Racine Wisconsin History & Facts

Racine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River.Racine is situated 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and approximately 60 miles (100 km) north of Chicago. It is the principal city of the US Census Bureau's Racine metropolitan area (consisting only of Racine County).The Racine metropolitan area is, in turn, counted as part of the Milwaukee combined statistical area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 77,816, making it the 5th largest city in Wisconsin. In January 2017, it was rated "the most affordable place to live in the world" by the Demographia International Housing Affordability survey.

Racine is the headquarters of a number of industries, including J. I. Case heavy equipment, S. C. Johnson & Son cleaning and chemical products, Dremel Corporation, Reliance Controls Corporation time controls and transfer switches, Twin Disc, and Arthur B. Modine heat exchangers. The Mitchell & Lewis Company, a wagonmaker in the 19th century, began making motorcycles and automobiles as Mitchell-Lewis Motor Company at the start of the 20th century. Racine is also home to InSinkErator, manufacturers of the first garbage disposal.Racine was also historically home to the Horlicks malt factory, where malted milk balls were first developed, and the Western Publishing factory where Little Golden Books were printed. Prominent architects in Racine's history include A. Arthur Guilbert and Edmund Bailey Funston, and the city is home to some works by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Native Americans inhabited the area of Racine for thousands of years. Artifacts that have survived include the burial mounds in what is now Mound Cemetery. Historians separate the natives living in the Root watershed at that time into Woodland people and Hopewell people. After European contacted the Natives, the Miami and later the Potawatomi expanded into the area, taking part in the French fur trade.

In November 1674, while traveling from Green Bay to the territory of the Illinois Confederation, Father Jacques Marquette and his assistants, Jacques Largillier and Pierre Porteret, camped at the mouth of the Root River.These were the first Europeans known to visit what is now Racine County. Further expeditions were made in the area by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1679 and by François Jolliet De Montigny and Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes in 1698. Nearly a century later, in 1791, a trading post would be established along Lake Michigan near where the Root River empties into it.

Following the Blackhawk War, the area surrounding Racine, which had previously been off-limits, was settled by Yankees from upstate New York and New England. In 1834 Captain Gilbert Knapp USRM, who was from Chatham, Massachusetts, founded the settlement of "Port Gilbert" at the place where the Root River empties into Lake Michigan.Knapp had first explored the area of the Root River valley in 1818, and returned with financial backing when the war ended. Within a year of Knapp's settlement hundreds of other settlers from New England and western New York had arrived and built log cabins in the area surrounding his own. Some of the settlers were from the town of Derby, Connecticut, and others came from the New England states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The area was previously called "Kipi Kawi" and "Chippecotton" by the indigenous peoples, both names for the Root River. The name "Port Gilbert" was never really accepted, and in 1841 the community was incorporated as the village of Racine, after the French word for "root". After Wisconsin was admitted to the Union in 1848, the new legislature voted in August to incorporate Racine as a city.

In 1852, Racine College, an Episcopal college, was founded; it closed in 1933.Its location and many of its buildings are preserved today by the Community of St. Mary as part of the DeKoven Center.

Also in 1852, Racine High School, the first public high school in Wisconsin, opened. The high school operated until 1926, when it was torn down to make way for the new Racine County Courthouse, an Art Deco highrise. Washington Park High School was built to replace the original high school.

Famous Peoples From Racine Wisconsin

Kevin J. Anderson

Kevin James Anderson (born March 27, 1962) is an American science fiction author. He has written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E. and The X-Files, and with Brian Herbert is the co-author of the Dune prequel series. His original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series and the Nebula Award–nominated Assemblers of Infinity. He has also written several comic books, including the Dark Horse Star Wars series Tales of the Jedi written in collaboration with Tom Veitch, Dark Horse Predator titles, and The X-Files titles for Topps. Some of Anderson's superhero novels include Enemies & Allies, about the first meeting of Batman and Superman, and The Last Days of Krypton, telling the story of how Superman's planet Krypton came to be destroyed.

Anderson has published over 140 books, over 50 of which have been on US and international bestseller lists, and he has more than 23 million books in print worldwide.

Anderson is working as a Professor at Western Colorado University.Anderson has been a Literary Guest of Honor and Keynote Speaker at the Life, the Universe, & Everything professional science fiction and fantasy arts symposium, on at least three occasions: 2016, 2006 and 1993.In 2021, Anderson was inducted into the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame along with Stephen King and James Michener.

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