It is the seat of Eau Claire County. It is the principal city of the Eau Claire metropolitan area , locally known as the Chippewa Valley , which had , residents in After Eau Claire's lumber industry declined in the early 20th century, the city's economy diversified to encompass manufacturing and Eau Claire became an educational center with the opening of the University of WisconsinβEau Claire in Eau Claire took its name from Eau Claire County.
According to local legend, the river was so named because early French explorers journeying down the rain-muddied Chippewa River , came upon the confluence with the Eau Claire River, and excitedly exclaimed "Voici l'eau claire! Now the city motto, this appears on the city seal. The Eau Claire area was first visited by Europeans in the late 17th century. It had been occupied for thousands of years before European fur traders began settling there for trade with local Native American tribes.
The First Treaty of Prairie du Chien , signed in , established the Chippewa River "half a day's march below the falls" as the boundary between the Sioux and Chippewa , and the "Clear Water River, a branch of the Chippewa" as the boundary between the Chippewa and Winnebago.
The first permanent European-American settlers arrived in , and the city was officially incorporated in Sawmills and other manufacturing made Eau Claire an industrial city by the late 19th century. The city was founded near the confluence of the Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers as three separate settlements.
The main section of downtown is on the site of the original European-American village, where Stephen McCann , in partnership with J. Thomas, put up three buildings in Although these structures were erected primarily to establish a claim to the land site, the McCann family moved into one of them and became the first permanent settlers.
