Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

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Chippewa Falls (Template:IPAc-en) is a city located on the Chippewa River in Chippewa County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 14,731 in the 2020 census.<ref>datacommons.org</ref> Incorporated as a city in 1869, it is the county seat of Chippewa County.<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref> The city's name originated from its location on the Chippewa River, which is named after the Ojibwe. It is a principal city of the Eau Claire–Chippewa Falls metropolitan area.

Chippewa Falls is the birthplace of Seymour Cray, known as the "father of supercomputing", and the headquarters for the original Cray Research. It is also the home of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company, the Heyde Center for the Arts, a showcase venue for artists and performers; Irvine Park, and the annual Northern Wisconsin State Fair. Chippewa Falls is Template:Convert from the annual four-day music festivals Hoofbeat and Rock Fest.

History

For thousands of years the Chippewa River was a water highway through a wilderness of forests and swamps, travelled by Ojibwe people, Lakota and others.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> More recently, Native Americans guided European explorers up the river and around the Falls. Pierre LeSueur "discovered" the Chippewa Spring in 1700 when this area was part of New France.<ref name=Spring>Template:Cite web</ref> Jonathan Carver traveled up the river with his party in 1768 when the area was claimed by Britain.<ref name=Forrester/>Template:Rp

White settlement of the Chippewa Falls area began in 1838, when Lyman Warren and his mostly-Chippewa wife started a farm and blacksmith shop five miles above the Falls. As agreed at the 1825 treaty of Prairie du Chien, Warren was to act as a sub-agent for the U.S. government to the Chippewas. Intertwined with that, Warren's farm served as a trading post for the American Fur Company.<ref name=Forrester>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Chippewa River's watershed held a huge amount of valuable timber — more than the Wisconsin River<ref name=Vogel>Template:Cite journal</ref> - and before railroad and roads, the only way to transport much of it out was down the river, through what would become Chippewa Falls. When the 1837 Treaty of St. Peters opened this part of northern Wisconsin to logging, Jean Brunett led a team up the Chippewa River to build a sawmill at the Falls. With great effort and expense, they managed to build the first mill there. It survived until June 1846, when a storm flooded the river and destroyed most of the millworks. The mill was rebuilt quickly and sawing resumed.<ref name=Forrester/>Template:Rp The company's logging crews cut trees on their lands upstream in winter and drove logs down to the sawmill at The Falls each spring and summer, then other crews floated rafts of sawed lumber downstream to markets as far as St. Louis.<ref name=Rosholt/>Template:Rp

A settlement grew around the sawmill at the Falls, and in 1854 Chippewa Falls was chosen to be the seat of Chippewa County. A school, a post office, a mercantile store, the first churches, and the first newspaper had all opened by 1857. The city incorporated in 1869 with about 2,500 people. In the 1870s boardwalks were added along Bridge Street, gas streetlights were installed, and a telephone line was run up from Eau Claire.<ref name=nrhp_nom>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Rp

Railroads also arrived in the 1870s. In 1870, the West Wisconsin Railway had built a line from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Milwaukee, running ten miles to the south through Eau Claire. In 1875 the Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls Railway connected that line from Eau Claire to Chippewa Falls. In 1880, the CF&W was joined by the Wisconsin and Minnesota Railway pushing its way west from Abbotsford. This was followed in 1881 by the Chippewa Falls & Northern Railroad, which built a line north from Chippewa Falls to Bloomer, eventually extending it to Superior.

Lumber-making had its ups and downs. Chippewa Falls was dominated by one big sawmill owned by one big lumber company, unlike Eau Claire, which had many. As mentioned above, Chippewa's first functioning mill was swept away by a flood of the river in 1846 or 1847. With that, the company was reorganized as the Chippewa Falls Lumber Company and rebuilt its mill in 1848, modernizing it to include two circular saws. In 1855 another flood took out part of the sawmill and millions of board feet of sawed lumber. The mill struggled financially through the Panic of 1857 and changed owners repeatedly. In 1869 it was reorganized as the Union Lumbering Company, which brought in new investors and expanded the mill. That company went bankrupt in 1875, failed again in 1877, and shut down the following year. In 1879 it was reorganized again as Chippewa Lumber & Boom Company. In 1881 the mill and its timber lands were bought by Frederick Weyerhaeuser's Mississippi River Logging Company. In 1886 the mill was struck by lightning and burned, then was rebuilt again.<ref name=Rosholt>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp By the 1880s the Chippewa valley held the best remaining stand of white pine left in the Midwest. The company employed 400 people and the mill at Chippewa was said to be "the largest sawmill under one roof in the world."<ref name=nrhp_nom/> The sawmill continued operation until 1911, when the company had exhausted most of its timber holdings.<ref name=Rosholt/>Template:Rp

File:2009-0620-ChippewaFalls-Spring.jpg
The original Spring House.

The Chippewa Spring gained renewed attention in 1887 when politician Thaddeus C. Pound founded the Chippewa Springs Health Club, and at one point oversaw the company that bottled the spring water for sale. A Spring House was built over the original spring in 1893. It remains today, across from the modern water bottling plant on Park Ave.<ref name=Spring/>

Other industries started in the 1880s and 1890s: flour mills, a brewery, a woolen mill, cigar factories, a shoe factory, and a broom factory. By 1902 it had become clear that the pineries were not as inexhaustible as many had thought, and a group of business leaders began to promote more diverse industries. They succeeded in starting more shoe factories, a sugar beet factory, and a glove factory. The big sawmill closed in 1911, but the other industries kept the community going. By 1920 the city had fifty manufacturers who employed 3,000 workers.<ref name=nrhp_nom/>Template:Rp

Geography

Chippewa Falls is located along the north bank of the Chippewa River approximately three miles west of Lake Wissota.<ref>Wisconsin Atlas & Gazetteer, DeLorme, 15th ed., 2020, p. 54-5 Template:Isbn</ref>

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert is water.<ref name="gaz2020">Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Wide image

Climate

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Demographics

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2020 census

As of the census of 2020,<ref name="2020-census-5514575">Template:Cite web</ref> the population was 14,731. The population density was Template:Convert. There were 6,772 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert. The racial makeup of the city was 90.1% White, 1.9% Black or African American, 1.3% Asian, 0.7% Native American, 0.7% from other races, and 5.2% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 2.5% Hispanic or Latino of any race.

2010 census

As of the census<ref name ="wwwcensusgov">Template:Cite web</ref> of 2010, there were 13,661 people, 5,896 households, and 3,275 families living in the city. The population density was Template:Convert. There were 6,304 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert. The racial makeup of the city was 95.1% White, 1.7% African American, 0.7% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.6% of the population.

There were 5,896 households, of which 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.7% were married couples living together, 13.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 44.5% were non-families. 37.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.86.

The median age in the city was 38 years. 22.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.1% were from 25 to 44; 24.6% were from 45 to 64; and 16.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 50.7% male and 49.3% female.

2000 census

At the 2000 census,<ref name="GR2" /> there were 12,925 people, 5,638 households and 3,247 families living in the city. The population density was 1,191.2 per square mile (459.9/km2). There were 5,905 housing units at an average density of 544.2 per square mile (210.1/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 97.62% White, 0.30% African American, 0.46% Native American, 0.67% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.16% from other races, and 0.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.63% of the population.

There were 5,638 households, of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.4% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.4% were non-families. 36.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.89.

Age distribution was 24.2% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 17.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.2 males.

The median household income was $32,744, and the median family income was $43,519. Males had a median income of $32,016 versus $22,655 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,366. About 8.7% of families and 10.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.5% of those under age 18 and 5.8% of those age 65 or over. Template:Clear

Government

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Presidential elections results<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Year Republican Democratic Third parties
style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|2020 style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Republican|48.1% 3,495 style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|48.9% 3,553 3.0% 218
style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|2016 style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Republican|46.6% 2,979 style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|45.9% 2,934 7.5% 479
style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|2012 style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Republican|42.5% 2,665 style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|56.3% 3,530 1.2% 116

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Economy

File:Chippewa Falls 2006 A.jpg
Renovated Chippewa Shoe Factory facing the Chippewa River in Chippewa Falls
File:Small intermodal terminal in Chippewa Falls on the Canadian National line.jpg
Small intermodal terminal in Chippewa Falls on the Canadian National line

As of 2011, the largest employers in the city were:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1 TTM Advanced Circuits
2 Chippewa Falls Public Schools
3 Saint Joseph's Hospital
4 Wal-Mart
5 Mason Companies Inc
6 Chippewa County
7 Silicon Graphics International
8 Cooperative Educational Service Agency #10
9 Cray Inc
10 Wissota Healthcare Regional Vent CT

Infrastructure

Chippewa Falls is situated along U.S. Highway 53, Wisconsin Highways 124 and 178, and Bus. WIS 29. Other routes include Wisconsin Highway 29; and County Highways J, Q, S, and X.

Education

File:2009-0620-ChippewaFalls-Heyde.jpg
The original McDonell High School is now a public arts center.

The Chippewa Falls Area School District (CFSD) serves the city of Chippewa Falls. It has two high schools: Chippewa Falls Senior High and Chippewa Falls Alternate High School; two middle schools: Chippewa Falls Middle School, and Chippewa Falls Alternate Middle School; and six elementary schools: Parkview, Hillcrest, Southview, Stillson, Halmstad, and Jim Falls Elementary.

In addition there are several parochial schools: McDonell Central Catholic High School, Notre Dame Middle School, Holy Ghost, St. Charles, and St. Peter Elementary Schools, all of which are part of the McDonell Area Catholic Schools (MACS).

The original McDonell High School building, constructed at a prominent location above downtown Chippewa Falls, is listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places. The structure was built in 1907. After the high school was relocated to a new building in a more suburban location, this structure was vacant for several years. It was taken over by the Chippewa Valley Cultural Association and converted into the Heyde Center for the Arts in 2000.

Notable people

Politicians

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Other

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  • Andrew S. Cray, LGBT Rights Activist
  • Seymour Cray (1925–1996), electrical engineer and supercomputer architect who founded Cray Research
  • Judy Henske, singer and songwriter, "Queen of the Beatniks"; songs about Chippewa roots include "The Ballad of Seymour Cray"
  • William F. Kirk (1877–1927), nationally syndicated columnist, poet, songwriter, humorist and baseball writer
  • Howard "Guitar" Luedtke, blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and musician who tours with his band, Howard "Guitar" Luedtke & Blue Max
  • Eddy Waller (1889–1977), actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1929 and 1963
  • Wayne A. Grudem (born 1948), New Testament scholar, theologian, seminary professor, and author.

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Important structures

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Notes

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