OCONTO

city, seat (1851) of Oconto county, northeastern Wisconsin, U.S. It lies on the west shore of Green Bay, at the mouth of the Oconto River, 31 miles (50 km) north-northeast of the city of Green Bay. In 1669 the Jesuit Claude-Jean Allouez established a mission at the site, which was then an Indian village (commemorated by a large rough-hewn cross). The locality was given a Menominee name, meaning place of the pike fish. The world's first Christian Science Church was erected (1886) in Oconto, which had developed as a lumbering community, and a letter of commendation from Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, has been preserved. The city is now a summer resort with lumber, paper, and dairying interests and some manufacturing (small boats and gloves) and food processing (notably pickles). An Indian burial ground in Oconto was authenticated in the 1960s, and artifacts dating to earlier than 5500 BC are displayed in the Beyer House Museum. Inc. 1869. Pop. (1990) 4,474.