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Ozaukee 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 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 ...
. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,503. 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 Port Washington. Ozaukee County is included in the Milwaukee metropolitan area. As of the 2000 Census, Ozaukee County had the second-lowest
poverty rate Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse
of any county in the United States, at 2.6%. In terms of per capita income, it is the 25th-wealthiest county in the country.


Toponymy

"Ozaukee" comes from the
Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...
name for the Sauk people. It probably means "people living at the mouth of a river."


History


Precolonial

The Hilgen Spring Mound Site is one of the oldest-known sites of human habitation of Ozaukee County. Located near Cedar Creek in the eastern part of the City of Cedarburg, the site consists of three conical burial mounds constructed by early Woodland period Mound Builders. In 1968, archaeologists from the Milwaukee Public Museum found human burials and artifacts, including stone altars, arrowheads, and pottery shards, during an excavation of one of the mounds. Radiocarbon samples from the excavation date the mounds' construction to approximately 480 BCE, making it one of the oldest mound groups in the state. In the mid-1800s, Increase A. Lapham identified a group of circular mounds in the Saukville area and found a stone ax. In his writing, Lapham did not speculate about the age of the artifact or the mounds. An additional artifact of the early Native American presence in the Saukville area is the Ozaukee County Birdstone, discovered by a six-year-old farm boy in 1891. While the exact age of the Ozaukee County Birdstone remains uncertain, many birdstones date from a period ranging from 3000 BCE to 500 BCE.


19th century

In the early 19th century, the Native Americans living in Ozaukee County included 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 ...
, Potawatomi, and
Sauk people The Sauk or Sac (Sauk language, Sauk: ''Thâkîwaki'') are Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their historical territory was near Green Bay, Wisconsin. Today they have t ...
. There were numerous Native American villages in the county along the Milwaukee River and its tributaries. The Menominee surrendered their claims to the land east of the Milwaukee River to the United States Federal Government in 1832 through the Treaty of Washington. The Potawatomi surrendered their claims to the land west of the river in 1833 through the
1833 Treaty of Chicago The 1833 Treaty of Chicago was an agreement between the United States government and the Chippewa, Odawa, and Potawatomi tribes. It required them to cede to the United States government their of land (including reservations) in Illinois, ...
, which (after being ratified in 1835) required them to leave the area by 1838. While many Potawatomi people moved west of the Mississippi River to
Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
, some chose to remain in Wisconsin, and were known as "strolling Potawatomi" because they were migrant squatters. Eventually the Potawatomi who evaded forced removal gathered in northern Wisconsin, where they formed the Forest County Potawatomi Community. The first whites in the area were primarily New England land speculators, who began purchasing land from the government in 1835 at the price of $1.25 per acre. One of these land speculators was Wooster Harrison, who settled the land that would become Port Washington in 1835, which he originally named "Wisconsin City."Sister M. Jane Frances Price, S.S.N.S., ''The History of Port Washington, in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin'' (Ph.D. diss., De Paul University, 1943), pp. 7-8. At the time, the land was part of Washington County, and there were proposals that Port Washington become the county seat."History of Ozaukee County" However, Port Washington was far from the county's other early settlements, including Mequon, Grafton and Germantown. In 1850, the Wisconsin legislature bisected Washington County into northern and southern counties, with Port Washington as the northern seat and Cedarburg as the southern. County residents failed to ratify the bill, and in 1853 the legislature instead bisected the county into eastern and western sections, creating Ozaukee County. Port Washington became the seat of the new county, and the Washington County seat moved to West Bend. In the 1840s, German, Irish, and Luxembourger immigrants began settling in the county. Germans were the largest ethnic group in and 19th century Ozaukee County,"Encyclopedia of Milwaukee: Ozaukee County" with seven in eight residents being of German descent according to the 1870 census. The earliest settlements formed around grist- and sawmills located on the county's waterways. Cedarburg, Grafton,
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
, Newburg, Saukville, and Thiensville all had mills by end of the 1840s. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the county economy was primarily based on agriculture. The beginning of the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
saw some chaos in Ozaukee County. The county was one of the areas affected by Wisconsin's "Great Indian Scare" of September 1862, in which some residents panicked because of unfounded rumors of a Native American uprising in the state. The panic was exacerbated by the fact that 30,000 Wisconsinites were away, serving in the war, so residents may have felt especially vulnerable. Some residents fled their homes for Milwaukee, while others holed up in makeshift fortresses, as happened at the Cedarburg Mill. Several months after the panic, the United States Congress implemented the draft, which was unpopular among German immigrants with bad memories of mandatory conscription in their homelands. On November 10, 1862, several hundred Port Washington residents marched on the courthouse, attacked the official in charge of implementing the draft, burned draft records, and vandalized the homes of Union supporters. The riot ended when eight detachments of Union troops from Milwaukee were deployed. In the 1870s the Milwaukee & Northern Railway was constructed to connect Milwaukee and northern Wisconsin including Green Bay, along its route it reached many communities in the center of the county including Thiensville, Cedarburg, Grafton and Saukville. Around the same time the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western Railway constructed its railway on the eastern edge of the county along Lake Michigan, also to connect Milwaukee and Northern Wisconsin. It reached fewer communities compared to the M&N line, only serving Port Washington. Regardless the railroads spurred development in Ozaukee County by providing efficient freight and passenger transportation.


20th century

From 1908 to 1940, the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company (TMERL) provided electric
interurban The interurban (or radial railway in Canada) is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms u ...
passenger and freight service from Sheboygan to Milwaukee with stops at Belgium, Port Washington, Grafton, Cedarburg, Thiensville, Mequon, and other villages as well as major road crossings within Ozaukee County. The interurban cars ran approximately once per hour and delivered Ozaukee County agricultural products, such as milk and meat, to Milwaukee grocers and butchers. In 1940, the interurban ceased servicing Sheboygan due to declining ridership. Port Washington became the line's new northern terminus before the Ozaukee County line ceased operation in 1948. Ozaukee County's communities experienced significant population growth during the
suburbanization Suburbanization (American English), also spelled suburbanisation (British English), is a population shift from historic core cities or rural areas into suburbs. Most suburbs are built in a formation of (sub)urban sprawl. As a consequence ...
that followed World War II. Between 1940 and 1980, the population more than tripled, from 18,985 to 66,981. Although the interurban to Milwaukee declined service and finally ceased operation after the war, the construction of Interstate 43 in the mid-1960s allowed more residents to commute long distances to jobs and this encouraged residential home construction. Communities that experienced the most significant population growth, such as Cedarburg and Grafton, began to annex agricultural land for residential subdivisions and retail commercial development. The previously rural Town of Mequon became increasingly suburban and incorporated in 1957 as the City of Mequon. Today, it is the largest and most populous city in Ozaukee County.


21st century

The Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary was established in 2021 in the waters of Lake Michigan, with its southern portion lying off roughly the northern half of Ozaukee County′s coastline. 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.


Geography

Ozaukee County covers 233 square miles of land, making it the second smallest county in Wisconsin by land area after Pepin County. The county's jurisdiction also extends over 883 square miles of water, most of which is in
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 ...
. Lion's Den Gorge Nature Preserve is a large bluffland and wetland county protected area on the shore of Lake Michigan.


Major highways

* Interstate 43 * Highway 32 (Wisconsin) * Highway 33 (Wisconsin) * Highway 57 (Wisconsin) * Highway 60 (Wisconsin) * Highway 167 (Wisconsin) * Highway 181 (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, ...
*
Wisconsin and Southern Railroad The Wisconsin and Southern Railroad is a Class II regional railroad in Southern Wisconsin and Northeastern Illinois currently operated by Watco. It operates former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) and ...


Buses

* Milwaukee County Transit System


Adjacent counties

* Sheboygan County - north * Oceana County, Michigan - northeast *
Muskegon County, Michigan Muskegon County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of 2020, the population was 175,824. The county seat is Muskegon. Muskegon County comprises the Muskegon, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the larger Grand ...
- east * Milwaukee County - south * Waukesha County - southwest * Washington County - west


Demographics


2020 census

As of the census of 2020, the population was 91,503. 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 39,086 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 89.9%
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 ...
, 2.5% Asian, 1.7%
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 ...
, 0.3% Native American, 1.1% from other races, and 4.6% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 3.4%
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

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 82,317 people, 30,857 households, and 23,019 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 32,034 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 96.72%
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 ...
, 0.93%
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 ...
, 0.20% Native American, 1.07% Asian, 0.02%
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 ...
, 0.34% from other races, and 0.73% from two or more races. 1.30% 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. 47.2% were of German, 7.3% Irish and 6.7% Polish ancestry. 95.1% spoke English, 1.6% Spanish and 1.4% German as their first language. There were 30,857 households, out of which 36.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.60% 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, 6.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.40% were non-families. 21.40% 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 3.07. In the county, the population was spread out, with 26.60% under the age of 18, 6.80% from 18 to 24, 28.00% from 25 to 44, 25.90% from 45 to 64, and 12.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 97.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94 males. The median income for a household in the county was $62,745, and the median income for a family was $72,547 (these figures had risen to $73,197 and $88,231 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $50,044 versus $30,476 for females. The per capita income for the county was $31,947. About 1.7% of families and 2.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.6% of those under age 18 and 4.1% of those age 65 or over.


Religious statistics

The
Association of Religion Data Archives The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. One of the primary goals of the archive is to democratize access to academic information on religion by making t ...
reported that as of 2010, the largest religious group in Ozaukee County is the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, with 28,644 adherents spread across eight parishes. Although the number of Catholics in the county is around the same as it was in 1990, the number of parishes has declined from twelve in 1990 to eight in 2010, because of the mergers of small, rural and local parishes into larger, multi-campus parishes, such as the St. John XXIII Congregation in Port Washington and Saukville, which formed from the merger of three parishes and holds services in three church buildings. Other large religious groups in the county include 8,464 Missouri Synod Lutherans with seven congregations, 5,094 ELCA Lutherans with ten congregations, 2,702 Wisconsin Synod Lutherans with seven congregations, 1,795 adherents of the Presbyterian Church (USA) with one congregation, 1,558 adherents of the United Church of Christ with three congregations, 1,154 UMC Methodists with three congregations, 1,061 adherents of the evangelical Christian and Missionary Alliance with two congregations, 794 non-denominational Christians with four congregations, and 695 adherents of Orthodox and
Reconstructionist Judaism Reconstructionist Judaism () is a Jewish religious movements, Jewish movement based on the concepts developed by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983)—namely, that Judaism as a Civilization, Judaism is a progressively evolving civilization rather ...
with three synagogues, as well as other congregations in the Baháʼí, Christian Scientist,
evangelical Protestant Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of the Christian ...
,
Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...
,
Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
,
Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...
,
Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
,
mainline Protestant The mainline Protestants (sometimes also known as oldline Protestants) are a group of Protestantism in the United States, Protestant denominations in the United States and Protestantism in Canada, Canada largely of the Liberal Christianity, theolo ...
, and Unitarian Universalist traditions.


Transportation

Ozaukee County has a harbor in Port Washington on Lake Michigan, though not in the lakeside communities of Mequon or Grafton due to high bluffs along the lakeshore. The Ozaukee County Interurban Trail is a multimodal trail for pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles. It runs through Grafton and connects to Sheboygan County and Brown Deer Trails via the old Milwaukee-Sheboygan Passenger Rail line. Public transit was formerly provided by a commuter express bus (Route 143) to Milwaukee with stops in Port Washington, Saukville, Grafton, and Mequon. The bus operated Monday through Fridays excluding holidays, and was run jointly by Milwaukee and Ozaukee County. In 2024 the Ozaukee County board elected to discontinue the transit line to Milwaukee without replacement leaving Ozaukee County with no public transit connection to Milwaukee and no fixed route transit service within the county. The last day of service was June 28, 2024.


Politics

As one of the suburban “WOW” counties surrounding Milwaukee, Ozaukee County is a Republican stronghold in U.S. presidential elections, having voted Republican in all elections (except one) since 1940. Lyndon B. Johnson was the last Democrat to carry the county in a presidential election, in 1964. Following similar suburban trends across the nation, the county has grown more Democratic in recent years, but is still a Republican stronghold. Before WWI, however, Ozaukee County was reliably Democratic, due to its high German Catholic population. In 2020,
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
became the first Democrat to win over 40% of the vote since 1964. Biden also won the municipality of Cedarburg, the first time a Democrat has won a municipality in any of the WOW Counties since 1996. Progressive judge Janet Protasiewicz received nearly 48% of the vote in Ozaukee in the 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court election. Judge Susan M. Crawford was also able to win 48% in
2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...
. In 2024, Democrat
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 ...
won 43.92% of the vote in Ozaukee in the
2024 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's Ticket (election), ticket—Donald Trump, who was the 45th president of ...
, the highest percentage won by a Democratic presidential nominee since 1964.


Communities


Cities

* Cedarburg * Mequon * Port Washington (county seat)


Villages

* Bayside (mostly in Milwaukee County) *
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
* Fredonia * Grafton * Newburg (mostly in Washington County) * Saukville * Thiensville


Towns

*
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
* Cedarburg * Fredonia * Grafton * Port Washington * Saukville


Census-designated place

* Waubeka


Unincorporated communities

* Dacada (partial) * Decker * Decker Corner * Druecker *
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
* Holy Cross * Horns Corners * Knellsville * Lake Church * Lakefield * Little Kohler * Sauk Trail Beach * Ulao


Ghost town

*
Stonehaven Stonehaven ( ) is a town on the northeast coast of Scotland, south of Aberdeen. It had a population of 11,177 at th2022 Census Stonehaven was formerly the county town of Kincardineshire, succeeding the now abandoned town of Kincardine, Aberd ...


Education

School districts include:
Text list
/ref> * Cedar Grove-Belgium Area School District * Cedarburg School District * Grafton School District * Mequon-Thiensville School District * Northern Ozaukee School District * Port Washington-Saukville School District * Random Lake School District ; High schools *
Cedarburg High School Cedarburg High School (CHS) is a Public Education High School in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Curriculum Classes offered at Cedarburg High School are grouped into 13 departments: art, business and information technology, engineering/technology education ...
* Grafton High School * Homestead High School (Mequon-Thiensville) * Ozaukee High School (Fredonia) * Port Washington High School


See also

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


References


Further reading

*
History of Washington and Ozaukee Counties, Wisconsin
'. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1881.


External links


Ozaukee County website

Ozaukee County map
from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Ozaukee County Transit

Ozaukee County Interurban Trail
{{Commons category-inline 1853 establishments in Wisconsin Populated places established in 1853