THIS COUNTY IS AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION. If you are interested in hosting it, please contact the state coordinator.
My name is Rebecca Maloney and I am the temporary county coordinator for Racine County. If you have any corrections or additions for this site please email me. We would like to thank ALL of our previous County Coordinators and Look up Volunteers for all of the work you put into these pages. Our volunteers are what make this project a success! THANK YOU!!
Racine County was forged out of
the original Milwaukee County on December 7, 1836. From the end of the Civil War
to the 1950s, it ranked second in Wisconsin only to its northern lakeshore
neighbor in total population, industrial development, and ethno-cultural
diversity. Several of its manufacturing establishments achieved national—and
even international—status. For several decades, Racine County savored its
reputation as the “small electric motor capital of the world” and as a national
leader in the manufacture of agricultural implements and construction machinery.
From the 1950s to the 1990s, however, many of its signature companies were
either absorbed by conglomerates or moved their headquarters to other states or
countries. It became a veritable poster child for the “Rust Belt.” In the last
several decades, it has struggled to reinvent itself through an unlikely
combination of cutting-edge technology and tourism.
The newly-minted Racine County also contained what became Kenosha, Walworth, and
Rock Counties. Walworth was established as a separate entity on January 17,
1838, while Racine and Kenosha Counties parted company on January 30, 1850.
Racine County’s present-day boundaries are roughly 8 Mile Road (Milwaukee-Racine
County Line) on the north; Lake Michigan on the east; Highway K-R on the south
(except for a small panhandle in the extreme southwest corner); and Highway 83
on the west. It is subdivided into nine towns: Waterford, Rochester, Burlington,
Norway, Dover, Raymond, Yorkville, Caledonia, and Mount Pleasant. These last two
bracket the city of Racine, constituting a tight-knit conurbation on the
lakeshore. In 1957 the County was also bisected, east and west, by Interstate
94, aka “the Chicago-Milwaukee Corridor.”
| Biographical Sketches | Births |
| Cemeteries | Census |
| Churches | Deaths |
| Family Business | Family Pages |
| County History | Links |
| Lookups | Marriage |
| Military | Newspapers |
| Odds and Ends | Place Names |
| Photos | Schools |
 Herbert F. Johnson, Jr., Wingspread, residence in Racine, Wisconsin. House reflected in pool. Gottscho-Schleisner, Inc., photographer. 1939 Oct. 2. |
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| On the April 20, 1836, the act of Congress was passed establishing the Territorial Government of Wisconsin. On Dec. 7th, 1836, The County of Racine was created by the passage of an act of the Territorial Legislature and the Town of Racine was designated as the county seat of justice. By act of Territorial Legislature that passed on January 2, 1838, six towns were created: Racine, Mount Pleasant, Rochester, Salem, Southport, and Pleasant Prairie. (In 1850, Salem, Southport, and Pleasant Prairie were established as Kenosha County, breaking off from Racine County) The name of this place as "Racine" is said to have derived from French Jesuits and dates back as far as 1699. In French, "Racine" means root. The Native Americans called the Root River, that runs through the county, "Chippecotton" which means "Root". A Frenchman by the name of Jaques Jambeau established a trading post at "Skunk Grove" sometime after 1832 and before the first settlers to Racine arrived in 1836. Messr. Jambeau traded his goods with the Native Americans living in the area, who provided furs. |
 Vandergrind & Dolister Dry Goods Store, 410 Main Street (c. 1910) |
 Botsford & Wooser, books & sporting goods, 532 Monument Square (c. 1900) |
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WIGenWeb Acting State Coordinator:
Marcia Ann Kuehl WIGenWeb Assistant State Coordinator: Rebecca Maloney Copyright 2010 - by the WIGenWeb Team. All rights reserved. Copyright of submitted items belongs to those responsible for their authorship or creation unless otherwise assigned. |
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