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Our Community -
History
     
History of the
Stevens Point Area
In the 1830s, John B. DuBay established a
trading post twelve miles north of Stevens Point
on the Wisconsin River. A permanent white
settlement began in 1836, after the signing of
the treaty between the United States and the
Indians.
In 1838, George Stevens made the rugged journey
from Fort Winnebago and took his first survey of
the area. Stevens and a Native American returned
with supplies a year later. The supplies were
both hauled up the river to Little Bull Falls
(now Mosinee) and the rest were housed in a
rough shack, farther downstream. Unknowingly,
George Stevens had founded Stevens Point.
On September 10, 1844, the first land entry in
the future village and city was made by Andrew
Mallarkey, who then laid out the first plat of
the town in 1847. By 1850, Stevens Point had a
population estimated at 200.
The area owes most of its early development to
the Old Canadian National Railroad (Soo Line).
The railroad transported cargo and passenger
alike through Northern Wisconsin. It is a
railroad romance story rivaling the historic
building of the Union Pacific across the West.
The railroad linked the area to the rest of the
country.
Today a marker stands at the west end of Main
Street along the Wisconsin River where George
Stevens began the settlement of Stevens Point.
Industries such as manufacturing,
transportation, insurance and construction have
long since replaced the lumber mills and trading
posts that used to dot the Wisconsin River
shore. The economic life of the area continues
to expand and diversify as older companies grow
and newer organizations choose to call us home.
Today the industries on which the city’s
economic life depends include manufacturing,
transportation and communications, wholesale and
retail selling, insurance, finance, real estate,
service utilities, construction and education.
In recent years, the economic life of Stevens
Point has become more varied and many of the
older industries have expanded or diversified,
such as StoraEnso North America, Sunrise Medical
CCG, Associated Bank, Copps Corporation,
Donaldson Company, Kimberly Clark Corporation,
Canadian National and Worzalla Publishing.
Portage County also boasts some of the richest
farmland in the state. The Village of Plover,
located in the heart of Wisconsin’s “Golden
Sands,” has become one of the nation’s most
important agricultural suppliers of potatoes and
other vegetables. Okray Produce has been in
business in the area since 1905, with one-third
of its crop potatoes and the rest canning crops
such as green beans and corn. Okray and other
large producers, including Paragon Farms, have
brought national food producers such as Basic
American Foods, Del Monte Corporation, Golden
County Foods and McCain Foods to the area.
These industries, together with dairy, beef,
forest products and cranberry production, give
the Stevens Point area the most diversified
economy in the state of Wisconsin.
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