The Pump House Regional Arts Center occupies a former city waterworks building near the riverfront, which already gives it more character than a standard gallery space. Inside, rotating exhibitions and performances focus on La Crosse and the surrounding region rather than trying to be a major museum.
It is worth a look if you are walking between downtown and Riverside Park, especially in poor weather or when an exhibition catches your eye. The building's adaptive reuse also fits La Crosse's wider story as a Mississippi River town reworking its old industrial edges.