Brown County, WI

Settlement & growth (pre-1960)

Before European settlement, the area now known as Brown County was the homeland of the Menominee and Ho-Chunk nations, with the Menominee ceding the land through treaties in the 1830s. The first permanent European settlers were French-Canadian fur traders and missionaries who established a presence at Green Bay as early as the 1630s, making it one of the oldest continuous European settlements in the Upper Midwest. The French built a mission and trading post at the mouth of the Fox River, and the region remained a sparsely populated fur-trade outpost under French and then British control until the United States took possession after the War of 1812.

The major wave of American settlement began in the 1830s and 1840s, driven by the opening of the Erie Canal and the promise of cheap farmland. Yankees from New England and New York poured into the county, founding the city of Green Bay and the village of De Pere along the Fox River. These early settlers established the county’s first sawmills, gristmills, and commercial districts, and they brought with them a tradition of town-meeting governance and Protestant Congregationalism. By the 1850s, the population had reached roughly 10,000, and the county was a thriving lumber and shipping hub.

The second major wave came from Germany and Belgium between 1850 and 1890. German immigrants, many from Pomerania and West Prussia, settled in the rural townships of Eaton, Holland, and Morrison, where they established dairy farms and Catholic parishes. Belgian immigrants, fleeing poverty and religious conflict, concentrated in the town of Champion and the village of Brussels in the county’s northeastern corner, creating a distinct Walloon-speaking enclave that persists in local surnames and festivals today. By 1900, Brown County’s population had grown to over 40,000, with Germans and Belgians forming the largest ethnic blocs alongside the Yankee founding stock.

The third wave, from 1900 to 1960, was dominated by Polish and Irish immigrants who settled in Green Bay’s working-class neighborhoods, particularly on the city’s east side near the packing plants and paper mills. The rise of the meatpacking industry—anchored by the Green Bay Packing Company (later part of the Oscar Mayer empire) and the Fort Howard Paper Company—drew thousands of laborers from Eastern and Southern Europe. The city of Green Bay grew from 23,000 in 1900 to over 62,000 by 1950, while the village of Allouez and the town of Howard developed as streetcar suburbs for the growing middle class. The county’s population reached 125,000 by 1960, overwhelmingly White and native-born, with a strong Catholic majority and a Republican-leaning but union-friendly political culture.

Modern era (post-1965)

The 1965 Hart-Cellar Act had a modest impact on Brown County compared to coastal or Sun Belt regions. The foreign-born share remained below 4% through the 1990s, and the county’s demographic change came primarily through domestic migration and natural increase. The most significant shift began in the 1980s and accelerated after 2000: a wave of Hispanic immigration, primarily from Mexico and Puerto Rico, drawn by jobs in meatpacking, food processing, and construction. These newcomers settled in Green Bay’s near-east side and in the village of Ashwaubenon, where they established Spanish-language churches, grocery stores, and community organizations. The Hispanic share of the county’s population rose from under 2% in 1990 to 10.0% by the 2020 census, making it the fastest-growing demographic group.

Domestic migration since 1970 has been dominated by suburbanization. Families moved outward from Green Bay’s central city into the villages of Howard, Suamico, and Hobart, where new subdivisions and big-box retail followed the expansion of State Highway 29 and Interstate 41. The village of Hobart, in particular, grew from a rural crossroads of 1,500 in 1990 to over 10,000 by 2020, attracting both White middle-class families and a growing Hmong community. The Hmong population, which arrived as refugees from Laos after the Vietnam War, concentrated in Green Bay’s west side and in De Pere, where they established a vibrant cultural center and annual New Year celebrations. The East/Southeast Asian share of the county’s population now stands at 2.5%, with the Hmong forming the largest subgroup.

The Black population, at 2.5%, is smaller than in many Midwestern counties of similar size, but it has grown steadily since 2000, driven by African American families relocating from Chicago and Milwaukee for lower housing costs and manufacturing jobs. The Indian subcontinent population, at 0.7%, is a more recent arrival, concentrated among professionals working in healthcare and information technology at Bellin Health, Prevea Health, and the Green Bay Packers organization. The county’s college-educated share, at 32.4%, is slightly below the national average but rising, as the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College expand their programs and attract out-of-area students.