Portage, Wisconsin

**Portage** is a city in Columbia County, Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat of Columbia County. As of the 2020 census, 10,581 people lived in Portage. It is the largest city in Columbia County. The city is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Portage was named for the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway. It is a portage between the Fox River and the Wisconsin River. It was found by Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet during their discovery of a route to the Mississippi River in 1673. The slogan of the city is "Where the North Begins."

Portage is the largest city outside of Dane County in the Madison Metropolitan Area.

## Geography

Portage is in the Wisconsin River valley. The city is surrounded by prairies and grasslands.

The city has a total area of . Of this,  is land and  is water.

## History

The Native American tribes that once lived here, and the European settlers that moved here later, used the lowlands between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers as a natural "portage". The French fur traders called the place "le portage". This later became the name of the community. As a portage, this community grew as a center of commerce and trade. Later, a canal was built to support this trade.

By the end of the 17th century, the Fox-Wisconsin waterway was the major fur trade path between Green Bay and Prairie du Chien. In the 1780s and 1790s, traders built their warehouses at each end of The Portage.  In the early 19th century, Portage was mostly populated by Metis.  In 1828, the federal government saw the economic importance of The Portage. They  built Fort Winnebago at the Fox River end. Portage became the county seat in 1851.  The community incorporated as Portage City in 1854.

## Notable people

- Walt Ambrose, NFL player
- Peter J. Boylan, U.S. Army general, President of Georgia Military College
- Ben Brancel, Wisconsin politician
- Maureen Brunt, U.S. Olympian
- Guy W.S. Castle, Medal of Honor recipient
- Jeffrey Dahmer, serial killer
- Zona Gale, writer, Pulitzer Prize winner
- Charles W. Henney, U.S. Representative
- John Edward Kelley, U.S. Representative from South Dakota
- Margery Latimer, writer
- John Muir, naturalist
- Russell W. Peterson, former Governor of Delaware
- Mike Thompson, NFL player
- Frederick Jackson Turner, historian, Pulitzer Prize winner

## Other websites

- City of Portage
- Portage Chamber of Commerce
- Portage Canal Society - History
- Portage History

## Infobox (settlement)

- **official name**: Portage, Wisconsin
- **settlement type**: City
- **motto**: "Where the North Begins"
- **image skyline**: PortageRetailHistoricDistrictCookBetweenWisconsinDeWittWIS33.jpg
- **image caption**: Downtown Portage
- **image map**: File:Columbia County Wisconsin Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Portage Highlighted.svg
- **mapsize**: 250px
- **map caption**: Location of Portage in Columbia County, Wisconsin.
- **subdivision type**: List of sovereign states, Country
- **subdivision type1**: U.S. state, State
- **subdivision type2**: List of counties in Wisconsin, County
- **subdivision name2**: Columbia County, Wisconsin, Columbia
- **established title**: Settled
- **established date**: 1851
- **unit pref**: Imperial
- **area total km2**: 25.14
- **area land km2**: 23.07
- **area water km2**: 2.07
- **area total sq mi**: 9.71
- **area land sq mi**: 8.91
- **area water sq mi**: 0.80
- **population as of**: 2020 United States Census, 2020
- **population total**: 10,581
- **population density km2**: 458.7
- **population density sq mi**: 1,187.9
- **timezone**: North American Central Time Zone, Central (CST)
- **utc offset**: -6
- **timezone dst**: CDT
- **utc offset dst**: -5
- **elevation m**: 242
- **elevation ft**: 794
- **postal code type**: ZIP Code
- **postal code**: 53901
- **area code**: Area code 608, 608
- **blank name**: Federal Information Processing Standard, FIPS code
- **blank info**: 55-64100
- **blank1 name**: Geographic Names Information System, GNIS feature ID
- **blank1 info**: 1571799
- **website**: [https://www.portagewi.gov/ www.portagewi.gov]