HISTORIC HILL We s t H i l l n e i g h b o r h o o d m ay r e c e i v e n a t i o n a l h i s t o r i c a l d e s i g n a t i o n words by T O M G I F F E Y • photo by A N D R E A P A U L S E T H
P
erched high above downtown Chippewa Falls, the treelined streets of the West Hill neighborhood are dotted with picturesque homes dating as far back as the 1870s. Among them is the Cook-Rutledge Mansion, a High Victorian Italianate jewel built during the lumber boom of the 1880s. The neighborhood is an historic district in everything but name, and that could change in the near future: The Wisconsin Historical Society is considering applying to put the West Hill Residential Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. With the help of the Chippewa County Historical Society, the Wisconsin Historical Society held a community meeting last month to discuss the proposal, which was attended by about 60 residents. Public feedback on the plan to create the district was virtually unanimous, said Joe DeRose, survey historian with the Wisconsin Historical Society. DeRose said the West Hill neighborhood is under consideration as a historic district because of its coherent concentration of buildings with architectural styles ranging from the 1870s to the 1930s. “When you walk into this neighborhood, you have a sense almost that you’re walking back in time,” DeRose said. “You have a sense of what Chippewa Falls was like in the
COOK-RUTLEDGE MANSION
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