GREEN BAY, Wis., city and county-seat of Brown County, situated at the head or south ern point of the bay of the same name, and at the mouth of the Fox River, on the Chicago and Northwestern, Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul, the Green Bay and Western rail roads. Green Bay has an extensive commerce. Fifty-seven passenger trains arrive daily over the four railroads entering the city. An ex tensive lake traffic is also carried on, the harbor, through government appropriations, having been made accessible to the largest vessels upon the Great Lakes. Coal constitutes the largest single import, Green Bay being an advantageous dis tributing point. The largest export by way of the lakes is grain, although much lumber has hitherto been shipped out. The city is pro vided with a complete electric railway system, including an interurban line up the Fox River valley to Kaukauna, where a junction is made with another electric line passing through Ap pleton, Neenah, Oshkosh and Fond du Lac. A light and power plant furnishes gas for lighting and heating and electricity for light and power, many electric motors now being in use. There arc a number of manufacturing plants — 3 large breweries, 3 paper mills and 1 sulphite mill, 2 large saw mills, 3 planing mills, 2 very large canning factories, 1 glove factory, 3 pure milk factories, 5 machine shops, 2 candy factories 1 pickle factory, 1 coffin factory, 1 carriage fac tory, 1 cornice factory, largest hard coal docks on the lakes, 1 grass rug factory, 1 multiplier machine factory, 2 flour mills, 2 knitting and mackinac factories. Several lobbing and whole sale concerns do a large business, the most im portant being grocery, hardware, crockery, and saddlery and harness. • An extensive fish shipping business is also carried on. Water is.
supplied f• om artesian wells by a private com pany. Green Bay has a number of fine public buildings, the Kellogg library and three branch libraries, the Federal buildings, Saint Joseph's Academy, three hospitals and just outside the city limits the State Reformatory. The public school system has two high schools and 13 ward schools, employing 106 teachers, one continua tion school, two open-air schools and one school for the deaf. There are also several parish schools, graded in the same manner as the public schools. There are many fine church buildings, and all the leading religious denom inations are represented in the city. Green Bay, the oldest town in Wisconsin, was first visited in 1634 by Jean Nicollet, who had been sent by Champlain, governor of New France, to find the rumored short route to China. The site was a favorable one for an Indian village as well as a landing place for explorers and mis sionaries. It is known that Marquette, Joliet, Allouez and Tonti spent considerable time here. The town was therefore settled by the French, who impressed their character upon it for over 200 years, although it fell into the hands of the English at the close of the French and Indian War in 1763. In 1816 the Americans estab lished a fort on the opposite side of the river, known as Fort Howard, around which a pros perous town of the same name grew up. In 1895 Fort Howard was annexed to Green Bay. The administration of the city is by commission form of government, mayor and two council men, elected for six-year terms. Assessed valu ation: Lots, exclusive of buildings, $16,740,275; farm lands, $890,605; personal property, $4,803, 570; bank stock, $1,191,900; total, $23,626,350. Pop. 25,236.