Adin Randall Statue Randall Park 1913
Adin Randall Statue Randall Park 1913
New York native Adin Randall, at age 26, was already a successful Madison contractor and builder. He and his family arrived in Eau Claire in 1855, where he was engaged to build a large hotel. His Eau Claire House was situated approximately at the junction of Farwell and Eau Claire Streets, with its stables at the northeast corner of Eau Claire and Barstow.
Randall recognized the value of the vast timber resources and was quickly caught up in the excitement of this thriving little lumber town. At one time he owned much of the Historic Randall Park Neighborhood.
One of Eau Claire's most colorful early settlers, Randall was a man of unusual, perhaps reckless, energy and daring enterprise. It is said that he started or suggested more business ventures than any other man Eau Claire has known. One of the most lasting contributions was his success in persuading such important lumbermen as O.H. Ingram to settle in Eau Claire and win their fortunes from the "limitless" pine forests of Wisconsin.
As a token of his faith in the future of the city, Randall donated parcels of land for Randall Park, a portion of Lake View Cemetery, a Methodist Seminary and the First Congregational Church. He planned to build his home where the Court House now stands, but that dream would not be fulfilled.
After a series of business setbacks during the difficult years of 1857 through 1890, Randall lost his Historic Randall Park Neighborhood property. He dies at Reed's Landing in 1868 at thirty-nine years of age.
This bronze statue in the center of Randall Park was designed by Wisconsin's most celebrated sculptress, Helen Farnsworth Mears. It was commissioned and dedicated by O.H. Ingram in memory of a remarkable man.
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