Green Bay, Wisconsin

Green Bay is the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The city is located at the head of the Bay of Green Bay and the mouth of the Fox River, at an altitude of 581 feet (177 m). It is 112 miles (180 km) north of Milwaukee. According to the 2004 census estimate, Green Bay has a population of 101,100. The Town of Green Bay is located several miles northeast of the city.

**Green Bay, Wisconsin**
Location of Green Bay, Wisconsin
County	Brown
Mayor	Jim Schmitt, (R)
Congressional Rep.	Mark Green, (R)
Area - Total - Water	140.7 km² (54.3 mi²) 27.1 km² (10.4 mi²) 19.24%
Population - City Proper - Metropolitan - Density	102,313 226,778 900.5/km² (2,332.1/mi²);
Time zone	Central: UTC-6
Latitude Longitude	44°31' N 88°01' W
City of Green Bay Official Website

The city of Green Bay is a port on the Bay of Green Bay, an arm of Lake Michigan. Green Bay is home to the National Railroad Museum, the Neville Public Museum with exhibitions of art, history, and science, and to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

The Green Bay Packers professional football team has been based in the city since 1919. Green Bay is by far the smallest city to have an NFL franchise, with the arguable exception of Foxboro, Massachusetts, home of the New England Patriots. (Foxboro is about equidistant between Boston and Providence and qualifies as an outer suburb of Boston. Several other NFL teams also play in the suburbs of their home cities.)

Green Bay is by far the smallest US market to have a major league team of any kind, although the Packers' fanbase stretches across the state of Wisconsin and beyond. Green Bay is nicknamed "Titletown, USA" for the number of NFL titles (12) it has won over the years. An af2 arena football franchise, the Green Bay Blizzard, was recently awarded to the city.

Together with surrounding communities, the Green Bay metropolitan area was, according to the 2000 census, home to 195,099 people. The city forms the core of the United States Census Bureau's Green Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Brown County (2004 population: 237,166).

History

Heritage Hill State Park in Green Bay, WI

A small trading post was established at this location in 1634 by French-Canadian explorer Jean Nicolet. In 1671 a Jesuit Mission was set up here; at the time the settlement was known as La Baye or la Baie des Puants. A fort was added in 1717. The town was incorporated in 1754, and was passed to British control in 1761. As British settlers in the area came to outnumber the French, the name "Green Bay" became the more common name for the town. In 1783 the town became part of the United States of America.

The United States Army built Fort Howard on the banks of the Fox River in 1816. Wisconsin's first newspaper, The Green Bay Intelligencer, was first published here in 1833. By 1850 the town had a population of 1,923. The town was reincorporated as the city of Green Bay in 1854. The railroad arrived in the 1860s. By 1950 the city had a population of 52,735.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 140.7 km² (54.3 mi²). 113.6 km² (43.9 mi²) of it is land and 27.1 km² (10.4 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 19.24% water.

Climate

The city of Green Bay experiences a continental climate, moderated slightly by the city's proximity to Lake Michigan. The city's climate features four distinct seasons, with warm, frequently hot summers and long, cold and snowy winters. The variance in temperature and precipitation between months is severe and often extreme. The warmest month is July, when the average high temperature is 81°F (28°C). During July, the average low temperature is 59°F (15°C). The coldest month of the year is January, when the high temperature averages only 24°F (-5°C), and the low temperatures average 7°F (-14°C).

The wettest month in Green Bay is August, when 3.77 inches (95.8mm) of precipitation falls, mostly in the form of rainfall from thunderstorms. The driest month in Green Bay is February, when the majority of precipitation falls as low moisture-content snow due to cold, dry air. On average, only 1.01 inches (25.7mm) of precipitation falls in February.

Transportation

One of the Tall Ships, Windy II sails from the Bay of Green Bay south into the mouth of the Fox River, under the Leo Frigo Bridge in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Green Bay is served by Austin Straubel International Airport. The city was the headquarters of the Green Bay and Western Railroad in historical times (1896-1993). Green Bay also has its own mass transit system of buses known as Green Bay Metro (formerly known as Green Bay Transit).

Demographics

City of Green Bay Population by year ^[1]
1855	1,644
1860	2,276
1870	4,698
1880	7,476
1890	9,069
1990	96,466
2000	102,313
2005	101,203

As of the 2005 U.S. census estimate, there are 101,203 people residing in Green Bay. As of the 2000 census, there were 41,591 households, and 24,663 families residing in the city. The population density is 900.5/km² (2,332.1/mi²). There are 43,123 housing units at an average density of 379.5/km² (982.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 85.86% White, 1.38% African American, 3.28% Native American, 3.76% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 3.72% from other races, and 1.97% from two or more races. 7.13% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. Many of the Asian Americans are Hmongs.

There are 41,591 households out of which 30.6% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.1% are married couples living together, 10.8% have a female householder with no husband present, and 40.7% are non-families. 31.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.9% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.40 and the average family size is 3.06.

City demographics are as follows: 25.4% are under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 31.7% from 25 to 44, 19.5% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 33 years. For every 100 females there are 97.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 94.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $38,820, and the median income for a family is $48,678. Males have a median income of $33,246 versus $23,825 for females. The per capita income for the city is $19,269. 10.5% of the population and 7.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 12.7% of those under the age of 18 and 9.2% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

The city is noted for having one of the lowest crime rates in the United States for a municipality its size or larger, but in 1994 it was the scene of a highly publicized crime when Johnson W. Greybuffalo, an Ojibwa Indian, murdered a 5-year-old girl, Nancy Thao, while burglarizing her family's apartment. The case attracted nationwide attention not only due to the circumstances of the crime, but the publicity it generated also shed considerable (and from a local perspective, unwanted) light on the conditions of poverty faced by Native Americans in Wisconsin and neighboring states.

Religion

The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, under the direction of Bishop David Allen Zubik. The Cathedral of Saint Francis Xavier in Green Bay is the mother church of the Diocese. The diocese is in the province of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. In 2000, the American Religion Data Archive reported Green Bay to be predominantly Catholic (71.5%), with Lutherans composing an additional 16.4%. The remaining 12% are almost entirely protestant denominations.