Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Oshkosh is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located where the Fox River enters Lake Winnebago from the west. The population was 66,816 at the 2020 census. The city is located adjacent to and partially within the Town of Oshkosh. History In 1670, a French priest, Jean Claude Allouez, landed his canoe in what is now Menominee park in Oshkosh. He came to hold mass for the Indians. European settlers came to the area as early as 1818 and a trading post was set up. By 1837 the small community became known as 'Athens'. In an election in 1840 the name was changed to honor (or flatter) the Menominee chief Oshkosh (meaning 'claw' or 'brave'). Oshkosh became a city in 1853. In 1847 the first Sawmill began making lumber. Soon other sawmills were operating up and down the Fox river. Oshkosh provided lumber for the railroads. When the Great Chicago Fire destroyed much of Chicago in 1871, Oshkosh sawmills provided much of the lumber used to rebuild the city. By 1870, Oshkosh had become the third-largest city in Wisconsin. It had a population of over 12,000. The Oshkosh Daily Northwestern newspaper (now the Oshkosh Northwestern) was founded around this time. Oshkosh State Normal School later became the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh). Historic districts The city has a total of 33 listings on the National Register of Historic Places. Some area entrepreneurs and businessmen made their fortunes in the lumber industry. Many made significant contributions to the community, in both politics and supporting philanthropic organizations. Following devastating fires in the mid-1870s, new buildings were commissioned in Oshkosh that expressed a range of good design: for residential, commercial, civic and religious use. The many structures which make up the city's historic areas are largely a result of the capital and materials generated by the lumber and associated wood manufacturing industries. Oshkosh had six historic districts as of October 2011. They include the Algoma Boulevard, Irving/Church, North Main Street, Oshkosh State Normal School on the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh campus, Paine Lumber Company, and Washington Avenue historic districts. The city had 27 historic buildings and sites individually listed on the NRHP as of October 2011. Eleven are houses, four are churches, and the remainder include schools, colleges, a bank, a fire house, an observatory, the Winnebago County Courthouse, and a cemetery where many of the entrepreneurs are buried. Geography Oshkosh is located at 44°1′29″N 88°33′4″W (44.024983, −88.551336). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 26.61 square miles (68.92 km2), of which, 25.59 square miles (66.28 km2) is land and 1.02 square miles (2.64 km2) is water. The City of Oshkosh forms the center of a metropolitan area reaching into the adjacent towns, the Town of Oshkosh in the north and the towns of Algoma in the west, Nekimi in the southwest and Black Wolf in the southeast, all within Winnebago County. The shared border within the Town of Oshkosh is particularly complex, involving a multitude of exclaves and panhandles. Climate Oshkosh has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfa). Summer days are warm to hot with cool to mild nights. Winters are cold and long with moderate snowfall. Precipitation peaks from late spring to early fall. Arts and culture A downtown redevelopment plan led to the construction of the outdoor Leach Amphitheater on the Fox River. It hosts the weekly Waterfest concert series during the summer, as well as national touring musical acts and local community events. Also in downtown Oshkosh is the Grand Opera House, a performing arts center. Downtown Oshkosh has a farmers Market on Saturdays in the summer. The Downtown Oshkosh Gallery Walk, held every first Saturday of the month year-round, surged in attendance through the warmer months of 2006. A number of downtown Oshkosh music venues have opened, and existing venues have tended to expand their schedules, following the trend of the area at large. The Jambalaya Art Cooperative and Art Space Collective have been long standing anchors of the Gallery Walk. In 2010, Chicago Magazine said The Jambalaya Cooperative, 413 N. Main St., was a "must see" destination when visiting Oshkosh. Long-running community festivals, such as Sawdust Days in Menominee Park, was a popular event but discontinued in 2019. Menominee Park is also the site of the Menominee Park Zoo. Pub Crawl is an unsanctioned, unofficial event that happens twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring on the second weekend of April and October. Supposedly, according to the organizers, it was the largest and longest running college pub crawl. It is not officially sanctioned by the city, but it used to attract students across the state to the university area. Many area bars and restaurants reported an uptick in sales, though with the raised revenue also came higher incident rates for local police. The local university put in measures to keep students safe and control how people move throughout the campus. From 1999 to 2019, the Seventh-day Adventist-hosted International Pathfinder Camporee was held in Oshkosh, gathering tens of thousands youth and adults from all over the world every 5 years. The most recent Camporee in 2019 gathered over 56,000 Pathfinders, and is considered the largest Adventist youth event in history, with over 1,000 people being baptized. One of the main highlights of the camporees were the evening programs, specifically the plays which reenacted the stories of famous characters and stories from the Bible onstage. They were held in campgrounds close to the EAA Aviation Museum, with some of the hangars being renovated to make room for booths where Pathfinders would get multiple honors. In 2021, it was announced that the International Pathfinder Camporee would be hosted in Gillette, Wyoming, in 2024. Oshkosh B'Gosh Oshkosh B’Gosh, a clothing manufacturer, started here in 1903. They started out making adult work clothing. But they became famous making children's clothing. Their bib overalls allowed children to dress just like their working fathers. In 2005 the company was purchased by Carter's, Inc., a children's clothing company. Oshkosh B'Gosh is still sold as a separate brand of clothing. The clothing is no longer made in Oshkosh but the corporate headquarters are still there. The EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In The Experimental Aircraft Association, headquartered in Oshkosh, holds a yearly air show called AirVenture Oshkosh. It is mainly for experimental and recreational aircraft. The event has been held at Oshkosh since 1970. The large number of planes coming and going during the fly-in week makes the Wittman Field air traffic control tower the busiest in the world. The event has become so popular that fans simply call it "Oshkosh". References Other websites Oshkosh Convention & Visitors Bureau City of Oshkosh