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city in and county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States
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Racine ( rə-SEEN, RAY-seen) is a city in Racine County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River, 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and 60 miles (97 km) north of Chicago. It is the fifth-most populous city in Wisconsin, with a population of 77,816 at the 2020 census. The Racine metropolitan statistical area, consisting solely of Racine County, has an estimated 199,000 residents.
Racine is the headquarters of several industrial companies, namely Case IH, Dremel, InSinkErator, Modine Manufacturing, Reliance Controls, and S. C. Johnson & Son. Historically, the Mitchell & Lewis Company began making motorcycles and automobiles in Racine at the start of the 20th century. Racine was also home to the Horlicks malt factory, where malted milk balls were first developed; the Western Publishing factory, where Little Golden Books were printed; and Twin Disc transmissions. Prominent architects in Racine's history include A. Arthur Guilbert and Edmund Bailey Funston, and the city is home to works by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, most notably the Johnson Wax Headquarters.
Human prehistory in Racine began with Paleoindians after the last Ice Age. After the arrival of Europeans, the Historic period saw the Miami and later the Potawatomi expand into the area under the pressures of the French fur trade.
In November 1674, while traveling from Green Bay to the territory of the Illinois Confederation, Father Jacques Marquette and his assistants, Jacques Largillier, Pierre Porteret, and Nathan Kowitt, camped at the mouth of the Root River. These were the first Europeans known to visit what is now Racine County. Further expeditions were made in the area by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1679 and by François Jolliet De Montigny and Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes in 1698. Nearly a century later, in 1791, a trading post would be established along Lake Michigan near where the Root River empties into it.
Following the Black Hawk War, the area surrounding Racine, which had previously been off-limits, was settled by Yankees from upstate New York and New England. In 1834 Captain Gilbert Knapp USRM, who was from Chatham, Massachusetts, founded the settlement of "Port Gilbert" at the place where the Root River empties into Lake Michigan. Knapp had first explored the area of the Root River valley in 1818, and returned with financial backing when the war ended. Within a year of Knapp's settlement hundreds of other settlers from New England and western New York had arrived and built log cabins in the area surrounding his own. Some of the settlers were from the town of Derby, Connecticut, and others came from the New England states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The area was previously called "Kipi Kawi" and "Chippecotton" by the indigenous peoples, both names for the Root River. The name "Port Gilbert" was never really accepted, and in 1841, the community was incorporated as the village of Racine, after the French word for "root". After Wisconsin was admitted to the Union in 1848, the new legislature voted in August to incorporate Racine as a city.
In 1852, Racine College, an Episcopal college, was founded; it closed in 1933. Its location and many of its buildings are preserved today by the Community of St. Mary as part of the DeKoven Center.
Also in 1852, Racine High School, the first public high school in Wisconsin, opened. The high school operated until 1926, when it was torn down to make way for the new Racine County Courthouse, an Art Deco high-rise. Washington Park High School was built to replace the original high school.
Before the Civil War, Racine was well known for its strong opposition to slavery, with many slaves escaping to freedom via the Underground Railroad passing through the city. In 1854, Joshua Glover, an escaped slave who had made a home in Racine, was arrested by federal marshals and jailed in Milwaukee. One hundred men from Racine, and ultimately 5,000 Wisconsinites, rallied and broke into the jail to free him. He was helped to escape to Canada. Glover's rescue gave rise to many legal complications and a great deal of litigation. This eventually led to the Wisconsin Supreme Court declaring the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 unconstitutional, and later, the Wisconsin State Legislature refusing to recognize the authority of the U.S. Supreme Court. This saga played a significant role in the building up of tensions that preceded the Civil War.
Racine was a factory town almost from the beginning. The first industry in Racine County included the manufacture of fanning mills, machines that separate wheat grain from chaff. Racine also had its share of captains of industry, including J. I. Case (heavy equipment), S. C. Johnson & Son (cleaning and chemical products), and Arthur B. Modine (Heat Exchangers). Racine's harbor was central to Wisconsin's shipping industry in the late 19th century. Racine was also an early center of car manufacturing. One of the world's first automobiles was built there in 1871 or 1872 by J. W. Cathcart, as was the Pennington Victoria tricycle, the Mitchell, and the Case.
In 1887, malted milk was invented in Racine by English immigrant William Horlick, and Horlicks remains a global brand. The garbage disposal was invented in 1927 by architect John Hammes of Racine, who founded the company InSinkErator, which still produces millions of garbage disposers every year in Racine. Racine is also the home of S.C. Johnson & Son, whose headquarters were designed in 1936 by Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright also designed the Wingspread Conference Center and several homes and other buildings in Racine. The city is also home to the Dremel Corporation, Reliance Controls Corporation, and Twin Disc. Case New Holland's Racine manufacturing facility, which builds two tractor models (the New Holland T8 and the Case IH Magnum), offers public tours throughout the year.
Racine includes the Old Main Street Historic District. Historic buildings in Racine include the Badger Building, Racine Elks Club, Lodge No. 252, St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, St. John's Lutheran Church, YMCA Building, Chauncey Hall House, Eli R. Cooley House, George Murray House, Hansen House, Racine College, McClurg Building, First Presbyterian Church, Memorial Hall, Racine Depot, United Laymen Bible Student Tabernacle, Chauncey Hall Building, Thomas P. Hardy House, and Horlick Field. The area is home to several National Register of Historic Places listed structures: National Register of Historic Places listings in Racine County, Wisconsin. The city is also home to Regency Mall.
Frank Lloyd Wright designed and built the Johnson Wax Headquarters building in Racine. The building was and still is considered a marvel of design innovation, despite its many practical annoyances, such as rainwater leaks. Wright urged then-president Hib Johnson to build the structure outside Racine, a city that Wright, a Wisconsin native, considered "backwater." Johnson refused to have the Johnson Wax Headquarters sited anywhere other than Racine.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 15.66 square miles (40.56 km2), of which 15.47 square miles (40.07 km2) is land and 0.18 square miles (0.47 km2) is water.
Racine has a warm-summer Continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfb). Summers are warm and short while winters are cold. Precipitation is dispersed evenly throughout the year, although summers are slightly wetter and more humid than winters.
Waves of European immigrants, including Danes, Germans, and Czechs, began to settle in Racine between the Civil War and the First World War. African Americans started arriving in large numbers during World War I, as they did in other Midwestern industrial towns, and Hispanics migrated to Racine from roughly 1925 onward.
Unitarians, Episcopalians and Congregationalists from New England initially dominated Racine's religious life. Racine's Emmaus Lutheran Church, the oldest Danish Lutheran Church in North America, was founded on August 22, 1851. Originally a founding member of the Danish American Lutheran Church, it has subsequently been a member of the United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (UDELCA), the American Lutheran Church (ALC), and, since 1988, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). There was also a large Catholic movement to the city, opening up churches for their own ethnicity, such as St. Stanislaus (Polish), St. Rose (Irish), Holy Name (German), St. Patrick (Irish), Sacred Heart (Italian), St. Joseph (German), St. Mary (German), Holy Trinity (Slovak), St. Casimir (Lithuanian), and others. As years passed, populations moved, and St. Stanislaus, Holy Name, Holy Trinity, St. Rose, and St. Casimir merged in 1998 to form St. Richard. With new waves of people arriving, older parishes received a boost from the Hispanic community, which formed Cristo Rey, re-energizing St. Patrick's into the strong Catholic community of today.
Racine has the largest Danish population in North America. The city has become known for its Danish pastries, particularly kringle. Several local bakeries have been featured on the Food Network highlighting the pastry.
As of the 2020 census, Racine had a population of 77,816. The population density was 5,028.5 inhabitants per square mile (1,941.5/km2). There were 33,871 housing units at an average density of 2,188.8 per square mile (845.1/km2).
The median age was 35.3 years. 26.5% of residents were under age 18, and 13.5% were age 65 or older. For every 100 females, there were 94.0 males; for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.9 males.
There were 31,133 households, of which 32.3% had children under age 18. Of all households, 32.0% were married-couple households, 22.2% had a male householder with no spouse or partner present, and 35.8% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 33.0% of households were individuals, and 11.4% had someone living alone who was age 65 or older.
Of the city's 33,871 housing units, 8.1% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.7%, and the rental vacancy rate was 7.6%.
As of the 2020 census, 100.0% of residents lived in urban areas and 0.0% lived in rural areas. Racial and ethnic composition for 2020 is shown in the table above.
According to the American Community Survey estimates for 2016–2020, the median household income in the city was $44,346, and the median income for a family was $54,161. Male full-time workers had a median income of $42,864 compared with $36,299 for female workers. The per capita income for the city was $22,837. About 15.7% of families and 20.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.0% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over. Of the population age 25 and over, 86.5% were high school graduates or higher and 17.2% had a bachelor's degree or higher.
As of the 2010 census, there were 78,860 people, 30,530 households, and 19,222 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,094.3 inhabitants per square mile (1,966.9/km2). There were 33,887 housing units at an average density of 2,189.1 per square mile (845.2/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 58.8% White, 22.6% African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 10.3% from other races, and 4.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 20.7% of the population.
There were 30,530 households, of which 35.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.5% were married couples living together, 20.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.0% were non-families. 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53, and the average family size was 3.17.
The median age in the city was 33 years. 27.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.6% were from 25 to 44; 23.8% were from 45 to 64; and 10.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.8% male and 51.2% female.
Racine employs community-oriented policing, the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques to address the immediate conditions that give rise to crime. The number of crimes committed in the city in 2013 dropped in several categories to the lowest point in decades. Racine saw a 38.3 percent drop in violent crime from 2009 to 2013, making it the 10th largest decrease in the country. Property crimes were at their lowest level since 1965, while the number of violent crimes was the lowest for any year on record.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Racine, Wisconsin”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.