Profile of Eau Claire Churches at the Turn of the Century

Abstract

The Eau Claire area had a number of churches in the community around 1900. These churches served as a meeting place for many of the town's residents and shaped the community into what it is today. This paper serves to look at the records that were kept between 1890 and 1900. The church denominations that I have decided to look at are Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Baptists, Catholics, and Methodists. All these churches have different messages that drew different groups of people to their pulpits. The records show that there were different ethnic and social backgrounds that are associated with the denominations. The different denominations also had differences in keeping their records. Some records are more complete than others, and others provide additional information that gives insight to how the churches were run. These churches were an important part of the Eau Claire community, a fact that is often overlooked.