Chippewa Falls

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Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
—  City  —
Bridge Street, downtown Chippewa Falls
Chippewa Falls logo
Location of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
Coordinates: 44°56′3″N 91°23′36″W / 44.93417°N 91.39333°W / 44.93417; -91.39333Coordinates: 44°56′3″N 91°23′36″W / 44.93417°N 91.39333°W / 44.93417; -91.39333
Country	United States
State	Wisconsin
County	Chippewa
Government
- Mayor	Gregory Hoffman
Area
- Total	11.4 sq mi (29.5 km2)
- Land	10.9 sq mi (28.1 km2)
- Water	0.5 sq mi (1.4 km2)
Elevation [1]	840 ft (256 m)
Population (2000)
- Total	12,925
- Density	1,191.2/sq mi (459.9/km2)
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
- Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
FIPS code	55-14575[2]
GNIS feature ID	1563041[1]
Website	Official Website

Chippewa Falls is a city located on the Chippewa River in Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 12,925 at the 2000 census. Incorporated as a city in 1869, it is the county seat of Chippewa County^[3].

The city's name originated because of its location on the Chippewa River, which is named after the Ojibwa Native Americans. Early settlers misheard the word "Ojibwa" as "Chippewa".

Chippewa Falls is the birthplace of Seymour Cray, 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.

Geography

Chippewa Falls is located at 44°56′03″N 91°23′36″W / 44.934110°N 91.393228°W / 44.934110; -91.393228 (44.934110, -91.393228).^[4]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 11.4 square miles (29.5 km²), of which, 10.9 square miles (28.1 km²) of it is land and 0.5 square miles (1.4 km²) of it (4.66%) is water.

Demographics

Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company brewery.

At the 2000 census^[2], there were 12,925 people, 5,638 households and 3,247 families residing 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/sq mi (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.

History

The original Spring House.

Chippewa Falls was originally a lumber town that became a railroad town, even though the main railroad line of the 1870s went through Eau Claire, about 10 miles to the south. In 1870, the West Wisconsin Railway built a line from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Milwaukee through the area at Eau Claire. Following this, the Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls Railway established a line running 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 being extended to Superior.

Around 1700, French explorer Pierre-Charles Le Sueur discovered the Chippewa Spring near the river. Politician Thaddeus C. Pound founded the Chippewa Springs Health Club in 1887 and at one point oversaw the company that bottled the water for sale. A Spring House was built over the original spring in 1893 and remains today, across from the modern water bottling plant.^[5]

Education

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 Chippewa Area Catholic Schools (CACS).

The original McDonell High School building, sitting 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 and, after the school moved to a more suburban location, it sat abandoned for a number of years until it was taken over by the Chippewa Valley Cultural Association and converted into the Heyde Center for the Arts in 2000.

Chippewa Falls in the media

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The Cook-Rutledge Mansion is on the National Register of Historic Places.

• The title character played by Diane Keaton in Woody Allen's film Annie Hall (1977) came from Chippewa Falls. The sequence where Alvy Singer meets Annie's family takes place in the town.

• Chippewa Falls is mentioned in Titanic, as the birthplace and hometown of Jack Dawson (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). During the movie, the character recalls fishing as a boy on Lake Wissota, a man-made lake that was not created until 1917—five years after the RMS Titanic sank.

• In Tommy Boy, Chippewa Falls can be seen on a highway sign behind the fighting traveling companions Tommy Callaghan III, played by Chris Farley, and Richard Hayden, played by David Spade.

• The Stargate Atlantis character, Dr. Jennifer Keller is from Chippewa Falls.

• Chippewa Falls is also the hometown of Dorothy McGuire's character, Pat Ruscomb, in the 1946 movie Till The End Of Time.

• An instrumental rock band from Newcastle upon Tyne, England is named after Chippewa Falls.

• Musical artist Al Duvall recorded a song entitled, "When It's Ice Chopping Time (in Chippewa Falls)"

• Fictional G.I. Joe character Grand Slam is from Chippewa Falls.

• The independently filmed movie Illegal Use of Joe Zopp was filmed in Chippewa Falls.^[6]

• In his book, Cadott the Spot that God Forgot... Not, Anthony A. Zenner, Ph.D., writes about spending time with relatives in Chippewa Falls during the 1940s and 1950s. Zenner graduated from McDonell High School in 1958. His educational experience there is described in Chapter VIII (... a hill to climb).

Notable natives and residents

Municipal Building

Spring Street Bridge Chippewa Falls, WI

Renovated Chippewa Shoe Factory facing the Chippewa River in Chippewa Falls

• Robert Anderson - Navy Cross recipient^[7]
• Moose Baxter - John Morris Baxter, former Major League Baseball player.
• Chad Cascadden - former National Football League linebacker for the New York Jets and New England Patriots from 1995-1999.
• Seymour Cray - U.S. electrical engineer and supercomputer architect who founded Cray Research.
• Charles E. "Gus" Dorais - former quarterback and kicker for the University of Notre Dame; inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1954
• Gene Ellenson - played in the National Football League in 1946.^[8]
• Horace Ellis - Medal of Honor recipient^[9]
• Nathan Glicksman ( 14 June 1870) - Yale College valedictorian in 1891.^[10]
• Judy Henske - singer and songwriter, once known as “the Queen of the Beatniks”.
• John J. Jenkins - U.S. Representative.
• William F. Kirk (1877-1927) - nationally syndicated columnist, poet, songwriter, humorist and baseball writer.
• Howard "Guitar" Luedtke - American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and musician who tours with his band, Howard "Guitar" Luedtke & Blue Max.
• Charles E. Mower - United States Army soldier and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II
• Thaddeus C. Pound - U.S. Representative.
• Donald Frank Turner (1921 - 1994), legal scholar and economist who was the government's chief antitrust lawyer in the Johnson administration.^[11]
• Joe Vavra - former player for the Los Angeles Dodgers and current hitting coach for the Minnesota Twins.
• Eddy Waller (14 June 1889 – 20 August 1977), film actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1929 and 1963.
• Alexander Wiley - served four terms in the United States Senate for the state of Wisconsin from 1939 to 1963.
• David Zien - Former member of the Wisconsin State Senate, serving from 1993-2007.

Notes

External links

General

• Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
• Chippewa Falls Area Chamber of Commerce
• Chippewa Falls at the Open Directory Project
• Chippewa Falls School District Homepage
• Chippewa Area Catholic Schools Homepage

Tourism

• Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin travel guide from Wikitravel
• Chippewa Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau

v • d • e Eau Claire, Wisconsin (metro) Surrounding communities (over 10,000) Chippewa Falls° (under 10,000) Altoona° | Anson* | Brunswick* | Eagle Point* | Hallie* | Lafayette* | Lake Hallie‡ | Lake Wissota§ | Pleasant Valley* | Seymour* | Seymour§ | Tilden* | Union* | Washington* | Wheaton* Counties Eau Claire | Chippewa *town ‡village °city §CDP

v • d • e Municipalities and communities of Chippewa County, Wisconsin County seat: Chippewa Falls Cities Bloomer | Chippewa Falls | Cornell | Eau Claire | Stanley Villages Boyd | Cadott | Lake Hallie | New Auburn Towns Anson | Arthur | Auburn | Birch Creek | Bloomer | Cleveland | Colburn | Cooks Valley | Delmar | Eagle Point | Edson | Estella | Goetz | Hallie | Howard | Lafayette | Lake Holcombe | Ruby | Sampson | Sigel | Tilden | Wheaton | Woodmohr CDP Lake Wissota Unincorporated communities Holcombe | Jim Falls