Outagamie 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 ...

in the Fox Cities region of the U.S. state 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 ...

, in the northeast of the state. As of the 2020 census, the population was 190,705. 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 Appleton. Outagamie County is part of the Appleton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is itself part of the Appleton- Neenah- Oshkosh Combined Statistical Area. It was named for the historic Meskwaki (Fox) people.

History

"Outagamie", a French transliteration of the

Anishinaabe The Anishinaabe (alternatively spelled Anishinabe, Anicinape, Nishnaabe, Neshnabé, Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek, Aanishnaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of C ...

term for the Meskwaki (Fox) people, means "dwellers of the other shore" or "dwellers on the other side of the stream", referring to their historic habitation along the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...

and south of the Great Lakes. They occupied considerable territory in Wisconsin before colonization. Outagamie County was created in 1851 and organized in 1852. Before that, it was under the jurisdiction of Brown County.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of , of which is land and (1.1%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Shawano County - north * Brown County - east * Calumet County - southeast * Winnebago County - southwest * Waupaca County - west

Rivers

* Wolf River - The Wolf River runs through the city of New London and the village of Shiocton along western half of the county. * Fox River - The Fox River follows the southeastern corner of the county, running through the cities of Appleton and Kaukauna * Shioc River - This river runs merges with the Wolf River in the village of Shiocton. * Embarrass River - The Embarrass River runs through the city of New London and merges with the Wolf River there.

Lakes

* Black Otter Lake - Located in Hortonville, it receives much recreational use by anglers as the county's only lake.

Government

Outagamie County's government consists of an elected County Board of Supervisors, a County Executive, and 36 county agencies and departments.

County Executive

The county executive serves as its chief executive officer, participating in the legislative process with the County Board of Supervisors and exercising administrative authority and control over the county's operations, departments, offices, boards, programs, and communications. Department heads are appointed by the county executive, subject to the approval of the board of supervisors. The county executive also appoints members to the county's boards and commissions. The county executive sets the annual budget in consultation with and subject to the approval of the board of supervisors. County Executive Tom Nelson was first elected in 2011.

Transportation

Major highways

* Interstate 41 * U.S. Highway 41 * U.S. Highway 45 * Wisconsin Highway 15 * Wisconsin Highway 29 * Wisconsin Highway 32 *

Wisconsin Highway 47 State Trunk Highway 47 (often called Highway 47, STH-47 or WIS 47) is a State highway#United States, state highway in the northeastern and northern parts of the US state of Wisconsin that runs in a diagonal northwest–southeast from Menasha, ...

* Wisconsin Highway 54 * Wisconsin Highway 55 * Wisconsin Highway 76 * Wisconsin Highway 96 * Wisconsin Highway 125 * Wisconsin Highway 187 * Wisconsin Highway 441

County Highways

* County A * County AA * County B * County BB * County C * County CA * County CB * County CC * County CE * County D * County DD * County E * County EE * County F * County FF * County G * County GG * County GV * County H * County HH * County I * County J * County JJ * County K * County KK * County M * County MM * County N * County NC * County O * County OO * County P * County PP * County Q * County S * County T * County TT * County U * County UU * County VV * County W * County WW * County X * County XX * County Y * County Z * County ZZ

Railroads

* Canadian National * Watco

Buses

* Valley Transit (Wisconsin)

Airports

* Appleton International Airport (KATW) serves the county and surrounding communities. It is the third-busiest airport in Wisconsin and is served by four airlines to 16 destinations. * Shiocton Airport (W34) is a grass strip airport in Shiocton, Wisconsin

Demographics

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, the population was 190,705. 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 79,131 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 86.0%

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 ...

, 3.5% Asian, 1.6% Native American, 1.6%

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 ...

, 0.1%

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 ...

, 2.0% from other races, and 5.3% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 4.9%

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 160,971 people, 60,530 households, and 42,189 families residing in the county. The

was . There were 62,614 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 93.87%

, 0.54%

, 1.54% Native American, 2.23% Asian, 0.03%

, 0.81% from other races, and 0.98% from two or more races. 1.99% of the population were

or Latino of any race. 47.7% were of German, 9.4% Dutch, 6.2% Irish and 5.2% American and French-Canadian ancestry. Of the 60,530 households, 36.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.90% 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, 7.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.30% were non-families. 24.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.40% 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 3.14. By age, 27.70% of the population was under 18, 8.90% from 18 to 24, 31.90% from 25 to 44, 20.70% from 45 to 64, and 10.90% were 65 or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 99.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.90 males. In 2017, there were 2,204 births, giving a general fertility rate of 64.0 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the 34th highest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties. Additionally, there were 136 reported induced abortions performed on women of Outagamie 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

Cities

* Appleton (

; partly in Calumet County and Winnebago County) * Kaukauna (partially in Calumet County) * New London (mostly in Waupaca County) * Seymour

Villages

* Bear Creek * Black Creek * Combined Locks * Greenville * Harrison (mostly in Calumet County) * Hortonville *

Howard Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...

(mostly in Brown County) * Kimberly * Little Chute * Nichols * Shiocton * Wrightstown (mostly in Brown County)

Towns

* Black Creek * Bovina * Buchanan * Center *

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

* Dale * Deer Creek * Ellington *

Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

* Grand Chute * Hortonia * Kaukauna *

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

* Maple Creek * Oneida * Osborn * Seymour * Vandenbroek

Census-designated place

* Dale

Unincorporated communities

* Apple Creek * Binghamton * Center Valley * Chicago Corners *

* Darboy * Five Corners *

* Greenville * Hamples Corner * Isaar * Leeman * Mackville *

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

* Murphy Corner * Oneida * Sniderville (partial) * Stephensville * Sugar Bush * Twelve Corners

Ghost towns/neighborhoods

* Grand Chute * Lawesburg * Lime Rock * Wakefield

Native American community

* Oneida Nation of Wisconsin (partial)

Politics

Outagamie County has voted for the Republican presidential nominee in 19 of the last 22 elections.

References

External links

Outagamie County government

Outagamie County map
from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Outagamie County entry on Wisconsin Online
{{authority control 1852 establishments in Wisconsin Populated places established in 1852 Wisconsin placenames of Native American origin