Satellite view of Lake Superior on August 14, 2003 from NASA

As long as I had created a post with all of the counties that border on Lake Michigan, I should do the same for the counties that lie along Lake Superior. Thankfully there are only four of them, so it’s a fairly simple matter to make the list. The counties are listed from east to west.

• Iron County
• Ashland County
• Bayfield County
• Douglas County

Satellite view of Lake Michigan on February 4, 2012 from NOAA

Wisconsin has 11 counties which are on Lake Michigan. I just thought it would be nice to have a post that groups all of these counties together. It might be handy to have if you are thinking about doing the Lake Michigan Circle Tour for example. I have included counties along Green Bay in the list; after all Green Bay is an arm of Lake Michigan. This leads to the unusual situation for Kewaunee County which has a shoreline along both Green Bay and Lake Michigan, which is interrupted by Door County. So I’ve included Kewaunee County twice, before and after Door County.

Here is the list, starting from the border with Upper Michigan and working our way south to the Illinois border:

• Marinette County
• Oconto County
• Brown County
• Kewaunee County
• Door County
• Kewaunee County
• Manitowoc County
• Sheboygan County
• Ozaukee County
• Milwaukee County
• Racine County
• Kenosha County

Wisconsin has quite a few counties which are named after their county seats. Just for fun I thought I would make a list of those counties. Or a list of the county seats.

• Ashland
• Barron
• Eau Claire
• Florence
• Fond du Lac
• Green Lake
• Jefferson
• Kenosha
• Kewaunee
• La Crosse
• Manitowoc
• Marinette
• Milwaukee
• Oconto
• Racine
• Shawano
• Sheboygan
• Waukesha
• Waupaca

These are some county seats that do not quite have the same name as the county:

• Chippewa Falls (Chippewa County)
• Richland Center (Richland County)

There have been five Wisconsin counties that have been renamed:

1. La Pointe County was formed in 1845 by the Wisconsin Territorial legislature. When Wisconsin achieved statehood, La Pointe County was divided between the new state and the Minnesota Territory. The part that remained in Wisconsin kept the name La Pointe County. Both Douglas County (1854) and Ashland County (1860) were formed from La Pointe County. The remainder of La Pointe County was renamed Bayfield County in 1866.
2. Bad Ax County was formed in 1851 and was renamed to Vernon County in 1862. The original name was a reference either to the Bad Ax River which flows through the county or to the Battle of Bad Ax which was the final engagement of the Blackhawk War of 1832.
3. Dallas County was formed in 1859 and named for George M. Dallas who had been Vice President of the United States when Wisconsin became a state in 1848. This was very similar to Polk County which was named for President James Polk who was President in 1848. Dallas County was renamed to Barron County in 1869.
4. New County was formed in 1879 from parts of Oconto County. It was renamed Langlade County in 1880.
5. Gates County was formed in 1901 and named after a Milwaukee land speculator. In 1905 it was renamed to Rusk County.

A number of Wisconsin counties are named after presidents and I thought it would be interesting to make a list of them all:

1. Adams County is named after John Quincy Adams. He was our 6th president and served from 1825 to 1829.
2. Jackson County is named for Andrew Jackson, who served two terms as president from 1829 to 1837.
3. Jefferson County is named for Thomas Jefferson the 3rd president of the United States. He served two terms beginning in 1801 and ending in 1809.
4. Lincoln County is named for Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president. He was president from 1861 until his assassination in 1865.
5. Monroe County is named for James Monroe who was our 5th president. He served two terms; from 1817 to 1825.
6. Pierce County is named after Franklin Pierce, our 14th president. He served a single term from 1853 to 1857.
7. Polk County is named for James Polk. He was the 11th president and served a single term from 1845 to 1849. Wisconsin became  a state during Polk’s time as president.
8. Washington County is named after George Washington who was our 1st president. He served two terms from 1789 to 1797. Vernon County is named after Washington’s Mount Vernon estate.

There are two additional counties that have presidential names, but were not named after presidents:

• Grant County is not named after President Ulysses S. Grant. The county was created in 1836 when the future president was 14 years old. Grant County was apparently named for a trader named Grant who lived in the area around 1810.
• Taylor County is not named for President Zachary Taylor. The county was actually named for William Robert Taylor who was governor of Wisconsin from 1874 to 1876.