Eagle River

History

Eagle River was the site of the first permanent Native American settlement in the Wisconsin Northwoods, located on the shores of Watersmeet Lake where the Wisconsin River and Chain O' Lakes meet. These early Natives, who were called Old Copper Indians, were succeeded by the Woodland Indians from 2,600 B.C. to 800 A.D. These Natives were probably the ancestors of the Chippewa, Potawatomi, and Menominee. The first recorded white settler in what became Vilas County was a man named Ashman who established a trading post in Lac du Flambeau in 1818. Eagle River's name was derived from the abundance of eagles nesting along the river. It is believed that Bethuel Draper and "Dutch Pete" Cramer camped in the area in 1853 and were responsible for naming the community. A settlement grew as other families settled in the area in 1857. The town of Eagle River was created by an act of the state legislature in 1885. Vilas County was set off from Oneida County on April 12, 1893, and named for William Freeman Vilas, a migrant from Vermont. Vilas had served for Wisconsin in the United States Senate from 1891 to 1897. In the 1850s migrants from New England, primarily from Vermont and Connecticut, constructed a number of wagon roads and trails through Vilas County including the Ontonogan Mail Trail and a Military Road from Fort Howard to Fort Wilkins in Copper Harbor, Michigan.

Geography

Eagle River is located in southeastern Vilas County at (45.919902, -89.250210), along the Eagle River, which is part of a popular chain of lakes. The Eagle River/Three Lakes Chain of Lakes is made up of 28 lakes, which is the largest number of inland interconnecting lakes in the world. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Eagle River has a cool humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb), with long, very cold winters and short, warm summers. Annually the temperature drops below 32 °F (0 °C) on 190 days, and below 0 °F (-17.8 °C) on 39 days. The comfortable summers result in only one day per year on average with temperatures exceeding 90 °F (32.2 °C).

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3,805
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,197
• Red-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta canadensis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  2,586
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  2,363
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  2,024
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,768
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,712
• White-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta carolinensis Latham, 1790 · Aves
  1,652

Largest nearby schools

• Northland Pines Elementary-Eagle River
  Elementary · Eagle River · 498 students · 12.1:1 ratio
• Northland Pines High
  High · Eagle River · 417 students · 13.9:1 ratio
• Northland Pines Middle
  Middle · Eagle River · 182 students · 15.2:1 ratio
• School of Options & Applied Research High
  High · Eagle River · 32 students · 8:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2024-01-07
  3 km NE of Mole Lake, Wisconsin