The Kenosha County courthouse on May 22, 2016
Kenosha County was created by the state legislature in 1850 by splitting Racine County; the southern part became Kenosha County. The name “Kenosha” is derived from a word meaning “place of the pike” in either the Potawatomi or Ojibwe language. Located on the Illinois border, Kenosha County is very dependent on the economy of Chicago. The city of Kenosha is the county seat.
The first European settlement in the Kenosha area came in 1835 when the Western Emigration Company founded a settlement at Pike Creek. They had previously tried to settle in the Milwaukee and Racine areas. the settlement was platted in 1836 and was known as Pike Creek, after the creek that flowed into Lake Michigan at the settlement. As shipping became more important to the settlement, it was renamed Southport. Finally in 1850 it was renamed Kenosha and so it has remained.
Kenosha was quite important in the automobile industry. Nash Motors was founded here, and eventually became American Motors Corporation. When AMC went out of business, Chrysler used the big assembly plant in Kenosha until 1988. It was demolished and the site was redeveloped as Harbor Park.
The Kenosha County courthouse is located at 912 56th Street in Kenosha. It was built from 1923 to 1925 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. I visited on Sunday May 22, 2016; I had visited Racine County and then drove along the lake to Kenosha. I did pass Carthage College en route, but could not stop for a picture because all of the parking areas were full. Probably because of graduation. The courthouse is a very impressive structure and it is located across the street from a nice park. A museum, a high school and the post office are also located facing the Civic Center park. The courthouse has not had any major additions tacked onto it since it was built which is kind of nice. There are various newer county buildings on the same block or across the street, but there are not tied directly to the courthouse.
After I had walked around the courthouse area, I headed toward the lakefront district; it’s only a few blocks away. This has been redeveloped, so there are a large number of condos. But there is ample open space and a nice park along Lake Michigan. I parked near the Civil War Museum and had a nice walk along the harbor and past the Kenosha Public Museum as well. The city has done a great job of redevelopment.
I don’t have many memories of Kenosha. My only previous visit to the city was in March 2009 when the German choir I sing with went to the annual choir competition which was hosted by the M.G.V. Harmonia choir from Kenosha. We actually managed to win, but then had to head for home because a major snowstorm was blowing in off of Lake Michigan. So I didn’t see much of the city and in fact I couldn’t even hazard a guess as to where the competition was held.