Superior

History

The first log cabin in Superior was erected in September 1853 on the banks of the Nemadji River, at the same time that ground was broken for construction of the locks and ship canal at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. This was intended to allow ships to bypass the rapids at that site. Superior was incorporated as a city on March 25, 1889. Around the same time Superior became the seat of newly formed Douglas County, Wisconsin. Immediately there was eagerness for a railroad from Lake Superior to the Pacific Coast, and investment flowed in, but then the Panic of 1857 hit, investment slowed, and the population of the new city collapsed from 2500 to 500. Twenty-five years later the Northern Pacific Railway and other rail lines finally arrived, fulfilling the dream of a rail and water highway from coast to coast. In 1883 General John Henry Hammond formed the Land and River Improvement Company, which developed much of West Superior, including the West Superior Iron and Steel plant. Numerous grain, coal and lumber businesses formed in the same period. The opening of this land to United States survey and settlement followed the Treaty of La Pointe (1842) and Treaty of La Pointe (1854), through which the Ojibwe ceded territory in northern Wisconsin. These agreements facilitated the federal surveys conducted in 1853, leading to the subsequent establishment of a townsite at the Head of the Lakes, which ultimately resulted in the founding of Superior. Documented collections of Ojibwe place names within the treaty-ceded territories also record an Ojibwe name for Superior, Gete-oodenaang (glossed as "at the old town"). Later that year, Joseph Bullen and John Talleyrand Morgan traveled from St. Paul, Minnesota to the Nemadji River to establish a townsite. Their route followed an…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Most of Superior is level, with a gradual slope toward Lake Superior.

Race & ethnicity