GREEN BAY

inlet of northwestern Lake Michigan, U.S., along the states of Wisconsin and Michigan (Upper Peninsula). It extends southwestward for 118 miles (190 km) from the head of Big Bay de Noc (Michigan) to the mouth of the Fox River (Wisconsin) and is 23 miles (37 km) at its widest point, opposite Rock Island Passage (the main entrance to the bay), located between Rock and St. Martin islands. The bay is partially sheltered from Lake Michigan by the Garden Peninsula (northeast) and Door Peninsula (southeast). The Sturgeon Bay and Lake Michigan Ship Canal cuts across the Door Peninsula to provide a short route to the ports of Green Bay and Marinette, Wis., and Menominee, Mich. Another important port is Escanaba, Mich., located on Little Bay de Noc. Entrance to the bay is difficult because of the prevalence of islands and submerged reefs and shoals. The Hiawatha National Forest and the Menominee State Forest (Michigan) lie along part of the northern shore. The first European to visit the bay was the French-Canadian explorer Jean Nicolet, in 1634. The bay was the head of an important portage route for the fur trade between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River by way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. In 1968 a rich deposit of manganese was discovered on the floor of the bay. In 1973 the entrance channel to the port of Green Bay was deepened to 26 feet (8 m). city, seat (1818) of Brown county, northeastern Wisconsin, U.S., where the Fox River empties into Green Bay, an inlet of Lake Michigan. The metropolitan area includes the city of De Pere and the towns of Preble (parts of which were annexed in 1941) and Allouez. A trading post was established in the vicinity in 1634 by Jean Nicolet, a French-Canadian explorer; in 1671 Claude-Jean Allouez, a Jesuit, founded a mission at De Pere, at which time the settlement was named La Baye. A fort built by the French (1717) at the mouth of the river became the heart of a small French-Canadian fur-trading community until after the War of 1812. British traders called the site Green Bay, and the French name was gradually dropped. The United States took possession in 1816 when the army built Fort Howard within the present limits of Green Bay. The village was laid out in 1829, and Wisconsin's earliest newspaper, the Green Bay Intelligencer, appeared in 1833. With the decline of the fur trade and the opening (1825) of the Erie Canal, Green Bay developed as a lumbering and agricultural centre. Chief products are wood pulp, paper products, machinery, and cheese. A Great Lakes port of entry with heavy shipping, the city has a large wholesale and distributing business. The city is famous for its professional football team, the Green Bay Packers, which it has supported since 1919. Cotton House (1840), restored within Heritage Hill State Park, is one of the best examples of Greek Revival architecture in the Midwest. The National Railroad Museum exhibits a wide collection of locomotives and equipment. University of Wisconsin-Green Bay was established there in 1965, and the Northeast Wisconsin Technical College was founded in 1913. Inc. 1854. Pop. (1990) city, 96,466; Green Bay MSA, 194,594; (1994 est.) city, 102,708; (1995 est.) Green Bay MSA, 210,303.