Eau Claire is situated in the west-central part of the state of Wisconsin and a city and seat of Eau Claire and Chippewa counties. The area where the present-day Eau Claire sits was initially settled in 1846 and was then laid out in 1855. It was then developed as an economy that primarily caters lumber and has an intense rivalry with its nearby lumber community of Chippewa Falls. When the local forests of the area were exhausted of its resources during the early part of the 20th century, the city then shifted its economic activity into manufacturing that was now based on the building of computer equipment, electronics, and paper products. It has also later become a center of computer manufacturing and beer production.