Available for Adoption Contact the Midwest North District
Administrator The word Wisconsin has its origins in the name
given to the Wisconsin River by one of the Algonquian speaking
American Indian groups living in the region at the time of
European contact. French explorer Jacques Marquette was the
first European to reach the Wisconsin River and record its name,
arriving in 1673 and calling the river Meskousing in his
journal. This spelling was later corrupted to Ouisconsin by
other French explorers, and over time this version became the
French name for both the Wisconsin River and the surrounding
lands. English speakers anglicized the spelling to its modern
form when they began to arrive in greater numbers during the
early 19th Century. The current spelling was made official by
the legislature of Wisconsin Territory in 1845. About 1000 BC,
Wisconsin was the heartland of the "Effigy Mound culture," which
built thousands of animal-shaped mounds across the landscape.
Later, only about a 1500 years ago, the Mis