Home » Wisconsin » Eau Claire

James W. Loewen (1942-2021)

We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague and remain committed to the work he began.

Eau Claire

Wisconsin

Basic Information

Type of Place
Independent City or Town
Metro Area
Politics c. 1860?
Don’t Know
Unions, Organized Labor?
Don’t Know

Sundown Town Status

Sundown Town in the Past?
Possible
Was there an ordinance?
Don't Know
Sign?
Don’t Know
Year of Greatest Interest
Still Sundown?
Surely Not

Census Information

The available census data from 1860 to the present
Total White Black Asian Native Hispanic Other BHshld
1860
1870
1880 10119 9
1890 17415 4
1900 17577 11
1910 18310 32
1920 20906 21
1930 26287 11
1940 30745 12
1950 36058 14
1960 37987 2
1970 44619 91
1980 51509 130
1990 56856
2000
2010 65883 1211
2020

Method of Exclusion

  • Unknown

Main Ethnic Group(s)

  • Unknown

Group(s) Excluded

  • Black

Comments

Eau Claire Bears, the minor league team, had low attendance for the first month in 1952, perhaps because the team was 17-20, after winning the previous year, perhaps because it had four black players, “their most ever.” Some fans complained. That was before Aaron, who joined in June, but by then two blacks had been sent down to Class D, Danville, IL. Black players stayed at the Eau Claire YMCA; white players stayed in private homes or hotels.
Billy Bruton and Roy White, blacks, had played on the Bears in 1950. The Toastmasters Club voted against black ballplayers. “”Eau Claire is not a suitable city for a Negro baseball player, a majority of the member of the TC decided Tuesday night,”” acc. to Eau Claire Leader, 3/30/1950. TC was business leaders. “Shortly before Bruton arrived, [Marian] Anderson had been denied a room at the Hotel Eau Claire because she was black.” But some letters to the editor took issue with the TC.
But Bruton and White “became popular with the fans.”
Aaron got along well in Eau Claire. Had friends, ate in a restaurant, Paradise Cafe.