Excerpt from History of Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, Past and Present: Including an Account of the Cities, Towns and Villages of the County The publishers of the history desire to acknowledge the cor dial and valuable assistance which has been accorded them in its compilation by many citizens of Eau Claire county. It has been a help deeply appreciated and deserves due recognition. Among those to whom special thanks are due is Hon. William F. Bailey, James H. Waggoner, Percy C. Atkinson, Marshall Cousins, Walde mar Ager, Reinhold Liebau, Miss A. E. Kidder, W. H. Schulz, W. W. Bartlett, L. A. Brace, J. P. Welsh, Frank L. Clark, C. W Lockwood, G. Caldwell, W. A. Clark. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

A women’s chapter of the KKK in the early twentieth-century Midwest is uncovered in this fascinating and meticulously researched social history. In the xenophobic atmosphere of the 1920s and 1930s, Ku Klux Klan activity spiked in Wisconsin and gave rise to Women’s Klan no. 14, also known as the Grey Eagles of Chippewa Falls. Against a national backdrop that saw the Klan hurl its collective might into influencing presidential elections and federal legislation, quotidian matters often stole the attention of the Grey Eagles. Drawing on never-before-seen materials, author John E. Kinville unfolds their complex legacy. For every minute spent upholding Prohibition and blocking Catholic Al Smith’s path to the White House, the Grey Eagles spent two raising funds for their order and helping neighbors in need. What unfolds in Kinville’s work is the complex legacy of these Chippewa Falls women who struggled to balance care for their community against the malicious ideology of the Klan.

In 1855, Wisconsin's Chippewa County set the wheels in motion to divide itself into three parts. The southernmost section became Eau Claire County. With good forest, good farmland, and the confluence of two scenic rivers, it quickly established its own identity. Eau Claire County followed a classic American path. The county harvested its native natural resources (timber in this case) and started a strong agricultural tradition. In later decades, as its sesquicentennial approached, the county had developed a diversified economy, anchored by health care, retail, higher education, and high-tech manufacturing. But it is the interesting and ever-changing mix of people who built the county, and who have sustained it for 150 years. In 1890, seven of every ten people living in Wisconsin's Chippewa Valley, with Eau Claire County at its heart, were born outside the U.S. or had foreign-born parents. The area still welcomes new arrivals. Through scores of historic photographs, this book captures the hardworking, fun-loving people who have given the county its distinctive place in the American heartland.