Property Record
CARSON PARK
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Paul Bunyan Camp |
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| Other Name: | Paul Bunyan Logging Camp Museum |
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| Reference Number: | 40948 |
| Location (Address): | CARSON PARK |
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| County: | Eau Claire |
| City: | Eau Claire |
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| Year Built: | 1936 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19812015 |
| Historic Use: | museum/gallery |
| Architectural Style: | Rustic Style |
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| Wall Material: | Log |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | The buildings of Paul Bunyan Logging Camp "include a cook shanty, bunkhouse, stable, blacksmith shop and an outdoor shed for the protection of larger equipment from the elements. The Norway and white pine logs for construction...were secured from woods in Taylor Creek...a few miles south of Eau Claire. The actual building work was supervised by an old lumber camp foreman, Al Hartt, who had 46 winters in the woods. He arranged a typical logging camp layout of the late 1890's. The buildings were constructed just as the old time camps were with the exception of cement chinking, rubberoid roofing, and a carefully hidden cement foundation under the log walls. The work was done entirely by hand with labor provided by the city of Eau Claire. All the logs were peeled and insure permanency, then hewn and dropped into place...the hinges and latches of the interior doors are of wood. All the furnishings are authentic." (A). "The Paul Bunyan Camp in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is the outgrowth of a sentiment that there should be a permanent memorial to the times when the pine tree was king in Northern Wisconsin and Eau Claire was the center of the lumber industry of the Chippewa Valley." The plan for the logging camp was "sparked by the efforts of Dr. Roy E. Mitchell and Dr. E. C. Murphy, charter members of Kiwanis and officers of the Eau Claire Club. An agreement was made with the City Council to erect a typical forty man camp on the bluffs of Carson Park overlooking Half Moon Lake." The camp was begun in 1935 and dedicated in 1936 (A). |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Paul Bunyan Camp (pamphlet at Chippewa Valley Museum). |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |