Chamber: Mission Statement - The Eagle River Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center would like to welcome you to our beautiful area. We are dedicated to community development, the encouragement of citizen involvement and the promotion of a strong economy. We hope you enjoy your stay with us.

Population: Eagle River has a population of about 1,400 people. It is the county seat, and is the only city in Vilas County. The city itself is approximately one square mile.

Government: The Mayor and four aldermen serve on the City Council for terms of two years.

The mayor is Dan Meyer.

Police Department: There are six full-time police officers serving the city.

Fire Department: Fire Chief and more than 20 dedicated volunteer firemen.

Purity of Water: Very good. Pollution is non-existent from a heavy industry standpoint. Sanitation is rigidly controlled.

Airport: Used by private planes and charters. No major airplane service to Eagle River, however there is a daily service out of the Oneida County Airport at Rhinelander - 20 miles.

Utilities: Eagle River Light & Water has been a proud Public Power Utility since May 1898. Home grown and locally controlled, its goals are to please its customers. From a humble beginning it has grown to be one of the city's largest tax payers and provide many other public services. The Utility takes this opportunity to welcome you to the City of Eagle River.

Library: First formed as a paying library in 1925. The municipal library is open 51 hours a week, with two full and three part time librarians. There are approximately 32,000 books and current circulation is over 78,000. The Olson Foundation provided a $350,000 grant for a new library dedicated October 9, 1980.

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Educational Facilities: K-12 system as of July, 1973. Schools located at Eagle River are St. Peter's Catholic (Grades 1-8), Christ Lutheran School (Grades K-8), and the Northland Pines Grade/Middle School (Pre K-8) which was newly constructed in 1994. It is adjacent to the Northland Pines High School. The City of Eagle River and the Townships of Washington, Lincoln, Cloverland, St. Germain, Conover, Sayner-Plum Lake, Land O'’ Lakes and a portion of Newbold make up the K-12 District. New K-5 elementary in Land O'’ Lakes and St. Germain were dedicated in 1997. The Northland Pines School District encompasses 450 square miles and has a total enrollment of 1,641 students. Nicolet College in Rhinelander is a two-year college and the district is made up of Vilas, Oneida and Forest Counties, and the northern half of Lincoln County. The college also provides evening classes for adults in all the small communities throughout the district.

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Hospital Facilities: Eagle River Memorial Hospital and a 1.7 million dollar Kalmar Clinic addition, dedicated in the fall of 1977. Eagle River Hospital is a 41 bed acute care facility. The hospital was built in 1961 and affiliated with Howard Young Health Care in 1987 and still holds that affiliation today. Through Howard Young, Eagle River Hospital is affiliated with the Medical College of Wisconsin. The Kalmar Clinic includes Rhinelander Medical Center/Eagle River Medical Group, Cardiovascular Associates of Northern Wisconsin, Marshfield Clinic/Lakeland Center, GastroIntestinal Services of Wausau, Northwoods Orthopaedics, Northern Wisconsin Orthopedic's Urology Services of Wausau and Northwoods Foot Specialists. Eagle River Health Care (Nursing Home) 24 hour emergency medical services, ambulance, and 911 are also located here.

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Recreational Facilities: Many in the area. Three ball diamonds which include Little League Park, Babe Ruth Park and Fran Richter Memorial Park. Supervised swimming, beach and park at Silver Lake. Four public horseshoe courts are located at Riverside Park. There are six public tennis courts, four of which are lighted, and an eighteen hole public golf course, Eagle River Golf Course also has a cross-country ski trail during the winter months. There are many snowmobile trails linking community to community and Eagle River is proclaimed Snowmobile Capital of the World. It hosts the World's Championship Snowmobile Derby annually on the 3rd weekend in January. For 35 years, more than 300 racers and up to 35,000 fans have come from all corners of the world to take part in the most important competition in the sport of snowmobiling.

From an early beginning, on the frozen waters of Dollar Lake just outside Eagle River, the Derby track has evolved into a modern fully equipped motor sports facility. Private corporate suites, a large indoor viewing complex and a heated expo building make the Derby track the finest snowmobile race facility anywhere.

Eagle River has been called the Snowmobile Capital of the World largely because of the media focus on the annual World Championship race.

The Eagle River Recreation Association owns and operates the sports arena, located one mile east of the city on Hwy. 70. Several hundred young people participate in the hockey and figure skating programs. Each July, a 3-week summer figure skating and hockey school is held. An ice show is held in the spring, and at the finish of summer skating. The rink is open to the public for ice skating on Sunday evenings, (during the time the rink is flooded). Area hockey teams include: Mites, Squirts, Pee Wee and Bantams, Northland Pines Eagles, and the Falcons, a senior amateur team.

Fishing: Eagle River is the County seat for Vilas County, in the heart of musky, walleye and bass country in Northern Wisconsin. The area encompasses approximately 1,000 lakes, plus trout and smallmouth streams. This area is world renown as trophy musky water. Come experience a wonderful fishing trip on your own or hire one of the many guides which call this fishing country home.

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Industry: Tourism is considered the main industry. With the popularity of the snowmobile and cross country skiing, The Eagle River area has become a four seasons vacationland. Many resorts dot the Eagle River Chain - largest inland chain of freshwater connecting lakes in the world - 28 in all! The 600,000 acre Nicolet National Forest lies adjacent to Eagle River. All water oriented sports are main attractions for spring, summer and fall. Trees for Tomorrow is a nationally known environmental center used by students, teachers and persons from all walks of life. It is open all year and the public is welcome to tour the facility, and to walk it's marked nature trail. Logging should also be considered an important area industry.

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Historic Notes: The development of the village dates with the coming of the railroad in 1883. But there were pioneers in the area in the 1850's. Eagle River celebrated its Centennial in 1957. James Hall settled here in 1863. Other prominent settlers arrived with the railroad. Among them was John O'Connor, who is considered the founding father. He had the village platted in the name of his wife, Ann O'Connor in 1885. Lyman J. Cook and George P. Dickinson, the first merchants, opened their tent store in 1883. Logging was the primary industry in those days.

Eagle River was incorporated as a Village in 1922 and as a City in 1939. The Townships of Cloverland, Lincoln and Washington make up the surrounding area.

There have been several newspapers in the history of Eagle River. The present is known as Vilas County News Review. It is a composite of three other newspapers - The Eagle River Review, established in 1885, the Vilas County News in 1890, and the Three Lakes News in 1931.

Historical Buildings: The White Spruce Inn, built by George Dickinson in 1884, served many purposes before coming under the present ownership. Besides serving as a school house, the first white child in the area was born here. It now serves as a successful year ‘round restaurant and supper club. There are numerous other historical spots and buildings in the Eagle River area. The Chamber office has self-guided maps of the historical points of Eagle River.

How Named: It is believed that a Bethuel Draper and "Dutch Pete" Cramer camped this area in 1853 and were responsible for naming Eagle River. The name came from the number of eagles nesting along the river.

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Eagle River is home to many, many wonderful and fun events every year.

Here is just a sample of annual events held in Eagle River. If you plan on coming to an event, please give the chamber a call to confirm the activity, time and place. We are proud of the activities we have to offer and hope everyone will have a chance to come and enjoy the wonderful things Eagle River has to offer!

January 3rd weekend World Championship Snowmobile Derby

February Last Sat. & Sun. Klondike Days

May 2nd weekend Journeys Marathon

June 3rd weekend Mega Musky 100

July 4th Parade

July 2nd Thursday Guides/Kids Fishing Day

August 3rd Thursday Paul Bunyan Fest

August 3rd weekend National Championship Musky Open

October 1st weekend Cranberry Fest

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