"The New Land" Soon after the Indian tribes were forced onto the reservations, European explorers started navigating the waters of the River Basin. One of the first European Explorers who navigated through this land was a French explorer named Pere Jacques Marquette. Marquette was born in Laon, France in 1637. In 1656 he joined the Jesuit order and spent the next 10 years teaching in France. In 1666 he was then sent to the French province New France as a missionary. (See Section New France for the history) While living in New France he spent two years learning Indian Languages. In 1668 he established a mission among the Ottawa Indians at Sault Sainte Marie in what is now Ontario. In 1671 he moved with them to the St. Igance mission on northern Lake Michigan. As he was living with them, he often heard them talking about the great river called the Mississippi. At that time there was very little information known about this river. Governor General Comte de Frontenac of New France believed that the Mississippi could provide an easy route to the Far East for traders. Since Marquette knew some Indian languages he was sent with Louis Jolliet on this track to the Mississippi River. In May 1673 Marquette, Jolliet and five other men set out in two canoes from St. Ignace. They paddled south on Lake Michigan eventually into the area, which are now the northern counties of Southeastern Wisconsin. On their way to the Fox River they traveled thorough the Milwaukee River Basin. What they saw was a land filled with maple, beech, and basswood trees. Surrounding this land were swamps filled with cedar, elm and other plants. As information was slowly getting back to New France, many European Explorers where interested in this new rich land. This would later prove to be the starting point for economic development in the Milwaukee River Basin. New France New France was the French colonial empire in North America beginning in the early 1600's and lasting until 1750's. There were three major colonies that were apart of New France. They were, Canada, Acadia, and Louisiana. Wisconsin was part of the Louisiana colony, which lay in the Mississippi River Valley of the present day United States. |
One of the first settlers in the Milwaukee River Basin area was Solomon Juneau. He arrived in 1818, and claimed the territory east of the Milwaukee River, calling the town he founded there Juneau Town. In 1834, George Walker settled along the Milwaukee River Basin as well. Walker settled south of the Menomonee and west of the Kinnickinnic rivers, founding the town Walker's Point. Also in 1834, Byron Kilbourn settled in the Milwaukee River Basin area. Kilbourn settled North of the Menomonee and west of the Milwaukee Rivers, founding the town Kilbourn. With rapid population growth in the 1840's, the three towns needed economic interaction. To help meet these needs Juneau constructed a bridge over the Milwaukee River. However the two town leaders in Kilbourn and Walker's Point objected to this. In 1846, Kilbourn, Walker's point and Juneau joined together to form the city of Milwaukee. The mayor of Juneau was elected as the First Mayor of Milwaukee. To help link the towns together as a city, engineers needed to build bridges. However, since the streets in Kilbourn had been built to not align with the streets of Juneau, the bridges were all built at angles, leading to the many angle streets in Milwaukee. |