
This undated photo shows the John Geiger barn under construction near Stanley, Wisconsin. The barn was built by local carpenter, Frank Koepl, and later owned by John Passy. Photo courtesy of Marcy Ruff and the Boyd History Room.
Each Saturday, the Chippewa Area History Center showcases a piece of local history in the Herald. The Area History Center at 123 Allen St. Chippewa Falls, has multiple rooms of displays about Chippewa County history and genealogy.
Visit www.ChippewaAreaHistoryCenter.org to learn more about the future Chippewa Area History Center, to be located on Bridgewater Avenue, and how you can help support local history preservation and education.
Time Capsule: Chippewa County through the years
Relive the sights of yesteryear through the Chippewa Herald's weekly Time Capsule series with short stories and photos of events and places provided from the Chippewa Area History Center.
This Herald article from May 31, 1956, written by Dorothy Janzen, details the seven-room expansion of Stillson Elementary.
By Ruth Willut for the Chippewa Herald, February 28, 1991:
Editor Independent, under the above heading I notice some of the tender foot correspondents have been sending to the different state newspaper…
Angeline Quarla Demarais (sometimes spelled DeMarie) is one of the earliest women to be documented as living in what is now Chippewa Falls.
From the Chippewa Herald on April 10, 1975:
This photo of the 1943 Chi-Hi boys basketball team shows future college basketball star and future NBA player Nate DeLong and teammates. Back …
Aug. 23, 1929, Chippewa Herald: Cleo Bemis of this city has completed a nifty little cottage on the Chippewa River, on County Trunk I, near Ji…
On May 5, 1868, three years following the end of the Civil War, Decoration Day was established by the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) as a ti…
Walter Bros., the hustling proprietors of the Tilden Mill, have had an expert engineer make plans for a new concrete dam at the mill and hope …
From 1920 to 1977, a building 5 miles east of Chippewa Falls on Highway X was a popular entertainment destination. The building was known over…
Mr. Leslie Willson (1847-1906) was born in Pennsylvania. He moved to Minnesota with his parents in 1862 and in 1867 moved to Eau Claire to wor…
On December 20, 1924, as the Soo train No. 2 was traveling east across the railroad bridge on the west side of Chippewa Falls (near where the …
“Lansing A. Wilcox, last surviving Wisconsin veteran of the Civil War, was born in Kenosha (WI) March 3, 1846. In February 1864 he enlisted fr…
The history of Chippewa Falls begins with the Ojibwa who lived here as early as 1797. That year Michael Cadott who was the principal trader fr…
Dr. Bill Hopkins visited his ninth great-grandpa, Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower voyage, in 2008 at Plimouth Plantation in Plymouth, Massach…
Deer hunting is a tradition that many Chippewa County families take very seriously. This 1988 photo shows second and third generation members …
Time Capsule: 1868 view of Chippewa Falls from the Notre Dame Church (East Hill)
Santa (Chuck Card) and Mrs. Claus (Marie Meinen) brought the spirit of Christmas to the children (and adults) of Chippewa Falls for many years.
On Wednesday morning (Dec. 24, 1873), about 3 o’clock, a fire broke out in the Waterman House, and in less than an hour, the whole structure w…
When plans were finalized for the Wissota Dam and Lake Wissota, it was realized that the existing Yellow River Bridge would be below the water…
The Hospital Sisters of St. Francis sent Sister Rosa and three other sisters to Chippewa Falls in June 1885 to a small home, their first hospi…
The May 3, 1929 issue of the Chippewa Herald-Telegram announced the following news.
Born in Germany in 1846, August H. Mason moved with his parents to Green Bay when he was three years old. The Mason family moved to Chippewa F…
On Feb. 18, 1902, the Daily Independent newspaper (now the Chippewa Herald) published the following letter as written to Mr. Leslie Willson fr…
Flora and George Ginty are the founders of the original Chippewa Falls newspaper, publishing the first issue on Jan. 29., 1870.
The supper club near the south edge of Lake Wissota that is known today as Connell’s Supper Club was built about 1932 by George and Charlotte …
1913 Chippewa River Flood at Cobban
April 3, 1913, The Daily Independent (excerpt.)
Born in 1872 at Jim Falls to a French-Canadian father and a Belgian mother, Louis “Louie” Blanchard saw Chippewa County grow from a wooded wil…
In 1994, local citizens began planning for a Senior Center to call their own.
Father Charles Francis Xavier Goldsmith was born in Rochester, New York. At the early age of 13, he entered the provincial seminary of St. Fra…
This A. A. Bish photograph of a fisherman on Long Lake is a great example of how Chippewa County residents did “social distancing” in years past.
Flooding has been a frequent occurrence in Chippewa Falls through the years. This September 1941 photo shows floodwaters covering River Street…
This 1908 photo shows the Gotzian Shoe Co. of Chippewa Falls.
The Chippewa Falls Historical Society and Cultural Center keeps a vast assortment of historic Chippewa Falls photos, articles and other items …
This Memorial Day weekend, we remember and honor all military veterans and highlight the service and sacrifices of the Bushland family of Chip…
This photo shows the extreme damage done to the north side of Chippewa Falls when a tornado touched down on the evening of June 4, 1958.
(From The Daily Independent, a predecessor of the Chippewa Herald, August 25, 1915)
This 1910 photo shows the original First Ward School located on East Grand Avenue near the present-day Senior Center at 1000 E. Grand Ave. The…
This 1932 photo shows one of the many beautiful old homes of Chippewa Falls, it was built in 1895 at 506 Dover St. by Ira Dickinson. The house…
Born in 1927 to Daniel “Barney” and Frances (Blanchard) Sullivan of 518 East Spring Street, Chippewa Falls1944 graduate of McDonell High Schoo…
Glen Loch dam in Irvine Park: A person wonders how many people have looked upon this beautiful view through the years.
These days we think nothing of quickly crossing the Main Street bridge to get to the “southside, aka Frenchtown” of Chippewa Falls. In the ear…
In 1883-84, the first St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church was built in Cadott.
In 1874 in Chippewa Falls, there were three grocery stores, three meat markets, three bakeries and two “fruit and confectionery” stores, all l…
The passage of time has brought many changes to Chippewa Falls, but her history still shows through as seen by the many still recognizable bui…
The spacious Chippewa Falls High, built in 1906 on the hill above Cedar and Bay Streets, witnessed many students pass through its doors. A voc…
Teach Adelaide Nussle stands in a classroom with her students at the Chippewa Falls First Ward School in 1910.
Today was moving day at the Chippewa Falls Senior High School and the transfer of books, desks and equipment to the new educational institutio…
This early image of Glen Loch Dam, circa 1910, shows a wider spillway that directs the water over the rock structure on the left and a wooden …
This vintage postcard shows an early image of the Stanley, Wisconsin, Soo Line Railroad Depot. The building still stands but is not occupied.
This vintage postcard shows the Northern States Power Company Chippewa Falls Dam and Hydro Plant located at the foot of Bridge Street in Chipp…
The old and the new County Trunk Highway S merge at the back gate of Irvine Park. The former County road which crossed at “Burnt Bridge” will …
This 1940s view of Bridge Street has many features that look still look very familiar today. In the upper left, you can see the Hotel Northern…
Time Capsule: The Bridge O’ The Pines (aka the Rumbly Bridge) Opens in Irvine Park on October 21, 1913
In the 1920s, the Chippewa Candy Co. built a modern factory building at 210 E. Columbia St. It was designed especially “to meet every requirem…
The Sheeley House, a well-known landmark and beautiful example of Italianate Revival architecture, is located at 236 West River Street in Chip…
Walter J. LaCour was born to Mr. and Mrs. Frank “Frenchy” LaCour on October 27, 1919, in Brush Prairie, near Bloomer, WI. He graduated from th…
In years past, this is the time when activity would once again start in the logging camps of Northern Wisconsin. This undated photo shows the …
On December 17, 1941, the Chippewa Herald-Telegram reported the following: First Chippewa Boy To Die for Country. Harry Kramer, 21-year-old so…
Christmas Caroling at the Edward Rutledge Charity Building
This photo shows the Gumbert siblings enjoying a day of skating at the Mill Pond Skating Rink in Chippewa Falls (circa 1956-57). Left to right…
Jim Falls, Wisconsin Hydro Plant Power House
On January 21, 1912, the Chippewa Herald-Telegram reported the following:
(From the Chippewa Herald-Telegram March 3, 1979)
This birds-eye photo of downtown Chippewa Falls was taken from the old Chippewa Falls Courthouse cupola looking south down Bridge Street, circ…
This 1912 postcard shows the bridge that crossed the Chippewa River between Chippewa Falls and Frenchtown (now the south side of Chippewa Fall…
On October 11, 1910, just 10 days after the passing of his beloved wife Hannah, Edward Rutledge established the Hannah M. Rutledge Home For Th…