Winneconne is a village in Winnebago County, Wisconsin. The population was 2,383 at the time of the 2010 census. The village is located within the Town of Winneconne. Developed along the Wolf River, the city is in the middle of the Wolf Chain of lakes, including Poygan, Winneconne, and Butte des Morts. It is host to numerous bass fishing tournaments.
History
This area was originally occupied by succeeding cultures of indigenous peoples. The historic Menominee people were settled in the area at the time of European encounter. French fur traders from Quebec were among the first to interact with them, followed by Catholic Jesuit missionaries. The area was ruled by Great Britain as part of the Province of Quebec and then acquired by the United States.
Winneconne's European-American settlement began in the mid-19th century with Yankees who migrated from New England and the Northern Tier, added to by waves of immigrants: Irish, Germans, and Norwegians. Originally, Winneconne had many different spellings: Winneconnah, Winnekonah, Wau-nau-ko, and Winnikning, which were transliterations from the Menominee and other Indian names for the site. The Indian meanings of these names ranged from "land of dirty water" to "land of skull and bones", referring to a prehistoric burial mound known as Butte des Morts by the French. In 1851 the recently constituted village board officially settled the spelling of the name as Winneconne.
Joseph Edwards (1809-1902) was the first postmaster. He was a migrant from Hopewell, Bedford County, Pennsylvania via 15 years farming in Richland County, Ohio. He first settled with his family in Winneconne in 1849, building the first frame house in the village. After living here a few years, he moved to Dayton, Waupaca County, Wisconsin for more farming. He and his wife Mary (Wright) Edwards returned to this village in 1886. She died in 1895; and four of their nine children survived him: Mrs. D.C. Reed was still living in the village; son Oscar A. Edwards lived in Rhinelander, and two married daughters lived in Tacoma, Washington.
After the Treaty of Poygan in 1852, by which the Menominee ceded more land in this area to the United States, Winneconne expanded its land west of the Wolf River. Chief Oshkosh negotiated with the President to keep other lands in this area, as more than 2500 of his people refused to move to Minnesota, as was desired by the federal government. The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin is federally recognized.
Because of the expansion of the village, people needed to cross the river more frequently. Initially the Menominee would transport people and goods by canoe. In 1853, settler J.D. Rush built a float bridge, and set up toll stations to recover his costs. Since then a total of four bridges have been built, including the current one.
In Winneconne's early years, mills were built along the river as the first industries, to process lumber, grain, and operate tanneries. Commercial fishing was also a thriving business. The many shipyards built and repaired fleets then made up primarily of wooden boats and ships.
With its many rivers and lakes, Winneconne has been known as a "hunting and fishing paradise." Some resort housing has been built in the area.
Improvements continue in the area. The Wolf River Bridge, carrying WIS 116, was built in 1934 during the Great Depression with support from the federal government, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's WPA projects for investment in infrastructure. This non-redundant bascule bridge is now functionally obsolete because of its narrow deck width and aging materials. As it is very important to the Main Street of the village, and connections to other cities in the region, the state has approved a new bridge to carry WIS 116. A new bridge will also have fishing platforms, as does the current one.