Racine is a city in Racine County, Wisconsin, United States, located beside Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River.[2] As of the 2006 census, the city had a total population of
79,592.[3] It is the county seat of Racine County.6
History
On October 10, 1699, a fleet of eight canoes bearing a party
of French explorers entered the mouth of Root River. These were the first known white men to visit what is now Racine County.
They founded a French trading post in the area which eventually became a small settlement on Lake Michigan near where the
Root River empties into Lake Michigan.
That is why Racine has a French name: "racine" means "root" in the French language.
In 1832, just after the Blackhawk War, the area surrounding Racine was settled by
Yankees from upstate New York, looking for new horizons for
their entrepreneurial urges.
The mouth of the Root River, Racine, Wisconsin
Gilbert Knapp, a Lake boat captain in 1834, founded the
settlement of Port Gilbert at the place where the Root River empties into
Lake Michigan. The area was previously called Kipi Kawi and Chippecotton by
the indigenous peoples, both names for the Root River. The name "Port Gilbert" was never really accepted, and in 1841, the
community was incorporated as the village of Racine. (The word "racine" means "root" in French). After Wisconsin's statehood was granted in 1848, the new legislature voted in August to
incorporate Racine as a city.
Before the American Civil War, Racine was well known for its strong opposition to
slavery. Many slaves escaping to freedom via the Underground Railroad passed through the city. In 1854 Joshua
Glover, an escaped slave who had made a home in Racine, was arrested by federal marshals and taken to a jail in Milwaukee. One hundred men from Racine, and ultimately 5,000 Wisconsinites, rallied and broke into
the jail to free him. He was helped to escape to Canada. Glover's rescue gave rise to many legal
complications and a great deal of litigation. This eventually lead to the Wisconsin
Supreme Court declaring the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
unconstitutional, and later, the Wisconsin State Legislature refusing to recognize
the authority of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Waves of immigrants, including Danes, Germans, and
Czechs began to settle in Racine between the Civil War and the First World War. African Americans started arriving in large numbers during World War I, as they did in
other Midwestern industrial towns, and Mexicans started migrating to Racine from roughly 1925 onward.
Unitarians from New England initially dominated Racine's religious life, as they did in other parts of the Upper Midwest
before 1880. Racine's Emmaus Lutheran Church is the oldest Danish Lutheran Church in North America, founded on August 22, 1851.
Emmaus Lutheran, originally part of the American Lutheran Church (ALC), merged
with the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) in 1988, to form the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Racine was a factory town almost from the very beginning. The first industry in Racine County included the manufacture of
Fanning mills, machines that separated wheat grain from
chaff. Racine also had its share of captains of industry, including J. I. Case (heavy equipment), S.C. Johnson (cleaning
and chemical products), Secor, and many others.
In 1887, malted milk was invented by Englishman William
Horlick in Racine, and Horlicks remains a global brand. The garbage disposal was invented in 1927 by architect John Hammes of
Racine. He founded the company In-Sink-Erator in Racine, which still produces millions of
garbage disposers a year. In addition, Racine is the home of Johnson Wax, with
its headquarters designed in 1936 by Frank
Lloyd Wright, who also designed the Wingspread Conference Center and two homes in Racine. The city is also home to the
Dremel Corporation as well as Twin Disc.
Racine claims to be the largest North American settlement of Danes outside of
Greenland. Racine is particularly known for its Danish pastries, especially kringle. Several bakeries have been featured on Food Network.[4][5]
Geography
Racine is located at 42°43′34″N, 87°48′21″W (42.726052,
-87.805873).1
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area
of 48.4 km² (18.7 mi²). 40.2 km² (15.5 mi²) of it
is land and 8.1 km² (3.1 mi²) of it (16.76%) is water.
Demographics
City of Racine
Population by year [6]
[2]
|
| 1880 |
29,105 |
| 1890 |
32,934 |
| 1900 |
38,076 |
| 1910 |
46,532 |
| 1920 |
58,638 |
| 1930 |
67,592 |
| 1940 |
67,217 |
| 1950 |
71,543 |
| 1960 |
89,107 |
| 1970 |
95,234 |
| 1980 |
85,796 |
| 1990 |
84,367 |
| 2000 |
81,855 |
| 2005 |
77,277 |
| 2006 |
79,592 |
As of the census of 2000,[3] there were 81,855 people, 31,449 households, and 20,405 families residing in the city. The
population density was 2,033.7/km² (5,267.6/mi²). There were 33,414 housing units at
an average density of 830.2/km² (2,150.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 68.91% White, 20.32% African American, 0.40% Native American, 0.61% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 7.14% from other races, and 2.57% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 13.95% of the population.
There were 31,449 households out of which 33.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.2% were married couples living together, 17.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.1% were
non-families. 29.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or
older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.15.
In the city the population was spread out with 28.7% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 19.2% from
45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 95.0 males.
For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $37,164, and the median income for a family was $45,150. Males had a median
income of $35,079 versus $24,279 for females. The per capita income for the city was
$17,705. About 10.8% of families and 13.9% of the population were below the poverty
line, including 20.6% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those aged 65 or over.
Government
The government of the City of Racine is divided into executive and legislative branches. The mayor is the chief executive,
elected by general election for a term of four years. The mayor appoints commissioners and other officials who oversee the
various departments, subject to Common Council approval. The current mayor is Gary Becker, a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition[7], a bi-partisan group with a stated goal
of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition is co-chaired by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New
York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
In addition to the mayor, Racine's other citywide elected official is the Municipal Judge. The City Council is the legislative
branch and is made up of 15 aldermen, one elected from each district in the city. The council enacts local ordinances and
approves the city budget. Government priorities and activities are established in a budget ordinance usually adopted each
November. The council takes official action through the passage of ordinances and resolutions.
Education
Racine's public schools are managed by the Racine Unified School District, which oversees twenty-one elementary schools, seven
middle schools and five high schools with a combined student population of around 21,000 students.
High Schools
Middle Schools
- Walden III Middle School
- Jerstad Agerholm Middle School
- Gilmore Middle School
- Henry Mitchell Middle School
- McKinley - Middle Charter School
- Starbuck Middle School
- Real School Middle School
Landmarks
Media
RacinePost.com is Racine's newest media, a site providing original reporting that also aggregates news links about the
community from other media. It is run by Dustin Block, a freelance journalist.
The Journal Times is Racine's daily newspaper.
WRJN-AM 1400 and WEZY-FM 92.1 are Racine's radio stations.
The Insider News covers the black community.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel publishes a Racine page on Thursdays and a section on Sundays.
WIPZ out of the University of
Wisconsin-Parkside is available to most of the city of Racine.
Sister cities
Racine has five sister cities:[8]
Notable people from Racine
- Harold C. Agerholm, PFC,
USMC, World War II marine and
Medal of Honor recipient
- Lillian Andersen, 1933 Worlds Fair Queen
- Kristin Bauer, actress
- Chester Beach, inventor (AC/DC electric motor)
- Frank Bencriscutto, composer
- Olympia Brown, minister and champion of women's
suffrage
- Caron Butler, NBA
basketball player
- Jerome I. Case, industrialist (threshing machines)
- Jim Chones, NBA basketball
player
- Laurel Salton-Clark, astronaut; died on
reentry in her first space flight on Space Shuttle Columbia
- Chester Commodore, Cartoonist - nominated for the Pulitzer Prize twelve times
- Ellen Corby, television actress
- Albert Dremel, founder of the Dremel company
- Norman Golden II, screen actor
- Walter Goodland, oldest Wisconsin
governor
- George Gorton, inventor and manufacturer of machines
- Greg Graffin, lead vocalist of political punk rock
band Bad Religion
- Ben Greenebaum, emeritus physics professor at University of
Wisconsin-Parkside and president of the Bioelectromagnetic Society
- Edward P. Haas, investor, industrialist and entrepreneur Haas
Tractors
- John Hammes, Inventor (In-Sink-Erator)
- Max Hardcore, porn star
- Paul P. Harris, founder of Rotary
International
- Ben Hecht, author and playwright
- Chase M. Hendrix, entrepreneur - Adaptive Easel, Creative Goodwill
- Sonja Henning, WNBA
player
- Kevin Henkes, author and Caldecott Meldal
winner
- William Horlick, malted milk magnate
- Abdul Jeelani, NBA basketball
player
- John L. Jerstad, Major, USAAF, World War II aviator and Medal of Honor recipient
- Samuel C. Johnson, industrialist (wax)
- Karel Jonas, Bohemian author and statesman
- Jim Jorgensen, entrepreneur – Discovery Zone,
AllAdvantage & AllAdvantage.de and Women's Sports Foundation
- Duane Kuiper, Major League Baseball
player
- Larry Kusche, commercial pilot and author
- T.P. Lucas, nationally renowned comedian, founder of 3MC
Entertainment
- James L. Neibaur, film historian, author of several books and hundreds of articles, including The Jerry Lewis Films, The Bob
Hope Films, Arbuckle and Keaton: Their 14 Films Together, The RKO Features
- Eric Nelson, award winning performances as a PGA golfer
- Fredric March, screen and stage actor
- Jim McIlvaine, NBA basketball
player
- Barbara McNair, television and screen actress
- Robert McRay, television and screen actor
- Frederick Osius, inventor (electric appliances)
- John Oster, manufacturer of the Osterizer
(blender appliance)
- Edward Piel, Sr, screen actor
- Steven Poplawski, inventor of drink mixers and the blender
- Shane Rawley, former major league pitcher
- Warner Richmond, screen actor
- Tony Romo, NFL quarterback
- Johnny Saputo, producer for the Ron & Fez show.
- Tom Sorensen, American volleyball player
- Keith Stattenfield, Lead Engineer, Apple Computer, Inc
- Rose Thering, Racine Dominican
Sisters, professor Seton Hall University
- Edward H. Wadewitz, Whitman Publishing Company and
Golden Books
- Lisa Wells, wife of REO Speedwagon lead singer Kevin Cronin
- George Wheary, inventor and industrialist
See also
Area code 262
References
External links
Coordinates:
42.726052° N 87.805873°
W
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