Proposed New Counties for Wisconsin

County Seat: Whitewater
Formed from: Jefferson, Rock, and Walworth
Fort Atkinson and Whitewater are two fairly large southeastern Wisconsin communities that share a county with much larger places, so I chose to split them off into their own. Whitewater is closer to the center and has a branch of the state university, so it got the nod for the county seat. Fort Atkinson contributed the name. Part of northeastern Rock County was added to enlarge Atkinson County a bit, and since it is closer to Whitewater than it is to Janesville.

County Seat: Marshfield
Formed from: Marathon and Wood
Marshfield is a large city in central Wisconsin without its own county, and Marathon County has the largest area in the state, so Eau Pleine County was created to take care of a couple of shortcomings as I see them. The name I chose comes from a river flowing through the northern part of the would-be county. Actually, I'm not the only person who thinks a new county is warranted. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ran an article (click here) about area citizens who wish to break away from Marathon and Wood counties. I'd support their efforts if only they hadn't come up with such a lousy name.

County Seat: Minocqua
Formed from: Iron, Oneida, and Vilas
Primarily to give western Vilas County communities some autonomy, Manitou County also includes nearby parts of Oneida county and puts all of the Lac du Flambeau reservation in one county. The Manitowish River flows through the northern part of the county, and I chose to shorten the name to Manitou.

County Seat: Burlington
Formed from: Kenosha, Racine, and Walworth
The communities in western Kenosha and Racine Counties get their own county under my plan, and Lake Geneva is thrown in to enlarge it. This is a resort area for Milwaukee and Chicago residents, and doesn't have much in common with the cities to the east near Lake Michigan. Burlington is the largest community and is near the center of the county, so I chose to put the seat there. I wanted to honor a famous Wisconsin resident with a county name, and Frank Lloyd Wright was the first person to come to mind.

These two counties are shaded pink because the boundaries have been adjusted to put Watertown entirely within Jefferson.