Eau Claire: Elite Landscapes

In every town, a few individuals and their families have disproportional influence on the affairs of the community. Through their power of wealth and property and religious, social, and political connections, they dominate the city as the elite, either tightly by marriage, social institutions, and businesses, or loosely by sharing capitalist and middle-class values which are represented as community values. When the elite cluster together, they create elite landscapes. Wealth and income has always been unequally distributed; but, to day the gap between the rich and the poor is the largest in U.S. history.

Powerful and wealthy individuals and their families in Eau Claire have created elite landscapes. Only several elite landscapes are discussed here:
1) Ingram family and other members of the elite,
2) Summer Moon,
3) John Walter, and
4) Local Roofing Company.

Elite landscapes elsewhere in the USA and world

Much larger and important elite landscapes are found in larger metropolitan areas, such as Greenwich, CT 06830, with its median family income of $105,500 (2000) and with 47% of its houses (nearly 2,000) being worth $1 million or more. Check out one realtor's selections.

Where do the elite vacation? Such "destination clubs" as Exclusive Resorts and Private Retreats (select Destinations)-- the two biggest companies offering affluent clientele jet-set glamour -- offer membership for a joining fee of up to $500,000 and annual fees ranging from $12,000 to $19,000, depending on usage in 2004). Globally there are 7.3 million rich individuals with at least $1 million in disposable wealth. Read about how the wealthy think of themselves.

Visit the Hearst Castle in Caifornia and the very wealthy in the wine-country of the Napa Valley.

The CEO of the Bank of America, John Thain, spent $1.2 million on refurnishing his office in 2008 ($1,400 for one waste-paper basket alone) while the Bank lost $15 billion in the last quarter of 2008 as part of the financial melt-down of the U.S. financial sector -- the worst since the Crash of the 1930s!

Eau Claire's elite also created three country estate landscapes.

1) Ingram family and other members of the elite along Lake street
Charles Ingram, eldest son of the prominent lumber baron O. H. Ingram, was born in Eau Claire in 1858. He held several positions in his father's Empire Lumber Company. Edmund Hayes was the husband of Miriam Ingram Hayes, daughter of O. H. Ingram and sister of Charles Ingram. He was partner of the O. H. Ingram Company which was established in 1906 to manage the many investments of the family. Cass Gilbert, a well-known Minneapolis architect designed both of the Ingram houses. Henry C. Van Hovenberg was the owner of the Chippewa Valley News. Dewitt Clark settled in the city in 1862 and was a banking partner with O. H. Ingram. Cornelia Ingram, wife of the lumber baron O. H. Ingram, provided funds for the Community House next to the First Congregational church of which she was a member.

Henry C. Van Hovenberg, Queen Anne,1872, newspaper owner (4)		3rd		banker's carriage house; now apartments Dewitt Clark, banking partner with O. H. Ingram's, Greek Revival, 1897 (3)
Lake Street
Miriam Ingram Hayes, Classical Revival, 1900 (2)		Ave.		Charles Ingram, Classical Revival, 1899 (1) Charles Ingram carriage house
Hudson Street
Community House, Prairie School, 1915 (A)	First Congregational church, Gothic Revival exterior & Arts & Crafts interior, 1919-1921 (B)		Ironically, Charles James, a well-known anarchist, lived on Union Street (5) in a simple Two-pen house, just north of Lake Street. He settled in Eau Claire in 1865 and wrote for anarchist publications on the East Coast, such as Free Society and Mother Earth, edited by Emma Goldman. He was the founder of the public library, served a term on the city council, and was prominent in the city's waterworks strike.

2) Summer Moon, 1307 Wilson Street, 1904 New England Colonial, was a prominent business owner who was president of the Northwestern Lumber Company, which was established in 1863 by his father, Delos Moon Sr., and his partner, Gilbert Porter. Moon was also vice-president and president of the Gillette Rubber Company, later called Uniroyal.

the front yard over looks the low-lying land where the Moon's cows grazed to provide fresh milk			New England Colonial, 1904, front view
back view with parking for tenants now			boiler & carriage house, side view

3) John Walter, 605 North Barstow Street, 1897 Queen Anne, was born in Germany and immigrated to the USA in 1874. In 1890, he bought the Empire Brewery in Eau Claire and renamed it after himself. As his business prospered, the Walter family moved from a modest house on 628 North Barstow to the mansion that is today associated with the family. The original narrow clapboard was covered with asbestos shingles which were removed in 2001.


Walter brewery, 1890-1985; Hibernia Brewery, 1985-1990?	originally a tavern with apartments	John Walter's first home	John Walter's mansion	Walter's garage	Christina Eichert, sister of John Walter

4) Local Roofing Company. Usually, when people become successful and wealthy they leave their original older neighborhoods and move to the newer suburbs. But in the case of the owners of the Local Roofing Company, the family build three houses within a block of each of other, reflecting the era of construction and their rising prosperity. These houses are located on Margaret Street and Hogeboom Avenue.
original house, Art Deco, 1930s	second house, Ranch, early 1960s	third house, California Rustic, late 1960s

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Created by Ingolf Vogeler on 9 June 1997; last revised on 10 February 2009.