page_title: Port Washington, Wisconsin
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Port Washington, Wisconsin / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Port Washington, Wisconsin
context_page_description: Port Washington is the county seat of Ozaukee County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on Lake Michigan's western shore east of Interstate 43, the community is a suburb in the Milwaukee metropolitan area 27 miles north of the City of Milwaukee. The city's artificial harbor at the mouth of Sauk Creek was dredged in the 1870s and was a commercial port until the early 2000s. The population was 11,250 at the 2010 census.
  When French explorers arrived in the area in the 17th century, they found a Native American village at the mouth of Sauk Creek - the present location of historic downtown Port Washington. The United State Federal Government forcibly expelled the Native Americans in the 1830s, and the first settlers arrived in 1835, calling their settlement "Wisconsin City" before renaming it "Port Washington" in honor of President George Washington. In the late 1840s and early 1850s, the community was a candidate to be the Washington County seat.
context_section_description: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.08 square miles (18.34 km²), of which 5.82 square miles (15.07 km²) is land and 1.26 square miles (3.26 km²) is water. The city is bordered by the Town of Port Washington to the north and west, the Town of Grafton to the south, and Lake Michigan to the east.
  The city is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan. In northern and southern parts of the city, the coastline is characterized by clay bluffs ranging from 80 feet (24 meters) to 130 feet (40 meters) in height with deep ravines where streams flow into the lake. Clay bluffs are a geological formation characteristic of the Lake Michigan shoreline, and are found in few other areas of the world. Much of the coastline adjacent to the bluffs has mixed gravel and sand beaches. Port Washington's historic downtown in the central part of the city is in the Sauk Creek valley, at a lower elevation than the rest of the city. The valley is a break in the bluffs, providing easy access to the lakeshore, which attracted early settlers to the area. Port Washington's artificial harbor, dredged in 1871 with subsequently constructed breakwaters, is located at the mouth of Sauk Creek, adjacent to downtown.
  The city is located in the Southeastern Wisconsin glacial till plains that were created by the Wisconsin glaciation during the most recent ice age. The soil is clayey glacial till with a thin layer of loess on the surface. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources considers the city to be in the Central Lake Michigan Coastal ecological landscape.
  As land development continues to reduce wild areas, wildlife is forced into closer proximity with human communities like Grafton. Large mammals, including white-tailed deer, coyotes, and red foxes can be seen in the city. There have been infrequent sightings of black bears in Ozaukee County communities, including a 2010 sighting of a bear in a Port Washington residential neighborhood.
  The region struggles with many invasive species, including the emerald ash borer, common carp, reed canary grass, the common reed, purple loosestrife, garlic mustard, Eurasian buckthorns, and honeysuckles.
caption: Downtown Port Washington as seen from one of the bluffs overlooking the city.
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