WISCONSIN RAPIDS, a city near the centre of Wisconsin, U.S.A., on the Wisconsin river; the county seat of Wood county. It is served by the Chicago and North Western, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific, the Green Bay and Western and the Soo Line railways. Pop. (1920) 7,243 (86% native white) ; 8,726 in 1930 by the Federal census. It is in the heart of a dairy region which ships great quantities of cheese, and there are huge cranberry bogs near the city. Hydro-electric power is generated by local plants. Among the important manufactures are paper and pulp, camp stoves and equipment, refrigeration machinery, men's clothing, dairy products and fibre cartons. The city is
headquarters of the U.S. Indian agency for the Winnebago and the Pottawattomie tribes. There is a fish hatchery on Nepco lake, just south of the city. Under the name of Grand Rapids a city on the east bank of the river was chartered in 1869. In 190o it annexed Centralia, on the west bank; and in 1920 the present name was adopted.