Eleva, Wisconsin
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Eleva ( ) is a village within the Town of Albion in Trempealeau County,
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
, along the Buffalo River. The population was 670 at the 2010 Census and reached 685 in the 2020 Census.


History

Before white settlement,
Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language Lakota ( ), also referred to as Lakhota, Teton or Teton Sioux, is a Siouan languages, Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of ...
and
Ho-Chunk The Ho-Chunk, also known as Hocąk, Hoocągra, or Winnebago are a Siouan languages, Siouan-speaking Native Americans in the United States, Native American people whose historic territory includes parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois ...
Indians controlled the area that would become Eleva, but
Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...
territory lay only ten miles north, across the Chippewa River. The first settlers in what would become the town of Albion arrived in 1856. Most settled east of the future Eleva, around what would be called Hamlin, on the stage road from
Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...
to
Eau Claire Eau Claire (French for "clear water", ''pl.'' ''eaux claires'') is the name of a number of locations and features in North America. The name is pronounced as if it were spelled "O'Clare". Place names (Canada) Communities *Eau Claire, Calgary, a n ...
. In these early days some Indians still migrated through in the spring and fall, camping just west of where Eleva would grow. William Moon, one of the first settlers, harvested potatoes that first fall of 1856 - the first harvest in Albion. In following years more settlers arrived, and began growing wheat and corn. The first building in what would become Eleva was constructed in 1863, when Joseph and Elizabeth Cooper built a cabin of tamarack logs near Big Creek. They left when Joseph volunteered in the Union Army, but returned to their cabin after the
war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
. David J. O'dell settled nearby in 1867. In 1876 John Redford and Marsh Goddard arrived, starting a combination
general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...
and
blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
shop. Goddard hauled most of his goods by horse and wagon from the train station in Augusta. That same year, Philo Englesby built a hotel. The following year E.J. Carpenter started a
grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...
on Big Creek which ground wheat between two big flat stones. That year the community added a second general store, a hardware store, a drug store, a
confectionery Confectionery is the Art (skill), art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates, although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two bro ...
, a meat shop, and a boarding house. Perhaps because the community was growing so fast, an 1877 map labelled it "New Chicago." The village was platted in 1877. The source of the name "Eleva" has long been debated, with these possible origins: # Some say "Eleva" is how Indians pronounced "I leave you" when they left. # Some say it was named after a place in Ireland. # Some say that "ELEVA" was painted on a grain elevator, and then winter struck before the painter could finish "TOR". Newcomers assumed the letters were the name of the village. # Some say the town was named after a French village by Goddard, who was from France. # Some say it was named for Goddard's daughter Eva, who died young. The community's first school was built in 1885, but it was two miles east, called Grant School for the farmer who rented the school land. This Grant was also the chairman of the school district, and a second cousin of President
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...
. A post office called ''Eleva'' started operation in one of the town's stores the same year. In 1889 Nathaniel Foster's ''Fairchild and Mississippi Railroad'' reached Eleva, following the Buffalo (then Beef) River. Foster added a lumber yard in Eleva and the railroad built a depot in 1890. A few years later Foster's railroad was acquired by the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway. In 1890 Henry Ruseling replaced his old stone grist mill with the modern-for-the-time Eleva Roller Mills, powered by water or coal, producing 50 barrels of wheat per day. That year, the town built its own school in town, serving grades one through eight. The town was booming, with two elevators, a cheese factory, a flour and feed mill, a hardware store, a drug store, a printer, a photographer, a tailor, a shoemaker, two plumbers, two blacksmiths, a doctor, an implement dealer, two hay buyers, and two livestock dealers. The town had no saloons. With all these services in Eleva and the railroad bypassing Hamlin two miles to the east, Hamlin gradually dried up. In 1901 the Osseo Telephone Company opened an exchange in Eleva. In 1902 Eleva incorporated as a village, with population around 314. That same year, Eleva replaced its 1890 school with a new brick school that taught grades one through ten, making it a state-graded school. The following year the Bank of Eleva was organized. In 1914 the village began to furnish electric service. At first the electricity was on only in the evenings, with extended hours on Tuesdays so the women could do their ironing. In 1917, Eleva's school became a high school, running through grade twelve. That served the community until 1950, when the shared Eleva-Strum high school was built midway between the two towns. Eleva itself built a new grade school in 1960.


Geography

Eleva is located at (44.575298, −91.471019). According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the village has a total area of , of which, of it is land and is water.


Demographics


2010 census

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2010, there were 670 people, 292 households, and 181 families living in the village. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 305 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.9%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.1% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.7% from other races, and 0.9% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 1.3% of the population. There were 292 households, of which 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.2% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 38.0% were non-families. Of all households, 31.2% were made up of individuals, and 16.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.86. The median age in the village was 39.5 years. 24.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 26% were from 25 to 44; 23.9% were from 45 to 64; and 17.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the village was 48.7% male and 51.3% female.


2000 census

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 635 people, 277 households, and 175 families living in the village. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was 1,169.0 people per square mile (454.0/km2). There were 290 housing units at an average density of 533.9 per square mile (207.4/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 98.43%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.16%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.16% Native American, 0.16% Asian, and 1.10% from two or more races. There were 277 households, out of which 26.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.5% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.8% were non-families. Of all households, 33.9% were made up of individuals, and 15.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.89. In the village, the population was spread out, with 23.5% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 19.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.1 males. The median income for a household in the village was $31,250, and the median income for a family was $41,964. Males had a median income of $30,294 versus $21,618 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the village was $15,814. About 5.6% of families and 9.5% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 11.6% of those under age 18 and 8.1% of those age 65 or over.


References


External links


School District of Eleva-Strum

2010 U.S. Census
{{authority control Villages in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin Villages in Wisconsin