Clark County, Wisconsin

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Clark County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, its population was 34,659.<ref name="2020-census-55019" /> The county seat is Neillsville.<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref>

History

By the early 1800s, the land and streams that are now Clark County were the hunting grounds of the Chippewa, Dakota, Ho-Chunk, and possibly Menominee peoples. In 1836, these Indigenous groups were joined by a party of French-Canadian fur traders who established a temporary post for the American Fur Company on the East Fork of the Black River.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The next European-American arrivals were likely Mormon loggers in 1844, who came to harvest pine logs from the forests along the Black River. They floated the logs downstream to a sawmill at Black River Falls, where the lumber was processed and transported further downriver for use in constructing the Mormon temple in Nauvoo, Illinois. The Mormons established logging camps along the river at sites including Mormon Riffle (about a mile below Neillsville), near Weston's Rapids, and south of Greenwood. This logging operation likely ended by 1846, when most of the Mormons left the area following the murder of Joseph Smith.<ref>Curtiss-Wedge, p. 36.</ref>

In June 1845, James and Henry O'Neill led a party overland from Black River Falls, cutting a road through the brush. They used oxen to pull a wagon carrying tools and supplies. Upon arriving, they built a cabin on O'Neill Creek, followed by a sawmill. Lumber from the mill was rafted down the Black River to Black River Falls and then transported to Alexander O'Neill in Burlington, Iowa. However, a storm in June 1847 caused severe flooding of the Black River, destroying all the existing sawmills. Despite this setback, the settlers rebuilt.<ref>Curtiss-Wedge, pp. 37–38.</ref>

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Clark County fairgrounds

Clark County was founded in 1853 and officially organized the following year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The county's name origin is uncertain—it was either named for A. W. Clark, an early settler,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> or for General George Rogers Clark.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Electricity became available in some towns and villages around 1900 through private power plants. For example, in 1902, the Paulsen mill began supplying electricity to the village of Withee. However, rural farms remained without electricity until the late 1930s. In 1937, the newly formed Clark Electric Cooperative, funded by a loan from the New Deal's Rural Electrification Administration, began installing power lines to serve the county's rural areas.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1920, construction began on the Clark County Asylum, located two miles east of Owen. It was the last in a network of 35 county mental hospitals established in Wisconsin, designed to provide long-term care for patients unlikely to recover. Twelve patients from the Wausau asylum assisted with construction and became the facility’s first residents. The asylum operated a farm to keep patients engaged while supplying food for the institution. By 1924, patients cultivated 60 acres of corn, 25 acres of potatoes, 16 acres of barley, 40 acres of oats, 6 acres of buckwheat, and 3 acres of millet. A dairy herd was later introduced, along with hog farming and a slaughterhouse by 1948. Over time, the institution's mission shifted from a "custodial asylum" to a "treatment hospital" and eventually to a skilled nursing facility. Today, it is known as the Clark County Rehab and Living Center.<ref>[1], Marshfield News-Herald, July 15, 1983</ref>

Geography

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Rolling farmland on the shoulders of North Bluff north of Willard

According to the United States Census Bureau, Clark County has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (0.7%) is water.<ref name="GR1">Template:Cite web</ref>

Adjacent counties

Taylor County – north
Marathon County – east
Wood County – southeast
Jackson County – south
Eau Claire County – west
Chippewa County – northwest

Major highways

Railroads

Buses

Airport

KVIQ – Neillsville Municipal Airport

Climate

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Demographics and religion statistics

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2020 census

As of the 2020 census,<ref name="2020-census-55019">Template:Cite web</ref> the population of Clark County was 34,659. The population density was Template:Convert. There were 14,755 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert.

The racial makeup of the county was:

92.2% White
0.5% Native American
0.3% Black or African American
0.3% Asian
3.4% from other races
3.2% from two or more races

Additionally, 6.1% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.

2000 census

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As of the 2000 census,<ref name="GR8">Template:Cite web</ref> Clark County had a population of 33,557, with 12,047 households and 8,673 families residing in the county. The population density was Template:Convert. There were 13,531 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert.

The racial composition of the county was:

98.05% White
0.13% Black or African American
0.48% Native American
0.30% Asian
0.01% Pacific Islander
0.56% from other races
0.47% from two or more races

Additionally, 1.20% of the population identified as Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The most common ancestries reported were:

54.0% German
9.0% Polish
6.2% Norwegian
6.1% American

In terms of language, 6.62% of residents spoke German, Pennsylvania Dutch, or Dutch at home, while an additional 1.34% spoke Spanish.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

There were 12,047 households, of which:

35.0% had children under 18 living with them
61.2% were married couples living together
6.5% had a female householder with no husband present
28.0% were non-families

Additionally, 23.8% of all households consisted of individuals, and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years or older. The average household size was 2.73, while the average family size was 3.27.

The county’s population was distributed as follows:

29.9% under the age of 18
7.7% from 18 to 24
26.2% from 25 to 44
20.2% from 45 to 64
16.0% aged 65 or older

The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.5 males. Among adults 18 and older, there were 98.7 males per 100 females.

In 2017, there were 554 births in the county, resulting in a general fertility rate of 99.2 births per 1,000 women aged 15–44—the second-highest rate among Wisconsin’s 72 counties. Of these, 184 births occurred at home, more than in any other county in the state.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Religion

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In 2010, the largest religious groups by reported number of adherents in Clark County were:

Catholicism: 9,535 adherents
Missouri Synod Lutheranism: 2,459 adherents
ELCA Lutheranism: 2,281 adherents
Amish: 1,986 adherents
United Church of Christ: 959 adherents
Wisconsin Synod Lutheran: 891 adherents
United Methodist: 577 adherents.<ref>thearda.com 2010 County Membership Report data</ref>

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Communities

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Clark County sign

Cities

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Villages

Towns

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Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

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Globe is a remnant of a rural farming community, with the church remaining.

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Ghost towns/neighborhoods

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Along with modern farmers, the county is home to many Amish, who continue to farm using traditional methods.

In 2013, there were 16 Amish church districts in Clark County.<ref>Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, Steven M. Nolt: The Amish. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013, p. 142.</ref>

Politics

Clark County has leaned Republican for much of its history, but it has voted for Democrats 6 times since 1950. The last Democrat to win the county was Barack Obama in 2008, and since then it has trended strongly Republican in every election. In 2020 and 2024, Donald Trump won the highest share of the vote for a Republican since Dwight Eisenhower's 1952 landslide.<ref>https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/</ref>