New Auburn, WI

New Auburn is a village spread across Barron and Chippewa counties, located mostly in the Town of Auburn with small pieces reaching into Bloomer and Dovre. The 2020 census counted 562 residents. U.S. 53 and County Roads AA, M, Q, and SS thread through the area, while the village hall sits in Chippewa County and the school district in Barron County - county lines are part of the everyday geography here. New Auburn lies about 35 miles north of Eau Claire and 30 miles south of Rice Lake.

Timber shaped the first economy; once the land was cleared, farming took over. Today the surrounding lakes, the 1,176-acre New Auburn Wildlife Area, and the Chippewa Moraine give the village an outdoor side. The Ice Age Interpretive Center serves as a gateway to the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, while winter brings snowmobile traffic and summer brings camping and fishing. New Auburn also has a literary footnote: Michael Perry used the village as the setting for a book about neighbors, emergency calls, and small-town life. It is a place where county boundaries, farm country, and trail country overlap.