Marquette 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 15,592. 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 Montello. The county was created in 1836 from the

Wisconsin Territory The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized and incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin. Belm ...

and organized in 1848. The county is considered a high-recreation retirement destination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

History

Naturalist

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the national park, National Parks", was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologi ...

and his parents first settled in the US in 1849 on a farm in Marquette County. Muir was 11 years old. Part of the land of their farm is reserved in Fountain Lake Farm, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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. The Mecan River, Buffalo Lake, and Puckaway Lake lie within Marquette County. The highest altitude in the county is a rocky area known as Mt. Shaw.

Major highways

Interstate 39 Interstate 39 (I-39) is a north–south Interstate Highway in Illinois and Wisconsin that runs from an interchange at I-55 in Normal, Illinois, to State Trunk Highway 29 (WIS 29) approximately south of Wausau, Wisconsin. In to ...

* U.S. Highway 51 * Highway 22 (Wisconsin) * Highway 23 (Wisconsin) * Highway 73 (Wisconsin) * Highway 82 (Wisconsin)

Railroads

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

Adjacent counties

* Waushara County - north * Green Lake County - east * Columbia County - south * Adams County - west

National protected area

* Fox River National Wildlife Refuge

Demographics

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, the population was 15,592. 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 9,758 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 94.2%

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 ...

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 ...

, 1.1% from other races, and 3.7% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 3.1%

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.

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 15,832 people, 5,986 households, and 4,166 families residing in the county. The

was . There were 8,664 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 93.66%

, 3.44%

, 1.04% Native American, 0.27% Asian, 0.10%

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 ...

, 0.38% from other races, and 1.11% from two or more races. 2.66% of the population were

or Latino of any race. 45.7% 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 ...

, 8.2% Irish, 6.9% Polish, 6.1% English, 5.6% Norwegian and 5.1% American ancestry. 94.8% spoke English, 2.8% Spanish and 1.1%

as their first language. There were 5,986 households, out of which 26.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.70% 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, 6.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.40% were non-families. 25.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 2.86. In the county, the population was spread out, with 21.10% under the age of 18, 6.70% from 18 to 24, 28.90% from 25 to 44, 25.00% from 45 to 64, and 18.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 118.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 123.70 males. In 2017, there were 133 births, giving a general fertility rate of 65.1 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the 29th highest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties. Of these, 11 of the births occurred at home.

Communities

Marquette County Wisconsin Sign County B

City

* Montello (county seat)

Villages

* Endeavor * Neshkoro *

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

* Westfield

Towns

* Buffalo * Crystal Lake * Douglas * Harris * Mecan * Montello * Moundville * Neshkoro * Newton *

* Packwaukee *

Shields A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry like spears or long ranged projectiles suc ...

* Springfield * Westfield

Census-designated place

* Packwaukee

Unincorporated communities

* Briggsville * Budsin * Buffalo Shore Estates * Douglas Center *

Germania Germania ( ; ), also more specifically called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman provinces of Germania Inferior and Germania Superio ...

* Glen Oak * Harrisville * Lawrence * Mecan

Politics

Between 1964 and 2016, Marquette County supported the nationwide winner in every election except for 1976, and even then, the county backed

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...

by only a 91 vote and sub-2% margin. In 2020,

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 ...

received the highest share of the vote for any candidate in the county since 1960 and won by an even bigger margin in 2024.

References

External links

Marquette County government website

Marquette County map
from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation {{Coord, 43.82, -89.39, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-WI_source:UScensus1990 1848 establishments in Wisconsin Populated places established in 1848