Appleton, WI news and local guide

Appleton was settled in 1847 as three unincorporated villages along the Fox River, Grand Chute, Appleton and Lawesburg, which merged in 1853 into the incorporated Village of Appleton, with John F. Johnston as its first resident and village president. Lawrence University, also founded in 1847 as the Lawrence Institute, was backed by Amos A. Lawrence, and the town was named for his father-in-law, Samuel Appleton of New England, who never visited Wisconsin but gave $10,000 for the college library. Appleton was incorporated as a city on March 2, 1857, with Amos Story as its first mayor. The paper industry, beginning with the city's first paper mill in 1853, drove Appleton's growth. To power the mills, the nation's first hydroelectric central station, the Vulcan Street Plant on the Fox River, began operating on September 30, 1882, and it also lit the Hearthstone House, the first home in the world powered by a central hydroelectric station using the Edison system. In August 1886 Appleton became home to one of the first commercially successful electric streetcar companies, and it also had Wisconsin's first telephone. Sources Wikipedia: Appleton, Wisconsin