[4] In 1849, Charles Whittlesey named the adjacent river as the Maringouin Fork of the Bad River: “The second branch [of the Bad River] from the west having, as I could learn, no name, I have called it the ‘Maringouin Fork‘ in my map in commemoration of the myriads of mosquitoes that inhabit its banks, that being the name the half-breed French give to those pests of the Bad River region.

Surveyed in the Year 1849, Under the Direction of David Dale Owen, United States Geologist, by Charles Whittlesey, Head of Sub-Corps, page 432.

The racial makeup of the town was 96.96% White, 2.49% Native American, 0.28% Asian and 0.28% Pacific Islander.

32.5% were of Finnish, 23.8% German, 6.5% Swedish, 5.9% United States or American, and 5.6% Norwegian ancestry according to Census 2000.

21.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.