Search results
Determining the date at which a community was founded is problematic. For thousands of years, Native Americans occupied the sites of most important Wisconsin cities and towns; perhaps Aztalan would rank as the oldest Wisconsin community.
In 1795, like many other towns surrounding Brussels, Ixelles was proclaimed a separate municipality by the French regime after the Revolution. The municipalities of Neder-Elsene ("Lower Ixelles", where the Abbey is located), Opper-Elsene ("Upper Ixelles", a Brussels suburb), Boondaal, Tenbos, and Solbos, all became part of Ixelles.
- Green Bay - "Stinking Bay"
- Eau Claire - "Clear Water"
- Racine - "Root"
- Door County - "Doors of Death"
- Fond Du Lac - "Bottom of Lake"
- Mequon - "Ladle"
- Trempealeau - "Mountain with Its Foot in The Lake"
- Milwaukee - "Gathering Place by The Waters"
- Wausau - "Faraway Place"
- Sheboygan - "Waterway Between The Lakes"
First settled by French explorer Jean Nicolet in 1634. Nicolet had traveled across Lake Huron from then New France (now Quebec) in search of expanding the fur trade industry and the forlorn hope that there would be a water route to Asia (him and everybody else; too bad they didn’t have Google Maps). The French translated ouinipeg (anglicized as Win...
Legend has it that when French explorers first found the Eau Claire river after traveling down the muddy Chippewa River, they exclaimed: Voici l'eau claire!" ("Here [is] clear water!"). The phrase is also our city’s motto and appears on the city seal. Is it true? Who knows. If it did happen, I wager those Frenchmen were probably drunk.
Jacques Marquette (namesake of more than a couple of things in Wisconsin) was the first European explorer to enter what would become Racine County, but the first trading post wouldn’t be established until 1791. The area had been called "Kipi Kawi" and "Chippecotton" by the native Potawatomi, both of which are names for “Root River” (the modern name...
Both the Native American tribes and the French settlers of what would become Door County were aware of how treacherous the waters surrounding the peninsula were. Specifically, the straight between Door Peninsula and Washington Island was then known as the Porte des Morts (French for “doors of death”). It wasn’t long before the name stuck to the are...
Here’s a relatively simple one. While the location that would become the city of Fond du Lac was originally part of the Ho-Chunk nation, the French settled it and gave it a name meaning “bottom of lake” because it’s at the bottom of Lake Winnebago. If there’s anything we’ve learned so far, it’s that the French explorers were ace namers.
While local knowledge of the name translates it as “feather” or “pigeon,” a linguistic investigation reveals it to be derived from Miguan, the Chippewa word for “ladle” which referred to the nearby lake’s shape as similar to a Native American ladle.
I take back what I just said about the French and their naming prowess. Trempealeau is named for the nearby mountain, which French explorers called “la montagne qui trempe à l’eau” meaning “the mountain whose foot is bathed in water.”
This one gets a little murky. Milwaukee was inhabited originally by several different tribes; Ho-Chunk, Potawatomi and Fox to name a few. It is most likely an Algonquian word with ties back to words for either “good/beautiful/pleasant land” or “gathering place by the waters.” The name of the river for which the area has its name was recorded by whi...
Here’s a hilarious example of lost in translation. The name Wausau derives from a Chippewa word meaning “faraway place.” French fur traders first used the word Bulle for it (French for bubbles, in reference to the rapids) which became anglicized as a popular name for the region “Big Bull Falls”. Because of the mistranslation of the French name for ...
Among the first settlements by Nicolet and later marquette, the name derives from a Chippewa word meaning “passageway/waterway between the lakes” referring to the Sheboygan river that connected what would come to be known as Lake Michigan and Green Bay.
The Township of Middleton separated from Madison on March 11, 1848, just months before Wisconsin became a state. Harry Barnes, the first postmaster in the new township, suggested the name Middleton after a community in his home state of Vermont.
The municipalities of Neder-Elsene ("Lower Ixelles", where the Abbey is located), Opper-Elsene ("Upper Ixelles", a Brussels suburb), Boondaal, Tenbos, and Solbos, all became part of Ixelles.
By 1836, Wisconsin finally had a large enough population to be eligible to become its own territory, a necessary step toward statehood. Henry Dodge was appointed as the first Wisconsin territorial governor. He and other territorial leaders worked to gain statehood.
People also ask
When did Ixelles become a municipality?
Where is Ixelles located?
What is the oldest community in Wisconsin?
Is Ixelles a affluent area?
What is Ixelles known for?
What happened to Ixelles Abbey?
The first permanent settlement of Buffalo County occurred in 1839 at Fountain City, which was formerly called Holmes' Landing after a family who traded with the Sioux and Chippewa Indian Tribes.
