Eau Claire

Sister cities

• Lismore

History

The Eau Claire area was first visited by Europeans in the late 17th century. It had been occupied for thousands of years before European fur traders began settling there for trade with local Native American tribes. The First Treaty of Prairie du Chien, signed in 1825, established the Chippewa River "half a day's march below the falls" as the boundary between the Sioux and Chippewa, and the "Clear Water River, a branch of the Chippewa" as the boundary between the Chippewa and Winnebago. West Eau Claire, founded in 1856, was across the river, near the site of the current county courthouse, and was incorporated in 1872. Between a mile and a half and two miles downstream, the Daniel Shaw & Co. lumber company founded Shawtown, beyond the west end of what is now the Water Street historic district. Shawtown was annexed to the city of Eau Claire by the 1930s. By the 1950s, the entire city had spread far enough to the east to adjoin Altoona. In 1916, the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire was founded, which marked the turn from a mostly lumber production based economy into one centered around manufacturing, education, and healthcare. In 1917, Gillette Safety Tire Company built a large factory in Eau Claire along the Eau Claire River less than a mile from where the rivers meet. The factory mainly created rubber tires and tubing. It had about 1,600 workers in 1920, producing almost 500 tires and 500 rubber tubing everyday. These numbers have increased every year since it opened in 1917. In 1931, United States Rubber Company agreed to purchase Gillette, a sale not completed until 1940 owing to the Great Depression. Due to the start of World War II, the US War Department brought the facility in 1942 to use as an ammunition plant. At the height of the war effort, the plant had…

Geography

Eau Claire is about east of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, on the northern fringes of the Driftless Zone. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and is water. The city's terrain is characterized by the river valleys, with steep slopes leading from the center to the eastern and southern sections of the city. The lands into which the urban area is expanding are increasingly hilly. There are two lakes in the city, Dells Pond and Half Moon Lake. Dells Pond is a reservoir created by a hydroelectric dam, and was formerly used as a holding pool for logs. Half Moon Lake is an oxbow lake created as part of the former course of the Chippewa River. In the Köppen climate classification, Eau Claire is classified as a humid continental climate (Dfb bordering on Dfa), usually termed as the subtype of warm, sometimes hot, summer. Its climate is due to its latitude and interior location in North America. The average annual temperature is only . The extremes exceed and −40 °F, which demonstrate the four well-defined seasons of the year. The amount of annual snowfall (47") exceeds the amount of annual rainfall (31"), the total precipitation is greater than other major cities in Wisconsin such as Milwaukee and Madison. July has an average temperature of and January an average of , where temperatures below freezing point can remain for a long duration.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  6,516
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  5,991
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,517
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,177
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  4,762
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,448
• White-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta carolinensis Latham, 1790 · Aves
  4,355
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,267

Largest nearby schools

• North High
  High · Eau Claire · 1,663 students · 17.7:1 ratio
• Memorial High
  High · Eau Claire · 1,552 students · 16.9:1 ratio
• DeLong Middle
  Middle · Eau Claire · 893 students · 12.1:1 ratio
• South Middle
  Middle · Eau Claire · 791 students · 10.4:1 ratio
• Altoona Elementary
  Elementary · Altoona · 646 students · 14:1 ratio
• Altoona High
  High · Altoona · 564 students · 16.6:1 ratio
• Robbins Elementary
  Elementary · Eau Claire · 505 students · 13.6:1 ratio
• Northstar Middle
  Middle · Eau Claire · 501 students · 12.8:1 ratio