APPLETON

city, seat (1851) of Outagamie county, east-central Wisconsin, U.S. The city lies along the Fox River near its outflow from Lake Winnebago, 31 miles (48 km) southwest of Green Bay. The settlement of the area was encouraged by the presence of Lawrence College (chartered 1847, now a university), founded by Amos A. Lawrence of Boston, and of abundant waterpower. First called Grand Chute, the settlement was later renamed for Samuel Appleton, Lawrence's father-in-law. Milling dominated Appleton's early economy. In 1882 America's first hydroelectric power station was opened there. Foremost among the city's diversified manufactures are paper and paper-mill machinery and equipment. Fox Valley Technical Institute (1967) is in Appleton. Inc. 1857. Pop. (1990) city, 65,695; Appleton-Oshkosh-Neenah MSA, 315,121; (1994 est.) city, 69,594; (1995 est.) Appleton-Oshkosh-Neenah MSA, 336,073.