University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire – Barron County
university branch campus in Rice Lake, Wisconsin
The University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire – Barron County (also known as UWEC–Barron County or UWEC–BC) is a branch campus to the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire. It is located in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, and is a member of the University of Wisconsin System. As of the 2016–17 school year, there were 497 full and part-time students.
UWEC–BC is located on approximately 110 acres (45 ha) of partially wooded land. Six buildings comprise the campus. These include Meggers Hall/Ritzinger Hall (administration and classrooms), the Fine Arts Building, library, gymnasium, student center, and physical plant. Other educational and recreational facilities include an observatory, a Japanese Garden, a three-hole golf course, baseball diamonds, soccer fields, an eighteen-hole disc golf course, and a prairie restoration and wildlife habitat study area. The Cedar Side Walking Trail runs directly between the campus and the Red Cedar River.
History
The story of UW-Barron County began in the fall of 1963 when the Wisconsin Coordinating Committee for Higher Education (CCHE) recommended that a two-year liberal arts institution be established in Rice Lake. In April 1964 the Barron County Board of Supervisors undertook the commitment to fund the physical facilities of the 'Branch Campus' with state and federal aid.
“University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire – Barron County” enters the record as university branch campus in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what University, Wisconsin and Claire can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire – Barron County” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, University, Wisconsin and Claire provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7896639. Authority coordinates are 45.483, -91.746. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2016, 1963 and 1964.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire – Barron County” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.