Champion is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in the town of Green Bay in Brown County,

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, United States. It is part of the Green Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town hall for the town of Green Bay is located in Champion and the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion is located just east of Champion.

History

The area was called "''Grez-Daems''", from 1853 to 1862, named after Belgian priest Father Daems, who is credited with being the founder of the Belgian Colony in Wisconsin. In 1862, the community became known as "''Aux Premiers Belges''" (The First Belgians). The same area was also known as “Robinsonville”, after Charles D. Robinson, editor of the Green Bay Advocate, an early newspaper started in 1846. The name Robinsonville was given prominence by Adele Brice’s apparitions of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

in 1858. When the post office moved to the store and tavern of Mr. Delvaux to be more centrally located, Delvaux said he didn’t want the office named after him. The suggestion of “Champion” was from Sister Adele Brise, after a little village near

Namur Namur (; ; ) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is the capital both of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namur stands at the confl ...

in Belgium where she had planned to join a convent before her parents immigrated to the United States.

Images

File:Aux Premiers Belges 1853.jpg, Belgian settlement monument at Green Bay town hall File:ChampionWisconsinSign.jpg, Looking east at Champion's sign File:TownOfGreenBayTownHallChampionWisconsin.jpg, Town hall for the town of Green Bay in Champion File:OurLadyOfGoodHelpChapel.jpg, National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion near Champion

Notable people

* Grégoire Dupont, legislator *

Peter Pernin Jean-Pierre Pernin (February 22, 1822 – October 9, 1909), also known as Peter Pernin in America, was a French people, French Roman Catholic priest, who came to the United States in 1864 as a missionary, working in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minn ...

, Catholic pastor (1868-9) and

Peshtigo fire The Peshtigo fire was a large forest fire on October 8, 1871, in northeastern Wisconsin, United States, including much of the southern half of the Door Peninsula and adjacent parts of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The largest community in ...

memoirist

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Brown County, Wisconsin Unincorporated communities in Wisconsin Green Bay metropolitan area