"Kewanee" is the Winnebago word for greater prairie chicken,[4] which lived there.

The Kewanee High School athletic teams are nicknamed the "Boilermakers".

The Kewanee Boilermakers minor league baseball team played in the Central Association from 1908–1913.

[11][12][13] Kewanee has many different types of parks in the immediate area, offering a variety of activities such as boating, camping, hunting, fishing, playgrounds, baseball fields, and more.

Kewanee has had two school districts, dating to when the community of Wethersfield was a separate municipality.

Though the towns merged long ago, the two school districts both remain in the city of 13,400, divided at Division Street in the middle of Kewanee.

However, this rivalry did become very heated in the sports the two high schools once competed in, most notably basketball.

Black Hawk College-East Campus is recognized nationally for its equestrian program, as well as livestock judging teams.

The Kewanee Amtrak station serves trains on the Carl Sandburg and Illinois Zephyr daily.