Florence County, Wisconsin

Florence County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Florence
Year Organized: 1882
Square Miles: 488

Court House:

501 Lake Ave.
County Courthouse
Florence, WI 54121-0000

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Florence County was named by H. D. Fisher in honor of Mrs. Florence Hulst, wife of Dr. N. P. Hulst of Milwaukee. The name was first applied to the Florence iron mine; and then to the town and county.

[Source: Kellogg, Louise Phelps. "Derivation of County Names" in Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin for 1909, pages 219-231.]

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Florence County, created in 1881 from Marinette and Oconto Counties, is named after Florence Hulst, the first white woman to settle in the area. Located in northeast Wisconsin, the county seat is Florence.
In recognition of its biological richness and rarity. the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources established the 8,850-acre Spread Eagle Barrens State National Area in 1995.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 497 square miles (1,288 km²), of which, 488 square miles (1,264 km²) of it is land and 9 square miles (24 km²) of it (1.90%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Iron County, Michigan - north
Dickinson County, Michigan - east
Marinette County, Wisconsin - southeast
Forest County, Wisconsin - south, west

Cities and Towns:

- Alvin	town
- Commonwealth	town
- Fence	town
- Fern	town
- Florence (County Seat)	town
- Homestead	town
- Long Lake	town
- Popple River	town
- Tipler	town

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."