Kewaunee County - named for its chief river, which was early known as "Wood's River." In 1834 Joshua Hatheway, an early Wisconsin surveyor, rechristened it from the Chippewa word which he translated as "prairie hen" - Wis. Hist. Colls., i, p. 117. Verwyst, in Id. xii, p. 392, considers the word equivalent to a peninsula, almost surrounded by water, from the Chippewa term, "I cross a point of land by boat."

Description from John W. Hunt's 1853 Wisconsin Gazetteer: "KEWAUNEE, County, is bounded on the north by Door county, on the east by the state line in Lake Michigan, on the south by Manitowoc, and on the west by Brown, and contains about thirteen townships of land. It was set off from Door, April 16, l852, and is attached to Manitowoc for judicial purposes. The streams are Kewaunee and Red rivers, Benton's, Martin's, Ashnepee and Thornapple creeks. The county having been so recently established, has not as yet reached to much dignity as a county."

Learn More

Kewaunee County, Wisconsin

See more images, essays, newspapers and records about Kewaunee County, Wisconsin.

Dictionary of Wisconsin History

Explore more than 1,600 people, places and events in Wisconsin history.

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