[6] During the lumbering boom of the late 19th century, Marinette became the tenth-largest city in Wisconsin in 1900, reaching a peak population of 16,195.

The town and county were named Marinette after Marie Antoinette Chevalier (1793, Langlade County, Wisconsin – 1865, Green Bay, Wisconsin),[7][8][9] an influential Métis woman who ran a trading post near the mouth of the Menominee River.

"[10] Her father was Bertrand Chevalier, a British trader of French Canadian ancestry, who was involved with an early trading post at Green Bay.

Her mother was Lucy, the daughter of Menominee chief, Wauba-Shish (Great Marten).

Bertrand Chevalier brought his family, including Marie Antoinette, to Green Bay.

She was known for her business sense, fairness, and influence in the region, as she had ties to both the Menominee and European communities.

In 1987 her descendants had Chevalier reinterred in a sarcophagus at the Forest Home Mausoleum in Marinette.

They lived at the mouth of the Menominee River in the 17th and 18th centuries, which, according to their creation story, was the tribe's place of origin.

In the late 19th century, the city developed rapidly as a port and processing area for lumber harvested in the interior.

Logs were floated down the Menominee River and shipped out on Green Bay to communities around the Great Lakes and to the East.

It had a wide variety of businesses and a new courthouse, city hall, opera house, two hospitals, a street railway, more than a dozen hotels and boarding houses, thirty saloons, and major industries, including the Marinette Iron Works, Marinette Flour Mill, the A.W.

Although lumbering trailed off at the start of the 20th century, with clear cutting of some areas, the town has continued to take advantage of its position along those bodies of water.

Three bridges cross the river to connect Marinette to Menominee, Michigan, often called its twin city.

Lumbering still contributes to the area economy, but jobs and population declined when the industry slowed.

Marinette has a major paper mill (Kimberly Clark), and other plants such as Marinette Marine, a shipyard owned by the Italian firm, Fincantieri; Ansul/Tyco, a manufacturer of fire protection systems; Waupaca Foundry, KS Kolbenschmidt US Inc. formerly known as Karl Schmidt Unisia, Inc.,[13] cast and machined automotive parts; Samuel Pressure Vessel Group a manufacturer of pressure vessels and part of the Samuel, Son and Inc.[14] The county seat includes what is now the eastern neighborhood of Menekaunee, formerly an independent village.

[17] The name Menekaunee is of Menominee origin, from Minikani Se'peu, meaning 'village or town river'.

[19][20][21][22] Kennedy delivered a speech promoting expanded Farmers Home Administration loans and criticizing Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson, while Trump discussed his administration's manufacturing policy, military buildup, and United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement.

With the decline in lumbering and restructuring in industry, the city has lost jobs and population since 1940, as shown in the table at right.

The Marinette area is home to a variety of industries, including shipbuilding, auto parts, chemicals, helicopters, airplane components, pressure vessels, and paper making.

The Marinette Menominee Area Chamber of Commerce plays an active role in area tourism efforts, and provides venues for small businesses, young employees and professional women to network and learn.

The two have hosted the oldest interstate rivalry between two public high schools in the country, dating back to 1894.

[38][39][40] Parochial education in Marinette is provided by the Catholic St. Thomas Aquinas Academy (K–12) and Trinity Lutheran School (K–8).

Marinette shares a hospital, community foundation, newspaper and chamber of commerce with Menominee.

Numerous city groups work together to benefit the entire, two-city, two-county community.

602 honoring animated film director John Hubley is in Marinette at the Stephenson Public Library.

[45] The paper traces its origins to June 24, 1871, when the Marinette and Peshtigo Eagle was founded.

Marinette offers a variety of recreational activities and major events throughout the year.

Marinette has 5 parks[50] that offer sightseeing, fishing, sledding, cross-country skiing, swimming, tennis, ice skating, picnic areas, baseball, and hiking.