"Haymarket Square"

"Haymarket Square". Where Two Rivers Meet. , When Ojibwa Indians ceded their Chippewa Valley lands to the United States in 1837, Yankee and Canadian lumbermen rushed westward to explore the region's vast white pine forests. At this meeting plasce of two rivers, Eau Claire provided an ideal site for sawmills. Loggers floated buoyant pine downstream to mills where it was cut into lumber for markets along the Mississippi. Lumbering gave birth to the City of Eau Claire and for more than 50 years dominated its economy. , As lumbering declined, economic and industrial diversification occurred. The area became a center for coal, gas, paper, tire and furniture manufacturing, as well as food packing and canning. For several decades farmers brought their livestock, poultry, fruits and vegetables here to the Haymarket Square and sold them to the townspeople. , "In the fall of the year (c. 1900s) we kids had a lot of fun when the City of Eau Claire had their annual street fair. It would continue for one full week and took place on Barstow Street and the adjoining side streets. The haymarket was for the farmers to display their hogs, cows, steers, etc. This made it a smelly place, especially when it rained and mud would accumulate. The main street was full of stands, with show tents up on all the side streets. The business places did a flourishing business and the saloons got their share of business also. People came from the surrounding small towns and spent the day in the big city.” , Anton Venski, After All These Years, 19-20. , Sponsored By: , Business Improvement District , of Downtown Eau Claire.