APPLETON, WISCONSIN

'Appleton' is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, on the Fox River, 100 miles (161 km) north of Milwaukee. As of the 2005 census estimate, the city had a total population of 70,217. Appleton is the principal city of the Appleton, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Appleton-Oshkosh-Neenah, Wisconsin Combined Statistical Area with a combined population of around 350,000. It is the county seat of Outagamie County, but extends into both Calumet County and Winnebago County.

Contents

History

Transportation

Roads

Education

Religion

Catholic

Healthcare

Demographics

Notable residents

Points of interest

External links

History

Appleton was settled in 1847 by Sean Oeding and incorporated as a village in 1853 and as a city in 1857. Early in the 20th century, it adopted the commission form of government, however that type of government has been abandoned in many cities. In 1890, 11,869 people lived in Appleton; in 1900, there were 15,085; in 1910, 16,773; in 1920, 19,571; and in 1940, 28,436.
Home to Lawrence University, the City of Appleton grew along with the school. With the financial backing of Amos A. Lawrence, the Lawrence Institute was chartered in 1847. Samuel Appleton donated $10,000 to the newly founded college library, and in appreciation, his name was given to the community [1]. Appleton is also the present headquarters of the John Birch Society.
Appleton also had the first telephone in all Wisconsin, and the first incandescent light in any city beyond the East Coast. The first hydroelectric power was generated in Appleton, at the Vulcan Street Plant on the Fox River, which lit the first house, the Hearthstone House.
Appleton's Valley Fair Shopping Center, built in 1954, lays claim to being the first enclosed shopping mall in the United States (note-Seattle's Northgate Mall, built in 1950, claims to be the country's first mall). As of early 2007, the mall is completely vacant except for a budget movie theater, pending the sale from the previous (now bankrupt) mall owners, Youthfutures, Inc.
Appleton was also the childhood home of Harry Houdini, who claimed in interviews to have been born in Appleton on April 6, 1874. Actually, Houdini was born in Budapest, Hungary.

Transportation

The city is a member of Valley Transit, a network of bus lines crisscrossing the Fox Valley.
Commercial air service is provided at Outagamie County Regional Airport.

Roads

The primary roads into the metro Appleton area are US-41 and US-10. US-41 runs north-south on the west side of the city, and turns east-west across the north side of the city. US-41 connects to Green Bay to the northeast and Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, and Milwaukee to the south. W-441 loops off US-41 across the south and east sides of the metro Appleton area. US-10 is an east-west highway that connects to Manitowoc to the east, and Stevens Point/Wausau to the west.
W-125 provides access from US-41 to downtown Appleton. Other secondary state highway into the Appleton metro area include W-47, W-96, W-15. Roads that route exclusively through suburbs of Appleton include US-45, W-55, W-114, and W-76.

Education

Appleton is served by the Appleton Area School District. The district has three high schools, Appleton East, Appleton North and Appleton West. Xavier High School is the city's Roman Catholic high school and Fox Valley Lutheran High School is its Lutheran high school. It is also home to several charter schools, a complete list of which can be found here.
Appleton is home to Lawrence University, a private liberal arts college on the shores of the Fox River. The university was formed before the city was founded, and Appleton is named for a wealthy donor to the institution. The University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley, a two-year collegiate campus of the University of Wisconsin System is located in nearby Menasha, Wisconsin, and the Fox Valley Technical College are also located in Appleton.
The city and surrounding area are served by the Appleton Public Library [2]. The library was chartered by the city in 1897 and in 2007 has a collection of nearly 400,000 volumes.

Religion

Appleton has a fairly diverse religious community, though Catholicism and Lutheranism are probably the most common religious affiliations. Almost every Christian denomination is represented, as well as a synagogue and an Islamic society.

Catholic

★ St.Joseph's Parish

★ St. Mary's Parish, Appleton

★ Sacred Heart Parish, Appleton

Healthcare

★ Appleton Medical Center

★ St. Elizabeth Hospital (Appleton, Wisconsin)

Demographics

As of the census of 2005, there were 70,217 people, 26,864 households, and 17,676 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,296.0/km² (3,355.9/mi²). There were 27,736 housing units at an average density of 512.9/km² (1,328.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 91.48% White, 0.99% African American, 0.57% Native American, 4.61% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.05% from other races, and 1.27% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.53% of the population.
There were 26,864 households out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.9% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.2% were non-families. 27.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.13.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.4% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 31.8% from 25 to 44, 19.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 96.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $47,285, and the median income for a family was $57,097. Males had a median income of $40,459 versus $25,890 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,478. About 3.3% of families and 5.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.1% of those under age 18 and 4.8% of those age 65 or over.

Notable residents

★ Judah Bauer, guitarist for The Blues Explosion

★ Rocky Bleier, NFL football player

★ John Bradley, Iwo Jima Navy flag-raiser

★ Brian Butch, UW-Madison basketball player, McDonald's All-American

★ Willem Dafoe, actor

★ Edna Ferber, author

★ William Norman Grigg, author

★ J.P. Hayes, golfer

★ Myron Paul Heitmann writer, comedian, performer of Dr Bhopal Settled And Unsettled In The USA

★ Harry Houdini, magician (childhood home)

★ Roger Jenkins, hockey player

★ Steve Kagen, Member of Congress

★ Ron Kostelnik, football player

★ Jeff Loomis, guitarist

★ Rob Mann, lacrosse player

★ Joseph McCarthy, senator

★ Steve Millar, lead singer/guitarist for The Rest, Musician

★ William Beverly Murphy, former CEO Campbell's Soup Co. and conceiver of Nielsen Food & Drug Index (childhood home)

★ Greta Van Susteren, FoxNews television anchor

★ Lise Van Susteren, psychiatrist

★ Walter B. Wriston, banker

Points of interest

★ Gardens of the Fox Cities

★ Fox Valley Technical College

★ Fox River Mall (in nearby Grand Chute)

★ Fox Cities Performing Arts Center

★ Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (in nearby Grand Chute)

★ Hearthstone Historic House Museum

★ Goodland Field

★ Lawrence University

★ Appleton Art Center

External links

★ City of Appleton

★ Appleton Public Library

★ Fox Valley Memory - local history portal

★ Outagamie County Historical Society

★ Appleton Public Library Local History Collection