Property: Owen Lumber Co., Owen, WI

The Rust-Owen Lumber Company, a logging firm headquartered in Eau Claire, established the industry in Owen, Wisconsin around "Brick Creek" and its junction with the "Popple River". The creek was dammed, forming the "mill pond". At that time, the community was nothing more than this mill, its company boarding house, horse barns, store, office and the enormous lumber yards; and a few homes where employees with families resided. Eventually, rows of identical "yellow company houses" lined the treeless streets of the little village.