Wapakoneta

Sister cities

• Lengerich

History

In 1748, the French built a trading post (Fort au Glaize, also known as "Wapakoneta Trading Post" or "AuGlaize Trading Post") about a half-mile northeast of the future site of Wapakoneta. After being re-established in 1760 as "Francis Duchouquet's Trading Post," the British later took over this territory after the French ceded it following defeat in the Seven Years' War. Neither they nor the later Americans (after independence) built a succeeding fort here. French-Canadian traders later reestablished a trading post at the site in 1784, which was abandoned after the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. The city itself was established in the 1780s as a Shawnee settlement called "Waughpaughkonnetta" (possibly derived from the Shawnee word "Wa-po'kanite," meaning "the place of white bones"). After the Shawnee tribe was removed to Kansas in 1831, Wapakoneta was platted in 1833 and later named as the seat of Auglaize County in 1848. The Armstrong Air & Space Museum opened in Wapakoneta in 1972.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and is water. Wapakoneta is on the Auglaize River and includes parts of Duchouquet, Pusheta, and Moulton Townships.

Race & ethnicity