Cornell

History

The Cornell area was long visited by Sioux and Chippewa people passing up and down the Chippewa River. The early white settlement was called Brunet Falls, named for Jean Brunet, who opened a trading post in the area in 1843. Brunet was a French-born American who served in the U.S. Army and led the building in 1836 of the first dam and sawmill in the then-wilderness at Chippewa Falls. After that he moved up the river another 30 miles and built a log cabin a mile below what would become Cornell on the west bank of the river. From his log cabin he ran a trading post that initially served Indians, and later grew into a stopping place (inn) for loggers and traders heading upriver. The city was named for Ezra Cornell, one of the founders of Western Union, who owned a very large amount of timber land in the area. Upon his death in 1874, this land became a part of the endowment for the Ivy League university that bears his name. Cornell has the U.S.'s only surviving pulpwood stacker, a huge device built next to the Chippewa River in 1911 to quickly and safely stack large quantities of pulpwood logs for storage until they could be processed in the paper mill nearby. The stacker has been unused since 1971, but is considered a historical treasure.

Geography

Cornell is located at (45.165328, -91.149044). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  417
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  401
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  393
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  390
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  389
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  383
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  353
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  334

Largest nearby schools

• Cornell Elementary
  Elementary · Cornell · 214 students · 13.4:1 ratio
• Holcombe Elementary
  Elementary · Holcombe · 118 students · 10.7:1 ratio
• Cornell High
  High · Cornell · 109 students · 18.2:1 ratio
• Holcombe High
  High · Holcombe · 87 students · 9.7:1 ratio
• Cornell Middle
  Middle · Cornell · 81 students · 20.3:1 ratio