History of the Village of Fairchild
Native Americans inhabited Wisconsin for long before Europeans discovered America; and, at various times, tribes such as the Dakota, Ojibwe, and Ho-Chunk had a presence in the area now known as the Village of Fairchild. The Ho-Chunk Nation continues to maintain an active presence in the area to this day.
In September of 1853, when state surveyor C. Phipps surveyed the two sections of Eau Claire County that would become the Village of Fairchild, he described the landscape as sand and swamp “unfit for cultivation,” with a mix of aspen, birch, maple, and tamarack. The earliest settlers in the area (A. McClanathan; James Hobart; Gilbert McLyman; and the Pettis, Livermore, and Travis families) began clearing the land in 1865. By 1868, when the West Wisconsin Railway reached the area (along the current Union Pacific line), Mr. Van Auken, an early settler, had built a steam sawmill in the Village that he later sold to another settler.
The first plat of Fairchild was completed in May of 1872. Between 1872 and 1880, a number of individuals acquired homestead parcels through U. S. land patents, such as: Elias G. Cole, one of several doctors to serve the Village; Samuel Rollins, a Civil War veteran; the Lightfoot families; and Nathaniel C. Foster, who moved his lumber mill from Shawano to Fairchild in 1876. The Methodist Episcopal Church was constructed in 1874, and the first district schoolhouse was constructed in 1875 for elementary grades. Several lodges were formed in association with fraternal benefit societies, including the Ancient Order of United Workers; the Modern Woodmen of America; and the Grand Army of the Republic.
In 1880, Fairchild was incorporated as a village. According to the 1890 U. S. Census, the population of the Village was about 800; another 400 people lived in the Town of Fairchild, outside the Village limits. Fairchild became a commercial hub thanks to the business acumen of N. C. Foster, who employed many of the Village’s residents in his logging and railroad enterprises. His railroads connected Fairchild to many other area communities; while many of these tracks are gone, some of these rail beds are now used for recreational trails. Other residents found employment in the hotels, restaurants, and shops serving a growing population. As the population grew, additional churches were built: St. Paul’s Lutheran Church (German) in 1884 and St. John’s Catholic Church (Polish) in 1887.
In 1892, the Village voted to establish and support a high school. This frame structure was destroyed by fire in 1901 and replaced with an impressive brick and stone structure in 1902, when the Village’s population had grown to 1,500. This school burned in 1920 and was replaced with another brick structure in 1921. This building was eventually torn down after the 1968 consolidation of the Fairchild and Osseo school districts; and a new elementary school was constructed.
In 1895, on the night of October 21, a fire destroyed Fairchild’s business district, with insurance covering only half of the over $2.5 million in damages in today’s dollars. Among the losses were: the offices of the Fairchild Graphic newspaper, Hines’ jewelry store, Mrs. Knute’s millinery store, N. C. Foster’s Fairchild House hotel, Bradner & Uecker’s meat market, Mrs. Norton’s restaurant, the box factory, Arnold’s drug store, and the Anderson Brothers’ blacksmith and wagon shop and residence.
In 1896, the community rebounded and several brick structures of similar design were constructed. The most prominent of these was N. C. Foster’s “Big Store,” described as a “mercantile marvel” in the Eau Claire Leader in 1901, when its customers came from 50 miles away to shop in the Store’s 14 departments and annual sales exceeded $4.5 million in today’s dollars. This building still stands in Fairchild. Another brick building, constructed to house the Big Store’s furniture department (Erdman’s grocery store), also remains and is the only structure in the Village to be listed on both the State and National registers of historic buildings.
The old Village Hall, currently used as the public library, was also constructed shortly after the fire of 1895. Its original use was a barn and carriage house for the riding horses Gilbert Foster (Nathaniel Foster’s son) kept for his family. N. C. Foster founded the First National Bank of Fairchild with $25,000 of his own money in 1904 in the Big Store building. In 1918, it moved into a new building across the street, was later used as a tavern, and still stands today.
Fairchild’s decline as a regional commercial center began with the end of the logging industry. In May of 1905, the Eau Claire Weekly Telegram reported that the last log was sawed at the N. C. Foster Lumber Co. mill; and “the industry that was built twenty-eight years ago, and built Fairchild from a way station to a thriving town, came to an end forever.”
In the 1930s, the Fairchild Forest Ranger District was established. With the help of the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps, a new Ranger Station was constructed on Dr. E. G. Cole’s former house site across from the Lutheran Church. The Ranger Station is currently used as the Village Hall and is listed on Wisconsin’s Architecture and History Inventory.
During World War II, some businesses downsized their operations or closed entirely due to the shortage of labor. After the war, in the late 1940s, U. S. Highway 12 was rerouted west and south of the Village; and traffic through the downtown decreased. By 1950, the Village’s population had dropped to 592.
The fortunes of the Village of Fairchild today are vastly different than in those heady days when the lumber and railroad industries were at their zenith. Yet, Village and historical records document a long tradition of service and civic pride that continues today as we safeguard the health, safety, and well-being of our neighbors and community. It is this history and these traditions that make us who we are today and provides the foundation for our future.
To learn more about the history of the Fairchild area, FAHS has opened a history center in downtown Fairchild with a large selection of books, records, and maps. FAHS is also renovating the historic bank next door as a future museum so that we can share and celebrate the rich history of the area together.
Also be sure to stop by the History Room and Carole Landis tribute at the Fairchild Area Public Library as well as the Fairchild Area Historical Tribute and picnic area along U.S. Highway 12 just northwest of the Village.
Native Americans inhabited Wisconsin for long before Europeans discovered America; and, at various times, tribes such as the Dakota, Ojibwe, and Ho-Chunk had a presence in the area now known as the Village of Fairchild. The Ho-Chunk Nation continues to maintain an active presence in the area to this day.
In September of 1853, when state surveyor C. Phipps surveyed the two sections of Eau Claire County that would become the Village of Fairchild, he described the landscape as sand and swamp “unfit for cultivation,” with a mix of aspen, birch, maple, and tamarack. The earliest settlers in the area (A. McClanathan; James Hobart; Gilbert McLyman; and the Pettis, Livermore, and Travis families) began clearing the land in 1865. By 1868, when the West Wisconsin Railway reached the area (along the current Union Pacific line), Mr. Van Auken, an early settler, had built a steam sawmill in the Village that he later sold to another settler.
The first plat of Fairchild was completed in May of 1872. Between 1872 and 1880, a number of individuals acquired homestead parcels through U. S. land patents, such as: Elias G. Cole, one of several doctors to serve the Village; Samuel Rollins, a Civil War veteran; the Lightfoot families; and Nathaniel C. Foster, who moved his lumber mill from Shawano to Fairchild in 1876. The Methodist Episcopal Church was constructed in 1874, and the first district schoolhouse was constructed in 1875 for elementary grades. Several lodges were formed in association with fraternal benefit societies, including the Ancient Order of United Workers; the Modern Woodmen of America; and the Grand Army of the Republic.
In 1880, Fairchild was incorporated as a village. According to the 1890 U. S. Census, the population of the Village was about 800; another 400 people lived in the Town of Fairchild, outside the Village limits. Fairchild became a commercial hub thanks to the business acumen of N. C. Foster, who employed many of the Village’s residents in his logging and railroad enterprises. His railroads connected Fairchild to many other area communities; while many of these tracks are gone, some of these rail beds are now used for recreational trails. Other residents found employment in the hotels, restaurants, and shops serving a growing population. As the population grew, additional churches were built: St. Paul’s Lutheran Church (German) in 1884 and St. John’s Catholic Church (Polish) in 1887.
In 1892, the Village voted to establish and support a high school. This frame structure was destroyed by fire in 1901 and replaced with an impressive brick and stone structure in 1902, when the Village’s population had grown to 1,500. This school burned in 1920 and was replaced with another brick structure in 1921. This building was eventually torn down after the 1968 consolidation of the Fairchild and Osseo school districts; and a new elementary school was constructed.
In 1895, on the night of October 21, a fire destroyed Fairchild’s business district, with insurance covering only half of the over $2.5 million in damages in today’s dollars. Among the losses were: the offices of the Fairchild Graphic newspaper, Hines’ jewelry store, Mrs. Knute’s millinery store, N. C. Foster’s Fairchild House hotel, Bradner & Uecker’s meat market, Mrs. Norton’s restaurant, the box factory, Arnold’s drug store, and the Anderson Brothers’ blacksmith and wagon shop and residence.
In 1896, the community rebounded and several brick structures of similar design were constructed. The most prominent of these was N. C. Foster’s “Big Store,” described as a “mercantile marvel” in the Eau Claire Leader in 1901, when its customers came from 50 miles away to shop in the Store’s 14 departments and annual sales exceeded $4.5 million in today’s dollars. This building still stands in Fairchild. Another brick building, constructed to house the Big Store’s furniture department (Erdman’s grocery store), also remains and is the only structure in the Village to be listed on both the State and National registers of historic buildings.
The old Village Hall, currently used as the public library, was also constructed shortly after the fire of 1895. Its original use was a barn and carriage house for the riding horses Gilbert Foster (Nathaniel Foster’s son) kept for his family. N. C. Foster founded the First National Bank of Fairchild with $25,000 of his own money in 1904 in the Big Store building. In 1918, it moved into a new building across the street, was later used as a tavern, and still stands today.
Fairchild’s decline as a regional commercial center began with the end of the logging industry. In May of 1905, the Eau Claire Weekly Telegram reported that the last log was sawed at the N. C. Foster Lumber Co. mill; and “the industry that was built twenty-eight years ago, and built Fairchild from a way station to a thriving town, came to an end forever.”
In the 1930s, the Fairchild Forest Ranger District was established. With the help of the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps, a new Ranger Station was constructed on Dr. E. G. Cole’s former house site across from the Lutheran Church. The Ranger Station is currently used as the Village Hall and is listed on Wisconsin’s Architecture and History Inventory.
During World War II, some businesses downsized their operations or closed entirely due to the shortage of labor. After the war, in the late 1940s, U. S. Highway 12 was rerouted west and south of the Village; and traffic through the downtown decreased. By 1950, the Village’s population had dropped to 592.
The fortunes of the Village of Fairchild today are vastly different than in those heady days when the lumber and railroad industries were at their zenith. Yet, Village and historical records document a long tradition of service and civic pride that continues today as we safeguard the health, safety, and well-being of our neighbors and community. It is this history and these traditions that make us who we are today and provides the foundation for our future.
To learn more about the history of the Fairchild area, FAHS has opened a history center in downtown Fairchild with a large selection of books, records, and maps. FAHS is also renovating the historic bank next door as a future museum so that we can share and celebrate the rich history of the area together.
Also be sure to stop by the History Room and Carole Landis tribute at the Fairchild Area Public Library as well as the Fairchild Area Historical Tribute and picnic area along U.S. Highway 12 just northwest of the Village.
Rights reserved. Photos and information on this website may be copyrighted. Photo credits: 1895 Front Street in downtown Fairchild from Wisconsin State Historical Society (top background). Wisconsin State Historical Society pictures used here by FAHS with permission. High School and Downtown Fairchild photos from the postcard collection of Nancy Watenphul.