Racine

Sister cities

• Fortaleza
• Aalborg
• Bluefields
• Ōiso-machi
• Aalborg Municipality
• Montélimar

History

Human prehistory in Racine began with Paleoindians after the last Ice Age. After the arrival of Europeans, the Historic period saw the Miami and later the Potawatomi expand into the area under the pressures of the French fur trade. In November 1674, while traveling from Green Bay to the territory of the Illinois Confederation, Father Jacques Marquette and his assistants, Jacques Largillier, Pierre Porteret, and Nathan Kowitt, camped at the mouth of the Root River. These were the first Europeans known to visit what is now Racine County. Further expeditions were made in the area by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1679 and by François Jolliet De Montigny and Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes in 1698. Nearly a century later, in 1791, a trading post would be established along Lake Michigan near where the Root River empties into it. Following the Black Hawk War, the area surrounding Racine, which had previously been off-limits, was settled by Yankees from upstate New York and New England. In 1834 Captain Gilbert Knapp USRM, who was from Chatham, Massachusetts, founded the settlement of "Port Gilbert" at the place where the Root River empties into Lake Michigan. Knapp had first explored the area of the Root River valley in 1818, and returned with financial backing when the war ended. Within a year of Knapp's settlement hundreds of other settlers from New England and western New York had arrived and built log cabins in the area surrounding his own. Some of the settlers were from the town of Derby, Connecticut, and others came from the New England states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The area was previously called "Kipi Kawi" and "Chippecotton" by the indigenous peoples, both names for the Root River. The name "Port…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Racine has a warm-summer Continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfb). Summers are warm and short while winters are cold. Precipitation is dispersed evenly throughout the year, although summers are slightly wetter and more humid than winters.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  7,138
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,041
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  6,351
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,248
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  6,015
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,952
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  5,860
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,133

Largest nearby schools

• Case High
  High · Racine · 1,884 students · 14.7:1 ratio
• Gifford School
  Elementary · Racine · 1,411 students · 15.5:1 ratio
• Horlick High
  High · Racine · 1,340 students · 12.6:1 ratio
• Mitchell School
  Elementary · Racine · 1,083 students · 10.7:1 ratio
• Park High
  High · Racine · 1,038 students · 10.9:1 ratio
• Jerstad-Agerholm School
  Elementary · Racine · 899 students · 9.8:1 ratio
• Walden III High
  High · Racine · 715 students · 16.6:1 ratio
• Gilmore Fine Arts School
  Elementary · Racine · 695 students · 13.1:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2026-07-08
  21 km ENE of Kenilworth, Illinois
• M 2.9 — 2015-03-25
  3 km WNW of Lake in the Hills, Illinois
• M 2.6 — 2013-06-10
  4 km NNE of Virgil, Illinois