Ellsworth

History

Settlement in the area that now comprises the village of Ellsworth began with the arrival of several families in 1857. The village was officially platted in 1862, then incorporated in 1887. The village was initially called Perry, in honor of the War of 1812 hero, Oliver Hazard Perry, but was renamed in 1866 in honor of Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth, the first Union officer to die in the Civil War. A close friend of Pres. Abraham Lincoln, Ellsworth died while removing a highly visible Confederate flag from the roof of a hotel overlooking the Potomac River in Alexandria, Virginia. The incident received national attention, and at least one other town, Ellsworth, Michigan, was named in his honor. Downtown Ellsworth's location atop a steep hill is the result of an 1861 dispute between Pierce County's two major towns, Prescott and River Falls, over which should be county seat. The compromise reached was to draw lines on a map connecting the corners of the county, northwest to southeast and northeast to southwest. The intersection of these lines at a densely forested site at the top of a ridge determined the placement of the new town. A log building was hastily erected to serve as a courthouse, then replaced by a wood-frame structure about two years later. The current Pierce County Courthouse, built 1905, was designed by the noted St. Paul firm of Buechner & Orth. The structure exhibits characteristics of both the neoclassical and Beaux-Arts styles, topped by a large dome above a five-story hexagonal rotunda.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  4,618
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,563
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3,407
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  3,250
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,225
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,757
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2,681
• White-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta carolinensis Latham, 1790 · Aves
  2,586

Largest nearby schools

• River Falls High
  High · River Falls · 1,112 students · 17.4:1 ratio
• Ellsworth Elementary
  Elementary · Ellsworth · 730 students · 15.9:1 ratio
• Ellsworth High
  High · Ellsworth · 519 students · 16.2:1 ratio
• Ellsworth Middle
  Middle · Ellsworth · 375 students · 13.9:1 ratio