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Fond du Lac, at the foot of Lake Winnebago, was once a trading center for French voyageurs and Woodland Indians. Effigy mounds to the north and south of the city suggest the area’s importance to Native Americans 2,000 years before the arrival of the voyageurs. Colwert and Fanna Pier became Fond du Lac’s first permanent settlers in June of 1836, and by 1870, it was the second largest city in Wisconsin with a population of 12,764 and a booming lumber industry.
The arrival of the Wisconsin Central Railroad gave the city’s fortunes a boost, while the farmers outside the city were milking cows in preparation for making cheese in the state’s first cheese factory. While the railroad and the residents’ work ethic gave rise to industries including Giddings & Lewis and Mercury Marine, the area’s natural beauty spawned some of the finest wildlife artists in the nation, such as Owen Gromme, Tom Schultz, Don Kloetzke and Rockne Knuth.
• Fond du Lac Main Page
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