Marinette County Courthouse on 2014-09-06
Marinette County is in northeastern Wisconsin on the border with Upper Michigan. It was created in 1879; previously the area had been part of Oconto County. The Menominee River forms the border between Marinette County and Menominee County in Michigan. The county seat is the city of Marinette, which is located across the river from its twin city of Menominee Michigan, near where the river flowss into Green Bay.
The county was apparently named after the city of Marinette, which in turn was named after Marie Antoinette Chevalier (1793 – 1865). She was a French-Native American woman and ran a trading post near the mouth of the Menominee River, which is approximately the location of the city of Marinette. Apparently Chevalier was known as “Queen Marinette” and the name stuck to the small settlement along the river.
With its location along the Menominee River and adjacent to Green Bay, both the lumber and shipbuilding industries have been important to the city of Marinette and Marinette County. The lumber industry is no longer what it once was of course, but I think there is still a paper mill in Marinette. And there are shipyards too, but tourism has become a major factor in the Marinette County economy.
The current county courthouse was built in 1941. It’s located at 1926 Hall Avenue in Marinette, which is actually US Highway 41. It’s in the center of the city, so it’s not too far from the Menominee River and the border with Michigan. I visited on September 6, 2014. I was there fairly early on a Saturday morning, so there was very little traffic, or people in the area for that matter.
I don’t have much to say about Marinette County; I don’t really have any ties here. I have been in Marinette at least once before: on the way home from a family vacation in Upper Michigan in the late 1960s or early 1970s. We had visited Escanaba and must have taken US 41 home, so we must have driven by the courthouse. I also have visited Peshtigo around the same time. Peshtigo was the center of the big firestorm on October 8, 1871 and I remember we stopped to see the memorial and visit the museum.