“The Lumber Baron” at Cozy Theater October 5
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The locally produced and filmed movie, “The Lumber Baron,” will be shown at the Colfax Municipal Building’s Cozy Theater on Saturday, October 5.
Written by Karen Hurd of Eau Claire, “The Lumber Baron” is — as one may surmise — a story about the lumber industry in the Chippewa Valley.
The story is set in 1910 and focuses on the Rimsdale family. After the father of the family dies unexpectedly, a son, Daniel, leaves Madison, where he was attending medical school, to run the family’s lumber business.
It does not take long for the Rimsdales to find out their business has been poorly managed over the years.
Parts of the movie were filmed in Eau Claire at the Paul Bunyan Lumber Camp Museum and the Schlegelmilch House while other parts of the movie were filmed at the Cook-Rutledge Mansion in Chippewa Falls and at an Amish sawmill in New Auburn.
Part of the movie, too, was filmed at Hoffman Hills, south of Colfax.
The movie features 77 actors and was directed by Barry Anderson of Minneapolis.
One of the actors is Sara Edwards, the granddaughter of Colfax resident Kathy Rieder.
The Colfax Messenger attempted to contact Sara Edwards for this story about her experiences in filming the movie, but Sara’s involvement with school and the general complicatedness of life in general got in the way.
After seeing “The Lumber Baron” in Eau Claire this summer, Troy Knutson, events coordinator for the Colfax Municipal Building Restoration Group, said he wanted to bring the movie to Colfax because he believes it is a good film and because of the significance of the lumber industry in the history of the Chippewa Valley.
A plat map of the village of Colfax in 1888 was produced by the Knapp Stout lumber company.
According to an article published by the Wisconsin Magazine of History, in the 1870s, Knapp Stout had about 2,000 men on the payroll, and from 1871 to 1896, the company produced an average of 85 million feet of lumber per year.
“The Lumber Baron” cast includes Joseph Bezenek as Daniel Rimsdale Jr., Christina Baldwin as Elizabeth Rimsdale, Anna Stranz as Adeline Rimsdale, Scout Taylor-Compton as Mary Catherine Rimsdale, Henry Sollberger as Colin Rimsdale and Charles Hubbell as Silas Lynch.
Sara Edwards plays Young Elizabeth Rimsdale.
“The Lumber Baron” will be shown at 7 p.m. Saturday, October 5, in the Colfax Municipal Building’s Cozy Theater.
The movie is sponsored by the Colfax Municipal Building Restoration Group, the Colfax Public Library and the Colfax Commercial Club, with concessions by the Commercial Club.
No admission will be charged for the movie. Free will donations will go to the elevator fund.
The next project for the municipal building is to construct an addition for an elevator serving all three floors with handicapped accessible bathrooms on all three floors.
The Colfax Village Board has authorized a committee to work on the elevator project. The elevator fund is administered by the Village of Colfax.