Rice Lake, Wisconsin

Rice Lake, Wisconsin
Rice Lake is a city in Barron County in northwest Wisconsin, United States, on the shore of the lake with the same name. The city is a commercial and tourist center for the surrounding rural areas. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 9,040. The city is located mostly within the Town of Rice Lake.
History
American Indians lived around Rice Lake for millennia, some of whom made mounds like those that remain in Indian Mounds Park along the shore of the lake. In later years before white settlers, Chippewa people occupied the area, and they had a strong cultural attachment to the wild rice that grew on the lake.
In the mid-1860s Knapp, Stout & Co., the growing lumber company downstream at Menomonie, bought tracts of forest around Rice Lake. Around 1868 the company started a logging camp in the area and in 1870 the company dammed the Red Cedar to raise the level of Rice Lake to make a better holding pond for their logs. The higher water disrupted the existing wild rice beds, angering the Chippewa. As compensation, Knapp-Stout gave them food, but it was settlers' food like pork and flour - not wild rice.
Knapp-Stout platted the village in 1870, naming it for the lake, and naming many streets after officers of the company, including Knapp, Stout, Tainter and Wilson. The company built a small water-powered sawmill for sawing local lumber and a gristmill. Permanent settlers began arriving about that time. The first houses were built around 1874. Saloons and hotels followed. Rice Lake's first school opened in a Knapp-Stout building in 1874. Regular mail service began that year, with the mail arriving by stage from Menomonie and Chippewa Falls, initially once a week. The first newspaper, the Chronotype, started the same year.
Many employees of the early Knapp-Stout were Norwegian and in 1875 a Norwegian Lutheran congregation was organized. A local brewery was also started in 1875. Episcopalian families began worshiping intermittently in 1879. Roman Catholics began meeting the following year, building a church the same year - the first brick building in the village. Knapp-Stout added a flour mill in 1879. A Methodist Episcopal congregation also formed in 1880, and a Presbyterian congregation in 1882.
In 1882 the first railroad reached Rice Lake - the Chippewa Falls and Northern Railroad, and the four-year high school was started. The following year the first bank opened - the Barron County Bank. A barrel factory opened in 1885, employing 40 men, and a hub and spoke factory in 1886, employing 50 in summer and 125 during logging season. In 1887 the Rice Lake Lumber Company opened, owned by Orrin Henry Ingram of Eau Claire. It expanded Knapp-Stout's sawmill, added two planing mills, and employed 200.
Rice Lake incorporated as a city in 1887. A volunteer fire department was formed in 1889, which was equipped with a hook and ladder wagon, a hand hose cart, and 1,300 feet of hose. The city's population was 2,130 in the 1890 census. A city library opened in 1897. The lumber companies set up electric lights and a water utility in 1892, which were taken over by the city in 1910.
In 1907 the Barron County Normal School opened. In 1938 WJMC, the area's first radio station, began broadcasting. In 1940 the forerunner of Indianhead Tech College was established. In 1966 UW-Stout opened a branch campus in Barron County, which has since developed into UW-Eau Claire - Barron County.
Geography
Rice Lake is located at (45.498408, -91.738844).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water.
Rice Lake is along the Red Cedar River.
Climate
Demographics
As of 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $34,637, and the median income for a family was $53,056. Males had a median income of $40,450 versus $30,211 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,354. About 6.9% of families and 13.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.4% of those under age 18 and 13.1% of those age 65 or over.
2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 8,438 people, 3,936 households, and 2,065 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 4,239 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 96.2% White, 0.3% African American, 0.9% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0.5% from other races, and 1.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.4% of the population.
There were 3,936 households, of which 24.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.6% were married couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 47.5% were non-families. 39.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.09 and the average family size was 2.79.
The median age in the city was 41.2 years. 20.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23.5% were from 25 to 44; 24.5% were from 45 to 64; and 21.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 46.8% male and 53.2% female.
Infrastructure
U.S. Highway 53, Wisconsin Highway 48, County Road SS (Main Street), and County Road O (South Access Road) are the main routes in the city.
The area is served by Rice Lake Regional Airport - Carl's Field (KRPD), which is located south of Rice Lake.
Rice Lake formerly had passenger rail service at the Rice Lake station.
Education
Public schools
Rice Lake Area School District operates public schools:
Rice Lake High School
Northern Lakes Regional Academy
Rice Lake Middle School
Haugen Elementary
Hilltop Elementary
Tainter Elementary
Private schools
Redeemer Lutheran School
St. Joseph School
Post-secondary education
University of Wisconsin–Barron County
Northwood Technical College (formerly Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College) - Rice Lake Campus
Economy
Rice Lake serves as a shopping, industrial, educational, and medical hub for the surrounding rural communities of Barron, Cameron, Chetek, Shell Lake, Cumberland, Spooner, and Ladysmith.
Notable people
Kenny Bednarek - sprinter
John G. Blystone - film director
Edward R. Brunner - justice of Wisconsin Court of Appeals
Howard W. Cameron - Wisconsin State Senator
William M. Conley - federal judge
William Henry Dietz - college and NFL head coach
Henry Ellenson - professional basketball player for the New York Knicks
Foster Friess - businessman
Eric G. Gibson - Medal of Honor recipient
Hal Kolstad - MLB player
Isaac J. Kvam - Wisconsin State Representative
Dick Lane - announcer, film and television actor
James P. Leary- folklorist
Warren D. Leary - Wisconsin State Representative
Michael A. Lehman - Wisconsin State Representative
Pug Lund - football player
Harold Olsen - head coach of Ohio State, Northwestern and NBA's Chicago Stags, member of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Clay Perry - MLB player
Jason Rae - Secretary of Democratic National Committee
Kapp Rasmussen - Wisconsin State Representative and lawyer
Fred Thomas - MLB player
John W. Vaudreuil - U.S. Attorney
Sister cities
Rice Lake has two sister cities:
Miharu, Japan
Žamberk, Czech Republic
Local media
WAQE (AM) 1090, Talk & Sports
WAQE-FM 97.7, All the Stars, All the Time
WJMC (AM) 1240, Good Friends and Great Information
WJMC-FM 96.1, The Best Country Station, Number One
WKFX FM 99.1, Classic Hits
WWJP-LP FM 101.7, 3ABN Radio, Christian
WYRL-LP FM 105.5, Eclectic Music, Local Government Discussion
References
External links
City of Rice Lake
Rice Lake Chamber of Commerce
Sanborn fire insurance maps: 1893 1899 1917
Cities in Wisconsin
Cities in Barron County, Wisconsin