River Falls, Wisconsin

River Falls is a city in Pierce and St. Croix Counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 12,560 at the 2000 census. The city is located mostly within the Town of River Falls in Pierce County; only a small portion lies within the Town of Kinnickinnic in St. Croix County.

It is home to the University of Wisconsin-River Falls (which is also the summer camp of the Kansas City Chiefs football team. It is home to the 2007 Marching Band State Champions in AAA division.

Geography

River Falls is located at coor dms|44|51|31|N|92|37|30|W|city (44.858701, -92.625097)GR|1.

, the city has a total area of 6.56 square miles (17.0 km²). [http://www.rfcity.org/comdev/06%20Trends%20Report.pdf] 5.0 square miles (12.9 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.80%) is water.

River Falls lies on the banks of the Kinnickinnic River, a class 1 trout stream. The Kinnickinnic is broken into two parts, the upper, which begins its run approximately 10 miles north of Interstate 94 and the lower, which runs through a narrow canyon south of town. The two sections are separated by a pair of hydroelectric dams run by River Falls Public Utilities. River Falls is the largest city in Wisconsin that sits on a level 1 trout stream. In addition to the upper and lower Kinnickinnic, the South Fork of the Kinnickinnic River runs through the city, dividing the campus of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls into two sections.

River Falls is located 25 miles southeast of downtown St. Paul, Minnesota and is part of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Metropolitan Statistical Area, along with the rest of Pierce and St. Croix counties, even though they are located in a different state than the Twin Cities.

History

The city was founded in 1848 by Joel Foster and his indentured servant, Dick. It was originally named "Greenwood" but this had to be changed, as another Greenwood, WI already existed. [Easton, August B. History of Saint Croix Valley, p. 485.]

Demographics

As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there were 12,560 people, 4,269 households, and 2,335 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,524.0 people per square mile (973.8/km²). There were 4,346 housing units at an average density of 873.2/sq mi (336.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.57% White, 0.53% Black or African American, 0.36% Native American, 1.02% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 0.32% from other races, and 1.12% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.95% of the population.

There were 4,269 households out of which 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.7% were married couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.3% were non-families. 27.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the city the population was spread out with 17.9% under the age of 18, 35.1% from 18 to 24, 23.8% from 25 to 44, 14.6% from 45 to 64, and 8.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females there were 83.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $41,184, and the median income for a family was $60,253. Males had a median income of $36,275 versus $27,345 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,667. About 4.4% of families and 14.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.6% of those under age 18 and 11.1% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

* Warren P. Knowles, Governor of Wisconsin, was born in River Falls

* Aldrich Hazen Ames, former C.I.A. counter-intelligence officer and analyst; convicted in 1994 of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia.
* Karyn Bye, Olympic Gold Medal athlete.
* Francesca "Frankie" Rayder, American supermodel, was born in River Falls.

References

External links

* [http://www.rfcity.org/ River Falls]
* [http://www.rfchamber.com/ River Falls Chamber of Commerce]
* [http://www.rivertowns.net/ RiverTowns.net--River Falls news portal]