1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Neenah

NEENAH, a city of Winnebago county, Wisconsin, U.S.A., on the N.W. shore of Lake Winnebago, 82 m. N. by E. of Milwaukee. Pop. (1890) 5083; (1900) 5954, of whom 1559 were foreign-born; (1905) 6047; (1910) 5734. It is served by the Chicago & North-Western, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul, and the Milwaukee, St Paul & Sault Ste Marie railways, by two interurban electric railways, and by steamboat lines on the lake and on the Fox river, which flows out of Lake Winnebago at this point. Several bridges connect it with Menasha, on the opposite side of the river, and the two cities form one industrial community. Doty Island, at the mouth of the river, belongs partly to Neenah and partly to Menasha. Neenah is a trade centre of the surrounding agricultural region, in which dairying, especially cheese-making, is carried on extensively. The Fox river (with a fall of 12 ft.) furnishes good water-power for the manufactories. There was a trading post at or near the site of Neenah during the French régime in Wisconsin, but there was no actual settlement until well into the 19th century. Neenah was chartered as a city in 1873; its name is derived from an Indian word meaning “running water” or “rapids.”