Kenosha.com

Categories

  • Arts
  • Beyond The City
  • Business
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Family
  • Film + TV
  • Friday Funny
  • Food + Drink
  • Health
  • History
  • Humor
  • Kenoshans
  • Lifestyle
  • Local
  • Music
  • News
  • Pets
  • Real Estate
  • Sports
  • Technology

Notices

  • Obituaries

Get Involved

  • Nominate a Kenoshan of the Week
  • Submit a Story
  • Write With Us
  • Shop Our Store

Resources

  • Business Development
  • Business Directory
  • Education
  • Non-Profit
  • Tourism/Recreation

Learn More

  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Our Team
  • Contact
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
Shop
Kenosha.com
  • Local
  • Food + Drink
  • Kenoshans
  • Sports
  • Business
  • Obituaries
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
In the spring of 1835, the Western Emigration Company sent a party of three men to Wisconsin with directions to find a suitable site with a good harbor and good farming country nearby.
PHOTO: VIEW FROM ABOVE - WISCONSIN
History, Local
February 8, 2021

Happy 171st Birthday, Kenosha!

After being settled in 1835, city was incorporated on Feb. 8, 1850
Steve Marovich

By Steve MarovichKENOSHA.COM

Marovich brings a diverse skill set to Kenosha.com with his years of experience as Carthage College sports information/assistant athletic director and educational background in political science, along with a 10-year stint as a restaurant line cook and sous chef.

  • TWITTER
  • FACEBOOK
  • LINKED IN
  • EMAIL
  • COPY LINK

Kenosha was settled on the site of several Potawatomi tribe villages. Prior to 1833, one of those villages was on Simmons Island, a second was in the area of the Rice Park subdivision (north of 52nd Street, west of Sheridan Road and east of 22nd Avenue) and a third was along Lake Michigan to the south.

The only roads in the area were Native American trails, particularly along what is now Green Bay Road toward Milwaukee and an east-west path connecting that trail to Lake Michigan, along what is now 75th Street.

The Potawatomi ceded their holdings in 1833, when they sold the last of their land in Illinois and Wisconsin to the federal government. The tribe had hoped to protect their land claims by fighting alongside the United States in the Black Hawk War of 1832, but growing poverty forced them to sell in exchange for territory in Iowa.

Early white settlers mostly arrived in southeastern Wisconsin by boat via the Great Lakes, or overland from Chicago. Kenosha’s first settlers came from upstate New York, particularly Hannibal, N.Y., in Oswego County. One Hannibal resident, John Bullen, formed a land company with several friends, the Western Emigration Company, with Bullen’s son, John Bullen Jr., in charge.

In the spring of 1835, the younger Bullen sent a party of three men to Wisconsin with directions to find a suitable site with a good harbor and good farming country nearby. The party traveled by boat to Detroit, walked overland from Detroit to Chicago and walked and sailed from Chicago to Racine.

Finding Racine already spoken for, they walked south until they reached Simmons Island and the mouth of the Pike River. On June 5, 1835, the party laid claim to the area.

Other settlers followed that summer and the following winter, with the population reaching 84 in 1836 and 337 by 1840. The town was platted in 1836, and the street layout of the time was not terribly different than we know now.

The first settlement was known as Pike or Pike Creek, but the name was changed to Southport in 1837 as an acknowledgement of the southernmost port along Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. Southport was incorporated as a village in 1840.

Wisconsin became a state in 1848, and on Feb. 8, 1850, the state legislature approved our city charter. When the charter was approved, the city changed its name again, from Southport to Kenosha. The new name was really an old name, since Pike was named after the Potawatomi name Kenozia, or “place of the pike,” or possibly from the Chippewa word Kinoje for pike or pickerel.

Kenosha had a population of 3,437 at the time of incorporation in 1850. With an estimated population of 99,944 as of July 2019, it is currently the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin, as well as the fourth-largest city on Lake Michigan.

HAVE A STORY TO TELL?

MESSAGE US

More Like This

Family, Health, Local

Making your future care wishes known

National Healthcare Decisions Day sparks dialogue on advance care planning

Education, Local, News

St. Joseph Catholic Academy announces Deacon Patrick Moynihan as new president

The Haitian Project president to replace retiring Robert Freund

Food + Drink, Local, News

On eve of season opener, Biergarten announces five-year extension with Kenosha County

Popular summer destination at Petrifying Springs Park has exceeded expectations

Kenosha

THE STORY OF US

Kenosha.com is a local, digital media platform offering interesting, engaging content created by experienced journalists and local professionals. The platform features a wide range of content including news, features, profiles and reviews, showcasing Kenosha’s outstanding people, places and events.

  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
SHOP

PARTNERS

FOUNDERS

Felicia Pavlica
Froedtert South
Jerry Smith Farm
Johnson Financial Group
Lee Mechanical
15 Spots Available

PLATINUM

Cove Realty
Herzing University
Laura Stoner with Berkshire Hathaway
16 Spots Available

GOLD

Jockey Being Family Foundation
Dick’s Roofing
Valeri Insurance
Gateway Mortgage
Piasecki Funeral Home
Hansen’s Pool and Spa
Community State Bank
Pitts Brothers Realty
Prophet Wealth Management
YMCA Kenosha
Casa Capri
Kenosha Harbor Market
17 Spots Available

© 2021 Kenosha.com Inc. | Privacy Policy

Kenosha

THE STORY OF US

Kenosha.com is a local, digital media platform offering interesting, engaging content created by experienced journalists and local professionals. The platform features a wide range of content including news, features, profiles and reviews, showcasing Kenosha’s outstanding people, places and events.

  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
SHOP

PARTNERS

FOUNDERS

Felicia Pavlica
Froedtert South
Jerry Smith Farm
Johnson Financial Group
Lee Mechanical
15 Spots Available

PLATINUM

Cove Realty
Herzing University
Laura Stoner with Berkshire Hathaway
16 Spots Available

GOLD

Jockey Being Family Foundation
Dick’s Roofing
Valeri Insurance
Gateway Mortgage
Piasecki Funeral Home
Hansen’s Pool and Spa
Community State Bank
Pitts Brothers Realty
Prophet Wealth Management
YMCA Kenosha
Casa Capri
Kenosha Harbor Market
17 Spots Available

© 2021 Kenosha.com Inc. | Privacy Policy

Kenosha

THE STORY OF US

Kenosha.com is a local, digital media platform offering interesting, engaging content created by experienced journalists and local professionals. The platform features a wide range of content including news, features, profiles and reviews, showcasing Kenosha’s outstanding people, places and events.

  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
SHOP

PARTNERS

FOUNDERS

Felicia Pavlica
Froedtert South
Jerry Smith Farm
Johnson Financial Group
Lee Mechanical
15 Spots Available

PLATINUM

Cove Realty
Herzing University
Laura Stoner with Berkshire Hathaway
16 Spots Available

GOLD

Jockey Being Family Foundation
Dick’s Roofing
Valeri Insurance
Gateway Mortgage
Piasecki Funeral Home
Hansen’s Pool and Spa
Community State Bank
Pitts Brothers Realty
Prophet Wealth Management
YMCA Kenosha
Casa Capri
Kenosha Harbor Market
17 Spots Available

© 2021 Kenosha.com Inc. | Privacy Policy

Follow us today!

Sign up for the latest news, entertainment and
information from Kenosha.com

ENTER FOR
A CHANCE TO WIN
$500
in local gift cards.

Sign up for the latest news, entertainment and
information from Kenosha.com

ENTER FOR
A CHANCE TO WIN
$500
in local gift cards.