First visited by French explorers in the 17th century, Oconto County is among the oldest settlements in Wisconsin.

Father Claude-Jean Allouez of the Roman Catholic Jesuit order said the first Mass in Oconto.

Among the first settlers was Joseph Tourtilott, who explored much of the Oconto River watershed.

[5] J. Douglas Bake Memorial Airport (KOCQ) serves the county and surrounding communities.

[12] Additionally, there were 14 reported induced abortions performed on women of Oconto County residence in 2017.

In 2020, Trump improved his performance, carrying Oconto by a margin of 41 percentage points and winning 69.9% of the vote to Democrat Joe Biden's 28.9%.

This was the best result for any presidential nominee in Oconto County since 1920, when Warren Harding received 78.2% of the vote, and remains the third strongest performance of any candidate ever.