Marquette County, Wisconsin

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

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Was named in honor of Father Jacques Marquette, the French Jesuit explorer, who passed through this region in 1673. Sieur Joliet and companion, Father Marquette, in 1673 explored the region in which the village of Marquette in Green Lake county is located. The travelers stopped for several days in the village of the Mascouten Indians on which site the present village of Marquette is situated at the southeast end of Lake Puckaway. The village, township, and county of Marquette all were named after Father Marquette. A Vermonter by the name of Luther Gleason established an Indian trading post on the village site in 1829.

Source: Card file at the WHS Library reference desk Waupun Leader-News, December 8th 1938.]

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Marquette County, created in 1836 from the Marquette District, is named after Father Pere Jacques Marquette, a French missionary and explorer in America. Located in central Wisconsin, the county seat is Montello.

Description from John W. Hunt's 1853 Wisconsin Gazetteer: "MARQUETTE, County, is bounded on the north by Waushara, east by Winnebago and Fond du Lac, on the south by Dodge and Columbia, and on the west by Adams, and is 24 by 30 miles square. It was set off from Brown, December 7, 1836... Of late the subject of the county seat has created considerable excite ment, and the question is now being litigated between the villages of Dartford, on the north side of Green Lake, in the eastern portion of the county, and Marquette, on the south side of Puckawa Lake, in the southern portion of the county. The county is celebrated for its good lands, deep lakes, fine water powers, and its industrious and thrifty inhabitants. It is watered by Fox river (Neenah) and its branches. The population in 1840 was 18; 1842, 59; 1846, 986; 1847, 2,264; including Waushara, 1850, 8,642; 237 farms, 9 manufactories, 1,747 dwellings."

MARQUETTE.--Population 14,824.
From: Handbook of Wisconsin by S. Silas, 1855
pg. 83-84

Named after the first voyager of the Fox River, who gave the name to the place now occupied by the village of St. Marie. It has not been settled a great length of time, but is fast gathering together the signs of thrift and population. There is still much good land not occupied. It is of excellent quality, and has near communication to market. The Fox is navigated by steamboats to Berlin, to which place the Milwaukee and Horicon Rail Road is rapidly hastening. It is a County well watered, consisting mainly of openings, the soil rich, the inhabitants enterprising, and the County beautiful.

Marquette has increased very rapidly since 1850. It then had 8,642, and has had the whole of Waupacca County taken from it. The Horicon Rail Road, soon to be opened to Berlin, will give the whole County a new impetus, and must render Berlin a center for a large and productive region.

Montello, on the Fox, at the mouth of the Montello River, and Dartford, at the outlet of Green Lake, are both thriving places.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 464 square miles (1,203 km²), of which, 455 square miles (1,180 km²) of it is land and 9 square miles (23 km²) of it (1.92%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

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

Cities and Towns:

County Resources:

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