Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
Fond du Lac is a city in
Fond du Lac County,
Wisconsin,
United States. The name is French for
Bottom of the Lake, for it is located at the bottom (south end) of
Lake Winnebago, the largest lake situated entirely within the State of
Wisconsin. The population was 42,203 at the 2000 census. The city is located mostly within the
Town of Fond du Lac, although a small portion extends into adjacent towns.
Together with surrounding communities, the Fond du Lac
metropolitan area was, according to the 2000 census, home to 57,479 people. The city forms the core of the
United States Census Bureau's Fond du Lac
Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Fond du Lac County (2000 population: 97,296).
Travis Diener, guard for the
Orlando Magic of the
NBA was born in Fond du Lac, having starred for the Goodrich High School Cardinals.
Having eaten over 20,000 Big Mac hamburgers,
Don Gorske is the undisputed
Guinness world record holder of
Big Mac consumption. He claims the Big Mac constitutes 90% of his total solid food intake and he basically drinks nothing but
Coca Cola. He is featured in the documentary
Super Size Me (2004).
Fond du Lac is also home to
Jeanna Giese, the first person known to have been successfully treated for
rabies.
Fond du Lac is home to
Cory Raymer, center for
Washington Redskins and
San Diego Chargers of the
NFL. Raymer played 1995 to 2001 and 2004 and 2005 seasons for the Washington Redskins and 2002 and 2003 seasons for the San Diego Chargers. Raymer played college football at the
University of Wisconsin.
Fond du Lac has two high schools:
Goodrich High School is a public high school, and
St. Mary Springs High School is a private Catholic high school.
Fond du Lac is the home of three secondary colleges:
Marian College is a private Catholic four year college,
University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac is a two year college in the
University of Wisconsin System,
Moraine Park Technical College is a two year
technical college in the
Wisconsin Technical College System.
*Fond du Lac is the
episcopal see of the
Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac.
*The
Sisters of Saint Agnes have their mother house in Fond du Lac and run
Agnesian HealthCare and St Agnes Hospital in Fond du Lac.
In the 1990s, several grocery and convience stores on a stretch of South Main Street in Fond du Lac sold large winning lottery tickets, dubbing that part of Main Street "The Miracle Mile." In July 1993, Les Robbins, a local junior high school English teacher and his then finaceé, Colleen DeVries, won a $111 million dollar
Powerball jackpot. Many of those grocery and convience stores no longer exist. On August 5th, 2006, Ma and Pa's Grocery Express, which is in the heart of the Miracle Mile, sold the only winning ticket Powerball ticket for $209 million dollars. While the ticket has not yet been claimed (as of 8/10/06), a nearby cheese factory's 2nd shift workers (100 of them) have made the announcement that they hold the ticket. Sargento Cheese is located in Plymouth, WI, and most of the factory workers live in the tiny community of St. Cloud, WI.
Fond du Lac is located at (43.775139, -88.444907).
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Location of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin |
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 47.1
km² (18.2
mi²). 43.7 km² (16.9 mi²) of it is land and 3.4 km² (1.3 mi²) of it (7.31%) is water.
As of the
census of 2000, there were 42,203 people, 16,638 households, and 10,282 families residing in the city. The
population density was 965.9/km² (2,501.3/mi²). There were 17,519 housing units at an average density of 401.0/km² (1,038.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 93.59%
White, 1.86%
Black or
African American, 0.51%
Native American, 1.52%
Asian, 0.01%
Pacific Islander, 1.27% from
other races, and 1.25% from two or more races. 2.92% of the population were
Hispanic or
Latino of any race.
There were 16,638 households out of which 30.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.4% were
married couples living together, 9.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.2% were non-families. 30.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 3.00.
In the city the population was spread out with 24.2% under the age of 18, 10.7% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 20.4% from 45 to 64, and 15.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 88.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $41,113, and the median income for a family was $50,341. Males had a median income of $35,682 versus $22,492 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $18,996. About 4.6% of families and 7.5% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 7.9% of those under age 18 and 8.9% of those age 65 or over.
*
City of Fond du Lac*
Fond du Lac Reporter newspaper*
Official city website*
Fond du Lac Area Convention and Visitors Bureau*
Early Fond du Lac County People and Places : This digital collection of four published books provides accessibility to early information about Fond du Lac County. Titles include: Brigham, A. D. Brigham and Co's Fond du Lac city directory...for 1857-58; Fond du Lac County Gazetteer...Directories of Fond du Lac, Ripon and Waupun, and Historical and Descriptive Sketches...1868; Worthing, Ruth Shaw. The History of Fond du Lac County...told by its Place-Names, 1976; Williams, E. C. Fond du Lac Illustrated, 1898.
