Racine, WI news and local guide

After the Black Hawk War opened the area, settlers came from upstate New York and New England. In 1834 Captain Gilbert Knapp of Chatham, Massachusetts, who had first explored the Root River valley in 1818, founded Port Gilbert where the river meets Lake Michigan. Within a year hundreds of settlers from New England, including a group from Derby, Connecticut, and western New York had built log cabins around his. The Native names for the river were Kipi Kawi and Chippecotton. The name Port Gilbert never caught on, and in 1841 the community was incorporated as the village of Racine, from the French word for "root." After Wisconsin became a state in 1848, the legislature voted that August to make Racine a city. Racine College, an Episcopal school, was founded in 1852 and closed in 1933, and its buildings are preserved by the Community of St. Mary as part of the DeKoven Center. Sources Wikipedia: Racine, Wisconsin