Waukesha

History

The Waukesha area was first settled by European-Americans in 1834, with Morris D. Cutler as its first settler. The founders of Waukesha were settlers from New England, part of a wave of New England farmers who headed west into what was then the wilds of the Northwest Territory during the early 1800s. Most arrived as a result of the completion of the Erie Canal as well as the end of the Black Hawk War. When the first settlers arrived, there was nothing but dense virgin forest and wild prairie. The settlers laid out farms, constructed roads, erected government buildings and established post routes. They brought many of their Yankee values, such as a passion for education, establishing many schools as well as staunch support for abolitionism. They were mostly members of the Congregationalist Church though some were Episcopalian. Due to the second Great Awakening some had converted to Methodism and others had become Baptists before moving to Waukesha County. Like much of Wisconsin, Waukesha would be culturally very continuous with New England culture for most of its early history. By 1846, the area was incorporated as the town of Prairie Village (soon changed to Prairieville). On February 8, 1847, the town changed its name to "Waukesha". On January 10, 1852, the settled area once known as Prairieville was separated from the town of Waukesha and incorporated as a village; it incorporated as a city in 1896. who served from January to April 1896. Welsh immigrants settling in Waukesha as early as the 1840s, and large numbers arrived in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when they were one of the largest ethnic groups in Waukesha. In the late 1800s a large number of Belgian families arrived in Waukesha as well. Around the same time there was also relatively large amounts of…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  27,410
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  27,133
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  25,547
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  23,445
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  22,330
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  19,323
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  18,806
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  18,733

Largest nearby schools

• Arrowhead High
  High · Hartland · 2,086 students · 18.1:1 ratio
• Muskego High
  High · Muskego · 1,686 students · 17.7:1 ratio
• Hamilton High
  High · Sussex · 1,562 students · 17.6:1 ratio
• Brookfield East High
  High · Brookfield · 1,362 students · 17:1 ratio
• West High
  High · Waukesha · 1,194 students · 18.7:1 ratio
• Brookfield Central High
  High · Brookfield · 1,192 students · 16.1:1 ratio
• New Berlin West Middle/High
  High · New Berlin · 1,047 students · 15.2:1 ratio
• Eisenhower Middle/High
  High · New Berlin · 1,029 students · 16.3:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2015-03-25
  3 km WNW of Lake in the Hills, Illinois