Kewaunee County, Wisconsin
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Kewaunee County is a
county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
located in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
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 ...
. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,563. Its
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
is Kewaunee. The county was created in 1852 and organized in 1859. Its
Menominee The Menominee ( ; meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recognized tribe of Na ...
name is ''Kewāneh'', an archaic name for a species of duck. Kewaunee County is part of the Green Bay, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Green Bay- Shawano, WI Combined Statistical Area. Uniquely in Wisconsin, the county is considered both a high-farming concentration county and a high-manufacturing county by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, meaning at least 20 percent of its earnings came from agriculture and at least 25 percent came from manufacturing.


Fishing and boating

In 2018, Kewaunee County ranked first in the state in the
Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Oncorhynchus, Pacific salmon. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other vernacular names for the species include king salmon, quinn ...
harvest, with 26,557 fish caught, with nearby Door County ranking second at 14,268 fish caught. Chinook salmon are sought after by tourists enjoying chartered fishing trips. The state record
rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...
was set in 1997 at 27 pounds, 2 ounces and 42.5 inches long. It came from the Kewaunee County portion of Lake Michigan. In 1999 the state record pink salmon was also caught in Lake Michigan out of Kewaunee County waters. It was 6 pounds, 1.9 ounces and was 24.0 inches long. In 2005, the state record
white perch The white perch (''Morone americana'') is not a true Percidae, perch but is a fish of the temperate bass family, Moronidae, notable as a food and game fish in eastern North America. In some places it is referred to as "Silver Bass". The common ...
was taken out of the Kewaunee County portion of Green Bay. It weighed 1 pound, 5.4 ounces and was 13.5 inches long.Wisconsin Record Fish List
September 2018, Wisconsin DNR (The records are current as of September 2018.)
Beginning in 1964, first coho and then chinook salmon were stocked in Lake Michigan. New salmon and trout fingerling stocking in the spring and egg and milt collection from late September to early November takes place at the C.D. "Buzz" Besadny Anadromous Fish Facility. The facility is a public attraction. In recent years there has been concern that the alewife population will not support the salmon population, especially as the Chinook population has already collapsed in Lake Huron. A 2016 survey of Wisconsin anglers found they would on average pay $140 for a trip to catch Chinook salmon, $90 for
lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater Salvelinus, char living mainly in lakes in Northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, laker, and grey trout. In Lake Sup ...
, and $180 for
walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern ...
. Should the Chinook salmon fishery be replaced with a native lake trout fishery, the economic value would decrease by 80%. A 1995 study found the greatest abundance of spawning lake trout in Lake Michigan was on the Clay Banks Reef off of Door and Kewaunee counties. The sucker run, which was a popular fishing event in the 19th century, occurs in March and April. Suckers may be taken by frame dip nets, and the sucker run is also sought out as viewing opportunity. The smelt run also attracts fishermen. The state recognizes 11 public boat access sites. There are 14 inland lakes or ponds in Kewaunee County. In 2012, there were 2,252 registered boats in the county. Algoma Light and Kewaunee Pierhead Light are active navigational aids for boaters. The '' Daniel Lyons'' shipwreck near Algoma is used as a dive site, but the ''
America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
'' near Carlton is less visited by divers due to its remote location. There are 24 other known shipwrecks in county waters. The '' Tug Ludington'' in Kewaunee is operated as a museum boat.


Parks and other lands open to the public

The county operates eight parks. The Dana Farm (childhood home of Ransom Asa Moore) was relocated to the Winter Park. Along with the Bruemmer Park and Zoo, it is located near the state-owned C.D. Buzz Besadny Fish Hatchery. Two other state-owned parks are Mashek Creek Public Access and the Brusky Wildlife Area. There are also 27 municipal parks operated by the cities of Algoma, Kewaunee, and the Village of Luxembourg. There are four public beaches in the county, three of which are routinely monitored for water quality advisories. The county and the city of Algoma each operate one beach. Kewaunee operates two beaches, There are boardwalks along the beach in Algoma and the Kewaunee Marshland Walk. Altogether there are ten public access sites to Lake Michigan and Green Bay in the county. Limestone kiln remnants of historical interest are open to the public at the Bruemmer Park and Zoo. Although lime is not presently produced in Kewaunee County, as of 2016, there were 9 active gravel pits producing sand and gravel for roadwork and construction use. of privately owned land is open to the public for hunting, fishing, hiking, sight-seeing and cross-country skiing under the Managed Forest Program.


Species lists and coastal wetlands

The four state recognized coastal wetlands in the county are the Kewaunee River Wetland Complex, the Black Ash Swamp Area, the Ahnapee River Wetlands, and the Duvall Swamp. A 1980 inventory of natural areas recognized Duvall Swamp, Alaska Bog, Krok Woods, Kewaunee River Marshes, Cosco Tamarack Woods, Broemmer Creek Headwaters, Alaska Lake, Three Mile Creek Tag Alder, Silver Lake, Krohn's Lake, and the Ahnapee River Swamps. Historically, hypnum peat was produced in the county.


Plants

In 2016, 586 plant species were listed in a checklist for the county that excluded mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. In 2020, 33 species of mosses, liverworts, and hornworts and 125 species of macrofungi (including lichens) were listed for the county. In 1999, 8 aquatic species were found in East Alaska Lake.


Snails

From 1996 to 2001, researchers listed 48 species of snails in Kewaunee County, ranking eighth out of the 22 counties in the study. Nearby Door and Brown counties ranked first and second with 69 and 62 species respectively. However, they only sampled 13 areas in Kewaunee County, compared to 74 areas in Door and 28 areas in Brown.
Slugs Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a sma ...
were found in all three counties.


Birds

As of 2020, 103 species of birds have been confirmed to breed in Kewaunee County. In 1911,
passenger pigeon The passenger pigeon or wild pigeon (''Ectopistes migratorius'') is an bird extinction, extinct species of Columbidae, pigeon that was endemic to North America. Its common name is derived from the French word ''passager'', meaning "passing by" ...
s were seen in the Black Ash Swamp. This was one of the last reported sightings in the state.


Cattle and deer

In 2018 statistics, a county total of 3,527 deer were killed as a total of all
deer hunting Deer hunting is hunting deer for meat and sport, and, formerly, for producing Buckskin (leather), buckskin hides, an activity which dates back tens of thousands of years. Venison, the name for deer meat, is a nutritious and natural food sourc ...
seasons, down from the total harvest of 3,787 deer for 2017 statistics. In 2017, Kewaunee and Door counties were reported to have equal deer-to-human ratios. Kewaunee County had the third highest cow-to-human ratio in the state, with only Lafayette and Buffalo counties having higher ratios. In 2018, there were an estimated 97,000 head of cattle in the county, more than Door County which had 23,500 head of cattle.


Foods, agritourism, and alcohol

Kewaunee County is known for its kolache. Another distinctive local food is booyah. The cooking of booyah is not exclusive to Belgians, but has also been adopted by some Czechs. Cornish apple elderberry dumplings are another local dish. In 2017, six operations tapped 1,840 trees to produce maple syrup, down from 3,024 trees tapped by three operations in 1997.
U-pick A You-Pick ("U-Pick") or Pick-Your-Own (PYO) farm operation is a type of farm gate direct marketing ( farm-to-table) strategy where the emphasis is on customers doing the harvesting themselves and agritourism. A PYO farm might be preferred by peo ...
strawberries, apples, and pumpkins are grown.Pick Your Own
listings, visitkewauneecounty.com, Accessed January 18, 2020
There are also two Christmas tree operations. In 2017, 4,084 Christmas trees were cut, down from 4,462 in 2012. In 2014–15, there were 96 liquor licenses in the county. The first modern
winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...
in the state opened in Algoma in 1967.The Wisconsin Winery Association
History of Winemaking in Wisconsin
/ref> The area was recognized as part of a larger federally designated wine grape-growing region in 2012. In 2017, there were 28 acres of vineyards, down from 34 in 2012.


Arts

Tourism supports an arts community, including papermaking, sculpture, and painting.


Crops

The most important field crops by acres harvested in 2017 were hay and haylage at 48,887 acres, corn (
silage Silage is fodder made from green foliage crops which have been preserved by fermentation (food), fermentation to the point of souring. It is fed to cattle, sheep and other ruminants. The fermentation and storage process is called ''ensilage'', ' ...
) at 37,042 acres, corn (
grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...
) at 22,846 acres,
soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed. Soy is a key source o ...
s at 15,000 acres,
wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...
at 9,975 acres, oats at 2,834 acres, and
barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...
at 146 acres. Both sale prices and rental values of
agricultural land Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other organism, forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous ...
are higher than the average for Wisconsin counties. The most common USDA soil association in the county is the Hortonville–Symco association. About 51 percent of soils in this association are Hortonville and 16 percent are Symco. The remaining 33% in the association are minor soils such as Carbondale, Pella, and Kolberg. Altogether, about 34.8% of the county has Hortonville-Symco association soils. In a forested environment, Hortonville and Symco soils have an average of 7.6% and 13.2% organic matter, respectably. However, as cropland they only have tested from 2% to 3% organic matter.


Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (68%) is water. The northern part of the county is on the Door Peninsula between Green Bay and Lake Michigan. The northern part of the
Kettle Moraine Kettle Moraine is a large moraine in the state of Wisconsin, United States. It stretches from Walworth County in the south to Kewaunee County in the north. It has also been referred to as the ''Kettle Range'' and, in geological texts, as th ...
extends into Kewaunee County. There are three named peaks in the county. The
USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...
monitors one well in the county on an hourly basis. It also takes hourly pictures of the field in front of the well. It usually takes four to five hours for the groundwater level to rise after a big rain.


Adjacent counties

* Door County – north * Manitowoc County – south * Brown County – west * Benzie County, Michigan – northeast across Lake Michigan * Manistee County, Michigan – southeast across Lake Michigan


Transportation


Major highways

* Highway 29 (Wisconsin) * Highway 42 (Wisconsin) * Highway 54 (Wisconsin) * Highway 57 (Wisconsin)


Rustic road and quilt trail

* There is one rustic road in the county. A quilt trail along roadside barns was organized in 2009.


Railroads

* Watco


Buses


Non-motorized

* The Ahnapee State Trail connects Kewaunee to Sturgeon Bay. The
Ice Age Trail The Ice Age Trail is a National Scenic Trail stretching in the state of Wisconsin in the United States. The trail is administered by the National Park Service, and is constructed and maintained by private and public agencies including the Ice ...
coincides with the Kewaunee County portion of the Ahnapee State Trail, and also extends further south along the East Twin River Segment. Winter snowmobile access to trails is dependent on weather and trail grooming. * WIS 42 and 57 are part of the
Lake Michigan Circle Tour The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system connecting all of the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River, St. Lawrence River. It consists of routes for circumnavigating the lakes, either individually or collectively. It was ...
. * Riverview ATV Park includes mountain bike trails that are off limits to ATVs. It is open from May to November.


Airport

* The Rio Creek airport (also called Walter's Agri-center Airport) (WI28) is privately owned, but open to the public and includes a campground. * The nearest international airport is the Green Bay–Austin Straubel International Airport


National marine sanctuary

The Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary was established in 2021 in the waters of
Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...
, with its extreme northern portion lying off the southeast corner of Kewaunee County′s coast. The national marine sanctuary is the site of a large number of historically significant
shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...
s.


Demographics


2020 census

As of the census of 2020, the population was 20,563. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 9,267 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 93.1%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.4% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.3%
Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 2.4% from other races, and 3.5% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 4.1%
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race. The most commonly reported ancestries were German (39.6%), Belgian (19.2%), English (9.9%),
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...
(9.6%), Irish (8.4%), and Polish (7.9%).


2000 census

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 20,187 people, 7,623 households, and 5,549 families residing in the county. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 8,221 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 98.56%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.15%
Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.27% Native American, 0.13% Asian, 0.30% from other races, and 0.57% from two or more races. 0.76% of the population were
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race. 36.4% were of German, 23.8% Belgian, 9.7%
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...
, 6.3% Polish and 5.1% American ancestry. There were 7,623 households, out of which 33.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.40% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 6.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.20% were non-families. 23.50% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.10. In the county, the population was spread out, with 25.80% under the age of 18, 8.00% from 18 to 24, 28.20% from 25 to 44, 22.80% from 45 to 64, and 15.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.80 males.


Population dynamics

Between April 2010 and January 2019, there were an estimated 1,745 births and 1,605 deaths in the county. The greater number of births served to increase the population by an estimated 140 people. In addition, there were an estimated 68 more people who moved in than left. Combined, this positive net migration along with the natural increase raised the county population by an estimated 208 persons during this period. In 2013, a researcher predicted that in 2030 the county's population would peak then start to decline. In 2017, there were 199 births, giving a general fertility rate of 61.8 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the 33rd lowest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties. Additionally, there were 10 reported induced abortions performed on women of Kewaunee County residence in 2017.


Marriages

Five-year ACS data from 2012 to 2016 show that an estimated 5.2% of women aged 45–54 in the county had never been married, tying with 19 other counties in having the 697th lowest percentage of never-married women in this age bracket out of 3,130 U.S. counties reporting data. The ACS estimate also found that 76.3% of women aged 35–44 were married, tying with five other counties in having the 360th highest number of married women in this age bracket out of 3,136 counties reporting data, and that the county was tied with seven other counties in having the 552th lowest percentage of births to unmarried women out of 3,021 counties reporting data. 22.8% of births were to unmarried women.Social Capital Project: Social Capital Index Data
accompanying the U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Social Capital Project. “The Geography of Social Capital in America.” Report prepared by the Vice Chairman’s staff, 115th Cong., 2nd Sess. (April 2018)
In 2015, the county tied with Sawyer County in having the 13th fewest marriages in the state. It tied with Marquette County in having the 23rd fewest divorces out of all 72 Wisconsin counties. May and October tied as the months with the most weddings, with 21 each. In 2016 the county was the 19th-least populous in the state.


Religion

In 2010 statistics, the largest religious group in Kewaunee County was the
Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, with 10,606 adherents worshipping at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Stangelville and six other parishes, followed by 1,622
WELS Wels (; Central Bavarian: ''Wös'') is a city in Upper Austria, on the Traun River near Linz. It is the county seat of Wels-Land, and with a population of approximately 60,000, the List of cities and towns in Austria, eighth largest city in Aus ...
Lutherans with three congregations, 1,356 LCMS Lutherans with three congregations, 318 ELCA Lutherans with one congregation, 163 NACCC Congregationalists with one congregation, 155 United Methodists with two congregations, 119 non-denominational Christians with two congregations, 90 Converge Baptists with one congregation, 70 AoG Pentecostals with one congregation, and 27 EC-USA Episcopalians at St Agnes-by-the-Lake in Algoma. Altogether, 70.6% of the population was counted as adherents of a religious congregation. In 2014, Kewaunee County had 15 religious organizations in the county.Social Capital Variables Spreadsheet for 2014
, PennState College of Agricultural Sciences, Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development


Public health

According to calculations based on 2010–2014 data, children born in Kewaunee County have a life expectancy of 82.0 years, the highest out of all 72 Wisconsin counties. From 2000 to 2010, the county premature death rate of persons younger than 75 years old fell 38.3%, the greatest reduction out of all Wisconsin counties. In 2015, 89.1% of babies born in the county had a normal birth weight, compared to 92.6% for the state. The substance abuse and preventable hospitalization rates for the county were lower than for the state as a whole. Five-year ACS estimates for 2012-2016 found that Kewaunee County tied with 23 other counties in having the 675th lowest percentage of disabled residents under 65 years old out of all 3,145 US counties. 9.7% were disabled. A CDC survey of people reporting frequent
mental distress Mental distress or psychological distress encompasses the symptoms and experiences of a person's internal life that are commonly held to be troubling, confusing or out of the ordinary. Mental distress can potentially lead to a change of behavior, ...
(14-30 mentally unhealthy days in the last 30 days, data aggregated over 2003–2009) found that people in Kewaunee County were more likely to be distressed than those in most Wisconsin counties, but less likely to be distressed than those in the heavily urbanized southeast portion of the state. From 2014 through 2017 reported cases of
Lyme disease Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is a tick-borne disease caused by species of ''Borrelia'' bacteria, Disease vector, transmitted by blood-feeding ticks in the genus ''Ixodes''. It is the most common disease spread by ticks in th ...
increased from 0 cases in 2014 to 5 cases in 2017. In a study of car accident data from 1992 to 2001, the risk of incurring a severe traffic injury during a stretch of driving was found to be higher in Kewaunee County than in Door County, but Kewaunee County had fewer fatalities per 100 people severely injured than Door County. This was thought to be due to the shorter distance it took to get people injured in Kewaunee County to treatment, as the nearest hospital with a high level of trauma certification was St. Vincent Hospital in Green Bay.


Pollution

PCBs from Green Bay have been deposited into the county as windborn dust and off of contaminated waters. The only
superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...
site in the county is the former Algoma Municipal Landfill. As of 2020, the state listed the following waters in Kewaunee County as being impaired by pollution: Ahnapee River, Black Creek, Casco Creek, East Alaska Lake, East Twin River, Green Bay, Jambo Creek, Kewaunee River, Krok Creek, Lake Michigan, Neshota River, Red River, School Creek, Silver Creek, and Stony Creek. Concerns varied from waterway to waterway, but included '' E. coli'', mercury, PCBs,
phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol P and atomic number 15. All elemental forms of phosphorus are highly Reactivity (chemistry), reactive and are therefore never found in nature. They can nevertheless be prepared ar ...
, sediment levels, and high levels of
suspended solids Suspended solids refers to small solid particles which remain in suspension in water as a colloid or due to motion of the water. Suspended solids can be removed by sedimentation if their size or density is comparatively large, or by filtration ...
. Between 2010 and 2018, there were 76 state-documented manure spills in the county. The likelihood of well water contamination differs depending on which area of the county the well is located, as some areas have thicker layers of soil than others. An electronic map marks the locations of every septic system and drain field, along with situations more liable to spread fecal contamination, such as areas with a shallow water table, high permeability, or likely to have karst features. A different electronic map shows the locations of private wells polluted with nitrates and other contaminants down to the section level. Another factor is tile drainage, as relatively high amounts of phosphorus were documented from water coming from two tiled sites located on a Kewaunee County farm between 2005 and 2009. The quick drainage reduces the filtration of nutrients out of the water and into the soil. The distribution of bacterial contamination in private wells has been mapped. Some bacteria found in surface water have genes for antibiotic resistance. This is thought to be due to the bovine use of antibiotics.


Radio stations

* WBDK (96.7 FM, Algoma) * WRLU (FM 104.1, Algoma) * WEZY (92.7 FM, Kewaunee)


Communities


Cities

* Algoma * Kewaunee (county seat)


Villages

* Casco * Luxemburg


Towns

* Ahnapee * Carlton * Casco * Franklin * Lincoln * Luxemburg * Montpelier * Pierce * Red River * West Kewaunee


Census-designated places

* Dyckesville (partial)


Unincorporated communities

*
Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
* Bay View * Birchwood * Bolt * Bruemmerville * Casco Junction * Cherneyville * Clyde * Curran * Duvall * East Krok * Ellisville * Euren * Frog Station * Gregorville * Kodan * Krok * Lincoln * Neuren * Norman * Pilsen * Rankin * Rio Creek * Rosiere (partial) * Rostok * Ryans Corner * Slovan * Stangelville * Thiry Daems * Tisch Mills (partial) * Tonet * Walhain


Former communities

* Black Earth


History

In 1795, Jacques Vieau established a short-lived trading post in Kewaunee. In 1854, the first Czechs arrived, coming north from Milwaukee. 19th-century Algoma (at the time called Ahnapee) was host to a longstanding inter-ethnic economic struggle over pier pricing and access. In 1887, an
octahedrite Octahedrites are the most common Iron meteorite#Structural classification, structural class of iron meteorites. The structures occur because the meteoric iron has a certain nickel concentration that leads to the exsolution of kamacite out of tae ...
meteorite weighing nearly nine pounds was plowed up four miles west of Algoma. It is displayed at the Geology Museum at UW–Madison. Kewaunee and Casco Junction were connected to Green Bay in 1891 by the Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western Railroad. It later became part of the Green Bay and Western Railroad. The western portion of this line provides freight service to Luxemburg to the present day, but not further east. The first leg of the
Ahnapee and Western Railway The Ahnapee and Western Railway (A&W) was a common carrier shortline railroad located in northeastern Wisconsin. The railroad ran from a connection with the Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western Railroad at Casco Junction to the lakeshore terminals of ...
was built in 1892. The first Belgian Kermiss harvest festival in the nation is thought have taken place in the county.Establishing an Ethnic Collection in a Small Institution
by Dorothy L. Heinrich, ''The Midwestern Archivist'', 1977, page 43 (page 3 of the pdf)


Gallery


Politics

From 1952 to 2008, Kewaunee County backed the nationwide winner in every election with the exception of 1988. The county began to shift away from its bellwether status in 2012, when Republican challenger
Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...
carried the county by 5.4% over incumbent Democrat
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
in his successful re-election bid. Beginning in 2016, Kewaunee County has become a strongly Republican county, with
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
becoming the first candidate to win over 60% of the county's vote since
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
in his landslide re-election in 1984. Trump performed even better in the county in 2020, where he became the first candidate to crack 65% of Kewaunee County's vote since
Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...
in his 1956 landslide re-election. Trump once again improved in 2024, taking more than 66% of the county's vote and receiving more than double the support of
Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...
in Kewaunee County.


Notable people

For lists of notable people from Kewaunee County, see the following articles: * Luxemburg § Notable people * Algoma § Notable people * Kewaunee § Notable people * Ahnapee § Notable residents * Carlton § Notable people * Franklin § Notable people


See also

* National Register of Historic Places listings in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin


Notes


References


Further reading

*
History of Kewaunee County
'. n.p., n.p., 1921–1922.


External links


Kewaunee County

Kewaunee County map
from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Northeast Wisconsin Historical County Plat Maps & Atlases
University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center

detailing history from the later half of the 19th century {{authority control Green Bay metropolitan area 1859 establishments in Wisconsin Populated places established in 1859