CARSON PARK

CARSON PARK

Eau Claire

Eau Claire

1865

1976

1981,2015

house

Side Gabled

Log

Gabriel Jensen

No

The Anderson Cabin was erected on the SW 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of section 5 of Township 28 North and Range 10 West - a location thirteen miles west of Chippewa Falls and fifteen miles northeast of Eau Claire. The cabin was moved to Carson Park in 1976 with funds and labor donated by Eau Claire County and the Eau Claire Lions Club. The one and a half story hewn log dwelling is 18 x 15 feet. The first floor is divided into three rooms - two small bedrooms and a combination dining room/living room/kitchen. The upper story provided an additional sleeping area. The cabin was built by Gabriel Jensen, who lived nearby and was a carpenter by trade but who also operated a farm. Of special interest is the type of corner notching used in the cabin's construction. It has been traced to Norwegian immigrants who settled in Canada in the late nineteenth century (A).

"The Lars Anderson House was owned by Lars and Greta Anderson, who emigrated from Norway in 1853. They came from the Baerum area and settled for a few years in Waupun, Wisconsin, which was a stopping place for many Norwegian immigrants who finally made their way to the town of Wheaton in Chippewa County and the adjacent Elk Mound area in Dunn County" (A).

Anderson, in addition to his farm labors, was active in the civic and religious affairs of the area. Lars was the first treasurer of the Big Elk Lutheran Church and at a later date he donated a portion of the farm to the congregation as a site for a church building. Anderson was also elected constable of the Town of Wheaton in 1860 and two years later became the justice of the peace. At the end of the Civil War, he became a member of the Board of Supervisors, an office he held for two years. Anderson died in 1898 and his wide in 1903. Of their ten children, six survived to adulthood (A).

(A) Manuscript collection, Chippewa Valley Museum.

Not Listed