Florence 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 ...

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 4,558, making it the second-least populous county in Wisconsin after Menominee County. 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 ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. The county is considered a high-recreation retirement destination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Florence County is part of the Iron Mountain, MI–WI Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Florence County was created by the legislature of 1882 from portions of Marinette County and Oconto County. The first white man to document his journey through Florence County was Thomas J. Cram, who surveyed northeast Wisconsin in 1840 and 1841. The region belonged to the

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 ...

tribe, who mingled with the Chippewa there. Florence County continued to be a region for hunting and trapping until the 1870s when iron was discovered in the region. The Florence mine was discovered in 1874 by H. D. Fisher. In 1879, Fisher named the mine and town after the wife of

Nelson Powell Hulst Nelson Powell Hulst (February 8, 1842 - January 11, 1923) was an industrialist, engineer, chemist, and a leader in the development of the Menominee Iron Range. He discovered and developed six major mines in Upper Michigan (Vulcan, Cyclops, Norw ...

, Florence Terry Hulst, establishing the name for the county as well.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.9%) is water.

Adjacent counties

Iron County, Michigan Iron County is one of two landlocked County (United States), counties in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 11,631. The county sea ...

- north *

Dickinson County, Michigan Dickinson County is a County (United States), county in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,947. The county seat is Iron Mounta ...

- east *

Marinette County, Wisconsin Marinette County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 41,872. Its county seat is Marinette, Wisconsin, Marinette. Marinette County is part of t ...

- southeast *

Forest County, Wisconsin Forest County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,179. Its county seat is Crandon. The Forest County Potawatomi Community and the Sokaogon Chippewa Community have reservations in Forest C ...

- southwest

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 2 * U.S. Highway 141 * Highway 70 *

Highway 101 Highway 101 was an American country music band founded in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. The initial lineup consisted of Paulette Carlson (lead vocals), Jack Daniels (guitar), Curtis Stone (bass guitar, vocals), and Scott "Cactus" Moser (drum ...

* Highway 139

Buses

National protected area

* Nicolet National Forest (part)

Demographics

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, the population was 4,558. 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 4,601 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 94.6%

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 ...

, 0.7% Native American, 0.2%

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 ...

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 ...

, 0.2% Asian, 0.2%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.3% from other races, and 3.9% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 1.4%

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.

2000 census

At the 2000 census there were 5,088 people, 2,133 households, and 1,441 families in the county. The population density was . There were 4,239 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 98.17% White, 0.16% Black or African American, 0.43% Native American, 0.28% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.14% from other races, and 0.81% from two or more races. 0.45% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 25.6% were of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 11.6% Swedish, 8.4% Polish, 8.2%

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, 6.6% French, 5.9% English, 5.4%

French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

and 5.2% Irish ancestry. Of the 2,133 households 27.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.60% were married couples living together, 6.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.40% were non-families. 27.90% of households were one person and 12.50% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.87. The age distribution was 22.90% under the age of 18, 5.30% from 18 to 24, 27.10% from 25 to 44, 27.30% from 45 to 64, and 17.50% 65 or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.50 males. In 2017, there were 31 births, giving a general fertility rate of 57.9 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the 21st lowest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties. 10 of the births were to unmarried mothers, 21 were to married mothers. Additionally, there were fewer than five reported induced abortions performed on women of Florence County residence in 2017.Reported Induced Abortions in Wisconsin
Office of Health Informatics, Division of Public Health, Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Section: Trend Information, 2013-2017, Table 18, pages 17-18

Communities

Florence County Wisconsin Sign Town of Homestead

Florence County is one of only two counties in Wisconsin with no incorporated communities, the other being Menominee County.

Towns

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

Fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or net (textile), netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its ...

Fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

* Homestead * Long Lake * Tipler

Unincorporated communities

Hematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...

Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit * Pulp (band), an English rock band Engineering * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture ...

* Ridgetop * Spread Eagle * Tipler * Tyran

Politics

Florence County has voted for the Republican presidential candidate in every election since 1996.

References

External links

Florence County government website

Florence County Tourism & Economic Development

Florence County map
from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation {{authority control 1882 establishments in Wisconsin Populated places established in 1882