Chippewa

Formed January 1, 1845 (25^th county)

Chippewa County (66,302), Chippewa Falls (14,736)

The Modern concrete facility was erected in 1951.  There was a classic 1875 courthouse earlier.  It is located on Bridge, Cedar, High, and Spruce streets.  Wisconsin State Highway 124 is one block east of the location.  The building was enlarged in 1990.  Foeller, Schober, Berners, Safford & Jahn Architects provided the designs.  Veteran memorials are on the grounds.  The county was founded on January 1, 1845 from Crawford County as the 25^th county with Chippewa Falls as the only county seat.  The county and its county seat are named for the Chippewa River. 

Chippewa County government consists of a sheriff and 15 Supervisors.  Three Circuit Court Judges and Three Municipal Court Judges serve Chippewa County.  Chippewa County is in the northwest part of Wisconsin.  Minneapolis, Minnesota is west and Green Bay, Wisconsin is southeast of the county.  The county center is 10.6 miles Northeast of Chippewa Falls nearer Jim Falls.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Rusk, Taylor, Clark, Eau Claire, Dunn, and Barron counties. 

The area of the county is 1008.4 square miles.  It is 13 out of 72 in the state.  It ranks 24 out of 72 in population in the state.  It has a density of 65.7 persons per square mile making it 29 out of 72 in the state.  Chippewa County has 53.8% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 53 comes into the county from the northwest, Barron County, and goes to the south, Eau Claire County.  The county is a rectangle with the northwest corner cut away.  Chippewa Falls is located in the southwest quarter of the county.  Chippewa Falls is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 22.2% of the county population.  The county and county seat are pronounced CHIP-E-WA.  This county is in the Eau Claire Metropolitan Statistical Area.