Kenosha County History : Images and Texts, 1830s – 1940s

Kenosha County is situated in the most southeastern part of Wisconsin adjoining the Illinois State border. In 1830, Kenosha County was a remote corner of the largely unsettled Michigan Territory. Beginning in 1835 settlers arrived from New York and New England, making Kenosha County and City the southernmost settlement in the state. From 1835 through the 1880s the region's main commercial activity was agriculture.