Menasha

Menasha, city, Winnebago and Calumet counties, east-central Wisconsin, U.S. It lies along Lake Winnebago and the north channel of the Fox River, just south of Appleton and 30 miles (50 km) south of Green Bay. Menasha, with the adjoining city of Neenah on the south channel of the Fox River, forms a single economic and social unit. Menominee, Fox, and Ho-Chunk Nation (Winnebago) Indians were early inhabitants of the area, which was visited by the French explorer Jean Nicolet in 1634. In 1673 the French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet traveled southward down the Fox and through Lake Winnebago on their journey to the Mississippi River. Menasha was settled in 1848 and took its name from a Native American word meaning “settlement on the island.” The city developed flour and later paper mills using the river’s waterpower and is a leading producer of paper products. Printing, publishing, and packaging are also important. The city is the seat of the two-year University of Wisconsin–Fox Valley (1960); its campus houses a planetarium and an earth sciences museum. High Cliff State Park is across the lake. Inc. 1874. Pop. (2000) 16,331; (2010) 17,353.