in Westby causing the brick chimney to explode.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindWestby$1,000Trees were blown down on West Smith Road south of Westby.
April 1997Thunderstorm WindWestby$1,000no account filed
July 2003Thunderstorm WindWestby$750no account filed
June 2001Thunderstorm WindWestby$350no account filed
July 2025Thunderstorm WindWestby-The public reported a downed tree limb near Westby.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindWestby-Law enforcement reported trees down near Westby.
May 2022HailWestby-Quarter sized hail was reported in Westby.
April 2015HailWestby-Quarter sized hail fell just south of Westby.
April 2015HailWestby-Quarter to half dollar sized hail fell in Westby.
April 2014HailWestby-Half dollar sized hail was reported in Westby.
June 2014FloodWestby-Street flooding from heavy rains occurred in Westby.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindWestby-Amateur radio operators estimated a wind gust of sixty miles per hour one mile south of Westby.
May 2008HailWestby-no account filed
September 2007HailWestby-no account filed
May 2005Funnel CloudWestby-no account filed
June 1998Funnel CloudWestby-no account filed
July 1997Funnel CloudWestby-no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindWestby-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Vernon County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Bert and Mary Cunningham Round Barn4.9 miles2014
Bekkedal Leaf Tobacco Warehouse5.1 miles2003
Viroqua Downtown Historic District5.3 miles2003
Masonic Temple Building5.4 miles2000
Vernon County Courthouse5.5 miles1980
Vernon County Normal School5.6 miles2011

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 86001719 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Vernon CountyAll 12 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.