Explore the Chippewa Valley’s Story in America’s 250th Year

Three local museums have teamed up to tell one big story — how national change has shaped everyday life right here at home. Together, we’ve created a regional exhibit series, "The U.S. at 250" presented across three sites:

Chippewa Area History Center (Chippewa Falls)

Early regional history through the Civil War

Chippewa Valley Museum (Eau Claire)

Life in the Chippewa Valley from the 1870s–1920s

Rassbach Heritage Museum (Menomonie)

Late 20th century to today

Across all three museums, familiar objects — from a canoe to a denim jacket — reveal how ordinary people connect to the nation’s story.

Visit all three and win a prize!

Pick up a passport card (or use the electronic version) at any museum. Each completed visit earns an entry — up to three — in our prize drawings. Already visited one or two? We’ll credit your passport. See the comments for the full rules.

And because we’re history nerds in the best way, each “visit by” date ties to a key moment in the American Revolution:

By July 4 – 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence

Win a $50 Chippewa Valley Trolley Company gift certificate

By September 3 – Anniversary of the Treaty of Paris

Win two Mabel Tainter Theater tickets + drink tickets to The Spirit Room

By October 19 – Anniversary of the British surrender at Yorktown

Win a Chippewa Falls experience

Come celebrate our shared history — past, present, and future — across the Chippewa Valley. Your story is part of America’s story

From the Chippewa Valley Museum Facebook page.