The Chippewa Valley is a valley in

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, US.

History

The valley was first inhabited by the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

and colonized by German and

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n immigrants. The region also has a large Hmong community. While the term "Chippewa Valley" technically refers to the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of the Chippewa River and its tributaries, the name is more often applied to the Eau Claire-Chippewa Falls metropolitan area and the surrounding area—including communities not located within the Chippewa River's watershed. From the 1850s to the early 1910s, lumber baron Orrin Henry Ingram was largely responsible for the deforestation of the valley and the subsequent establishment of many small towns in the area.Guide to the Ingram Family and Empire Lumber Company Papers, 1906–1934
, University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire: McIntyre Library The population center of the Chippewa Valley is Eau Claire. Menards, an American home improvement retail company, is also headquartered there. They are also a major job provider due to their manufacturing sites located in the area. Other communities include Menomonie, Chippewa Falls, Durand, and Altoona. The region's agricultural products include milk, cheese, horseradish, kidney beans, apples, pumpkins, beef, and poultry. Much of the regional economy is service-driven, although there is also a significant light-industrial segment, especially in high tech (mainly computers). Historic sites include the Cook-Rutledge Mansion in Chippewa Falls, the Caddie Woodlawn Museum south of Downsville, the Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts in Menomonie, and a number of exhibits in Eau Claire's Carson Park. In addition, there are a number of sites listed by the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in the area.

References

External links

History of the Chippewa ValleyHistorical and Biographical Album of the Chippewa Valley, Wisconsin
{{Authority control Regions of Wisconsin Eau Claire, Wisconsin Geography of Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Geography of Dunn County, Wisconsin Geography of Chippewa County, Wisconsin Geography of Pepin County, Wisconsin