WAUSAU

city, seat (1850) of Marathon County, north central Wisconsin, U.S., on the Wisconsin River, 93 mi (150 km) west-northwest of Green Bay. Settled in 1839 as a sawmill town, it was first called Big Bull Falls but in 1872 was renamed Wausau, Chippewa Indian for "Faraway Place." An agricultural (dairying) and distribution centre, it is headquarters of the Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company, a state-regulated enterprise that stores and releases river water to plants, which pay a toll for its use. Varied manufactures include wood and paper products, electric motors, construction equipment, and plastics. North Central Technical Institute was established in 1912 in Wausau. The city is also a vacation base with Rib Mountain State Park nearby. Inc. 1872. Pop. (1990) city, 37,060; Wausau MSA, 115,400.