A century ago, the charming Charmant Hotel was a bustling chocolate factory in La Crosse

The Charmant Hotel at State and Front streets in La Crosse is a honey of a hostelry. 

Which is fitting, since the building was a candy factory in a former life. The brick structure, which sits beside Riverside Park and has views of the Mighty Mississippi, was built by Joseph B. Funke in 1898 to produce luxury chocolates. It operated until 1933. 

Guests checking into the 67-room boutique hotel are offered complimentary chocolate treats made at the Sweet Shop in La Crosse. 

The Funke edifice was one of three candy factories in the city a century ago, according to the La Crosse Historical Society. But it was the fanciest, sometimes selling its chocolates in elaborate carved, wood-burned boxes. The hotel took its name from the most expensive line of confectionaries made in the factory. They were known as Charmant (which means charming in French) Chocolates. 

At its peak, the facility had more than 250 workers, most of them women who hand-dipped, assembled and packed the candies for regional and even national distribution. In 1926, the factory produced 175 tons of packaged candies,150 tons of bulk chocolate and 8 million candy bars, according to historical society records. 

After the factory closed during the height of the Great Depression, it sat empty until 1962 when the Ross Furniture Co. purchased it. Fifty years later — with the threat of destruction hanging over it — La Crosse businessman Don Weber bought the building, restored it and opened the luxury hotel in 2015.

Weber and the architects he hired did their best to replicate the early look and feel of the 109-year-old building, down to the replicas of pulleys and baskets attached to the hotel's restaurant's ceiling. The original devices were used to transport buckets of molasses and chocolate, said hotel spokeswoman Stacey Erickson. 

“Initially, Don Weber wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with the structure, so he did some extensive market research,” she said. “At the end, he decided an innovative thing would be to turn it into a boutique hotel and fill an unmet niche in La Crosse. It’s been well received by both locals and visitors.”

She said the building had been modified over the decades, but Weber’s team reconstructed the pyramid-style brick trim on the top of the building, the Juliet balconies on the structure’s south side and replaced a water tower that had once graced the roof. He also added a rooftop terrace that is popular in the summer. 

But when it came to sanding off the spilled molasses and chocolate stains on the wooden upper floors, where the candies were produced, he had second thoughts and ultimately left the discolorations, she said.

“Those stains are part of the building’s character and history,” she said. “If you look back at some of the photos from the early 1900s, you can see that the architects took their mission to heart. They even put the date 1898 and the word Funke back on the peak at the top of the river-facing, west side of the building.”

The hotel also has several cases of factory memorabilia from the Funke family, including little tins and a box from the fancy Charmant line. There are also photos of young women working on chocolates and oversize enlargements of actual receipts from 100 years ago.

One of them graces the back wall of the Parlor, a small cafe on the first floor. It has big, arched windows in a space that was designed for deliveries by horse-drawn wagons. 

Because the bar and the restaurant are on the first floor, Erickson said the architects wanted the entry to have an open feel, rather than the look of a traditional hotel. 

“They wanted it to be a locals’ gathering space, so that people from La Crosse and the surrounding area would feel welcome, not like they had to be staying here to use the restaurant and bar,” she said. 

The registration desk, to the east of the bar counter, is where the Sweet Shop candies are displayed. There are also Indulgence Chocolates from Milwaukee for sale, she noted. 

The restaurant focuses on local products when available, and one of the staples is a Midwest rib-eye steak, she said. When I dined there, I had a mouth-watering trout served with arugula and mushrooms and finished with brown butter and lemon. My guest had cod in what she said was a delectable, coconut ginger and lemon grass sauce.

Our room was on the fourth floor in an addition on the east side of the building that was added in 1908. It has bricks that are a slightly different color than the rest of the hotel. 

Though Erickson said she knows of no former factory employees who have stopped by to check out the hotel (they’d be 100 if they were 16 when they worked there in 1933), she said members of the Funke family have visited to praise the restoration effort and donate memorabilia. 

“We’re glad that they appreciate what’s been done,” she said.  

More information: Winter rates at The Charmant start at $129 a night. In the peak summer months, the cost can be $250. The hotel also added large, roof-top suites that range in price from $250 to $500 a night, depending on the day and the season. 

For more, call (608) 519-8800 or see thecharmanthotel.com.

Getting there: The Charmant Hotel, 101 State St., La Crosse, is 200 miles northwest of Milwaukee via Interstates 94 and 90.

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