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History of the Town of
Kaukauna. |
Although Outagamie County begins officially with the
date, February 17, 1851, it's township history goes back to 1842, six
years before Wisconsin became a state. The Town of Kaukauna was
established April 7th, 1842, under the territory of Wisconsin as part of
Brown County.
For seven years all of the present Outagamie County, except the Indian
lands near the Wolf River, was known as Kaukauna Township and was
governed by it's township officers. |
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The word Kaukauna, is a
unique name. The bureau of Ethnology in Washington defined it as a
Menominee Indian word, Ogaq-Kane, meaning the place of the pike. Other
authorities give it the Indian spelling of the word O-Gau-Gau-Ning. This
has the various meanings, "stopping place of the Pickerel", "pickerel
fishing grounds or eddies where the fish stop". Whatever it's spelling,
Kaukauna was a favorite place of the Indians who lived there for more
than a hundred years. They followed the hunt in the winters and
cultivated corn and fished at O-Gau-Gau-Ning during the summertime.
Through French usage, the Indian name became distorted. Historical
references show variations such as Cacalin, Kakalin, Kockaloo, Cacolin
and Kaukaulin. In 1851, the Township of Grand Kaukaulin was changed
officially to Kaukauna by act of state legislature.
Although the city dates its incorporation from 1885, in settlement it is
the oldest in the county. It was here that fur trader Dominique Ducharme,
the county's first known settler, paid two barrels of rum to the Indians
for 1280 acres of the present city in 1793. It was here that Augustin
Grignon and other later French fur traders came to settle with
their families. One of the oldest homes in the state stands as a
historic landmark in Kaukauna, the Grignon home, now a county museum.
More information can be found by visiting the Grignon Home Museum. |
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The Town of Kaukauna Historical Society:
The following is historical information regarding points of interest
along
the Rustic Road Route, R 53 is provided by Alice Weyers. |
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