La Crosse’s Riverside Park is best known for its outdoor music, Riverside International Friendship Gardens and La Crosse Queen Paddlewheel Cruises. At one point in time, the building at the end of E Veterans Memorial Drive would have been one of the park’s main attractions as well.
In 1925, a fish hatchery and aquarium with every kind of river fish on display was opened at 410 E Veterans Memorial Drive in Riverside Park. After undergoing a series of changes, the old fish hatchery morphed into a museum during the 1980’s and ‘90’s. The museum was closed for good on December 31, 2019.
Landing on the National Register of Historic Places in Sept. 1981, the building is now The Hatchery. Open since late 2023, the business is a cocktail lounge, boutique hotel, event venue and more.
Local residents Marty Walleser and Tiffany Smith are co-owners of The Hatchery.
“Some people call The Hatchery ‘La Crosse’s living room.’ [We’re] kind of just that catchall for all spaces,” said Walleser.
“Whether it’s people visiting town in our hotel rooms, or weddings, celebrations of life, birthday parties, retirement parties, kind of that multi-purpose space for everybody.”
“We are so grateful…we have a lot of parents [of students] from UWL and Viterbo that stay with us,” said Smith. “It’s always great to have the vibrancy of connecting the different generations…and watching all different age groups interact and enjoy our space.”
Walleser had reached out to Smith and suggested they take a look at the building, which at that point had been unused for a few years. Smith said they fell in love with the property immediately.
Smith explained that she and Walleser gravitated toward the building’s location and its historical renovation.
“It was the actual building and renovating the building [that drew us here]…and then it bloomed into something even more beautiful than we could have imagined,” said Smith.
Marty Walleser is from La Crosse and has a background in property management. Tiffany Smith is from Westby and had previously worked at Viterbo in its College of Business while being involved in real estate development on the side.
“We love to travel and thought, ‘Oh my gosh, we can bring all of our favorite things from other cities into the city that we love,’” said Smith.
A notable part of The Hatchery is their cocktail lounge, where they serve elevated drinks and have a rotating menu. This year, they will be adding a rooftop bar on the building behind the main Hatchery building.
“We’re in a park, and when we travel, we love seeing parks that are vibrant and thriving,” said Smith. “Riverside is already the crown jewel, so for us to have the opportunity to enhance it even more, that’s what really drew us in.”
Their main draw is their boutique hotel. Walleser and Smith explained that when restoring the historic building, they chose to pursue top-of-the-line amenities.
“We have heated tile floors that were hand-carved from Italy, we have steam showers…a high-end space and experience within the historic building,” said Smith. “Even people from around here like to come and check it out, which we love.”
One feature of their experience is the unique rooms. Smith and Walleser commissioned an artist from France to do the rooms at The Hatchery. For the six rooms, the artist wrote a small narrative about that room’s character.
In the rooms, there are pieces of art that depict the character that is inspired by the room name, and each piece has a description that talks about that character. With names such as The Eugene, The Rodolphe, and The Tassi, each room was intentionally crafted to bring character to the experience of staying at The Hatchery.
“The biggest thing at The Hatchery, no matter what we do…everything is experience based. It’s not just the cocktails, it’s the experience; it’s not just a hotel room,” said Walleser. “Our basis to our entire business model is experiential.”
While Walleser and Smith have only been open for a little over a year, they both felt they have already been rewarded by the community’s embrace.
“People come in here and their shining faces when they come in…everyone’s like, ‘I’m having friends come to town and I have to take them to The Hatchery now,’” said Walleser. “People are proud of The Hatchery. It makes us feel really good that people love our space as much as we do.”
The Hatchery is located at 410 E Veterans Memorial Drive in Riverside Park. They offer live music and wine tastings that are open to the public, in addition to their event space, hotel and cocktail lounge. Their hours are posted weekly on their Facebook page, and you can learn more about their rooms and reservations on their website.
