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NHP Racine/Kenosha, Wisconsin by Blade2k5
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Racine History:
Woodland Indians were the earliest known inhabitants of Racine County. In the latter half of the 17th Century, French fur traders and missionaries, including Nicholas Perrot and Fathers Claude Allouez and Jacques Marquette, found predominately Miami Indians inhabiting the lands along Racine's Root River.
By 1720, the Miami tribe had moved on and the area had become the home of the Potawatomi Indians. In the late 1820's, at a place then called Skunk Grove, Jacques and Louis Vieaux set up a fur trading post with the Potawatomi. A historic marker has been placed at the site, which is now in the Town of Mount Pleasant.
Following the Black Hawk War in 1832, "Wisconsin Fever" brought many pioneers from Western New York State, rural New England and Britain to this area. One of these was Captain Gilbert Knapp, who, in 1834, founded the settlement of Port Gilbert at the place where the Root River empties into Lake Michigan. However, the name Port Gilbert never gained acceptance over the earlier Indian designation of Chippecotton (Root River) or its French version, Racine, and in 1841 the community was incorporated as the Village of Racine. Shortly after statehood was granted in 1848, the brand new Wisconsin legislature voted to incorporate the Village of 3,000 as the City of Racine.
Soon after Captain Knapp founded his settlement on Lake Michigan, other pioneers were settling areas to the west. Lemuel Smith, who arrived in 1835, was said to have been the first settler in Burlington. David Bushnell and Herman and Elizabeth Loomis arrived the following year. In 1836, Levi Godfrey and John Wade built a log house in what is now Rochester. S.E. Chapman and Levi Barnes came to Waterford the same year.
In 1805, Congress created the Michigan Territory, which included all the land that is now in the State of Wisconsin. In 1818, the land west of Lake Michigan was divided into three counties. As settlers moved in, new Counties were split off from those original three. Milwaukee County was founded in 1834, the year Captain Knapp arrived, and included all the land along the lake south to Illinois. In 1836, the Wisconsin Territory was organized. That same year, this area was sufficiently inhabited to warrant separation from Milwaukee County, and Racine County was formed. It did not take on its present-day borders, however, until 1850, when Kenosha County was created out of its southernmost portion.
In the years preceding the Civil War, Racine was known for its strong opposition to slavery. Many slaves escaping to freedom via the "underground railroad" passed through Racine County. When Joshua Glover, an escaped slave who had made a home in Racine, was arrested as a fugitive and taken to jail in Milwaukee, a band of citizens from Racine broke into the jail and freed him.
When the Civil War began, the men of Racine County responded by forming the "Belle City Rifles." Over the course of that conflict, more than 2,000 of Racine County's sons fought in the Union Army. Almost 275 were killed, including Colonel Hans Christian Heg, one of the founders of the Town of Norway and the highest-ranking officer from the State of Wisconsin to perish in the War. A statue honoring him is located in the County's Heg Park.
Racine County holds the distinction of having erected, in 1853, the first High School building in the State of Wisconsin. The present County Courthouse grounds include the former sites of both Racine High School and the County's first public school.
Racine County land has been farmed for 2,000 years. The first Racine County farmers, members of the Hopewell Culture that inhabited the area some 1,300 to 1,900 years ago, grew corn, beans, squash and tobacco. Later, the Potawatomi
