Kenosha is in southeastern Wisconsin, bordered by Lake Michigan to the east, the village of Somers to the north, the village of Bristol to the west, and the village of Pleasant Prairie to the south. Kenosha's passenger train station is the last stop on Chicago's Union Pacific North Metra Line. Kenosha is 32 miles south of Milwaukee and 49 miles north of Chicago.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 27.03 square miles (70.01 km), of which, 26.93 square miles (69.75 km2) is land and 0.10 square miles (0.26 km) is water.
Kenosha is home to a mixture of blue and white collar workers as well as students who attend the local universities. Kenosha consists of neighborhoods divided into three regions - Downtown, Uptown, and West of I-94 (referred to by locals at "West of the I" or simply "the county"). The city's northside is home to both UW-Parkside and Carthage College.
Kenosha's downtown is located along the Lake Michigan shoreline and consists of government buildings, parks, beaches, restaurants, shops, museums, and entertainment venues. The neighborhood of HarborPark is both a residential and commercial area. Directly south of the Downtown area is the neighborhood of Allendale.
Uptown Kenosha consists of a largely blue-collar population and is a mixture of locally owned businesses and residential areas. The neighborhood was heavily impacted by the damage caused during the August 2020 unrest but there are continued plans for ongoing development of the area. Prominent Uptown neighborhoods include Brass, Lincoln Park, and Wilson Heights.
Kenosha has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa, bordering on Dfb) with warm summers and cold winters. The record high is 105 °F (41 °C), set in July 2012. The record low is −31 °F (−35 °C) set in January 1985.
The Potawatomi originally named the area Kenozia (also transcribed ginoozhe, kinoje) "place of the pike", while the Menominee referred to the place as Kenūsīw, meaning "Northern Pike". The early Ojibwa name is reported as Masu-kinoja "trout (pike) come all at once". These refer to the annual spawning of trout, in which thousands of fish entered the rivers from Lake Michigan, providing food for the coming months.
Sites of early human habitation have been discovered in the Kenosha vicinity. It remains unclear if any sites pre-date the Clovis Culture but, if so, those sites would be contemporaneous with the Wisconsin glaciation. Paleo-Indians settled in the area at least 13,500 years ago.
The first European settlers, part of the Western Emigration Company, arrived in the early 1830s, from Hannibal and Troy, New York, led by John Bullen, Jr., who sought to purchase enough land for a town. Thwarted in Milwaukee and Racine, the group arrived at Pike Creek on 6 June 1835, building log houses and later homes of frame, native stone, and brick. The first school and churches followed, with platting completed in 1836. As more settlers arrived and the first post office was established, the village was known as Pike Creek, then renamed Southport in 1837, a name which lives on as a southeast-side neighborhood, park, and elementary school, and has been adopted by several businesses.
The area became an important Great Lakes shipping port. In 1850, the village changed its name from Southport to Kenosha which is its current name. The name Kenosha was adapted from the Chippewa word kinoje (pike or pickerel).
Between 1902 and 1988, Kenosha produced millions of automobiles and trucks including makes and models such as Jeffery, Rambler, Nash, Hudson, LaFayette, and American Motors Corporation (AMC). In May 1954, Nash acquired Detroit-based Hudson and the new firm was named American Motors Corporation. A 47-acre (190,000 m2) west side park and an elementary school are named for Charles W. Nash. A prototype steam car was built in Kenosha by the Sullivan-Becker engineering firm in 1900. Two years later, the Thomas B. Jeffery Company, builders of the Sterling bicycle, began production of the Rambler runabout. In 1902, Rambler and Oldsmobile were the first cars to employ mass-production techniques. The 1903 Rambler was also the first US-built production automobile to use a steering wheel, rather than the then-common tiller-controlled steering. Auto executive Charles W. Nash purchased Jeffery in 1916 and the new company became Nash Motors.
In 1973, residents in the Town of Pleasant Prairie sought to have territory annexed and rezoned to allow for the industrial development of agricultural property. In the ensuing legal battle between Kenosha and Pleasant Prairie, the town accused the city of improperly coercing or bribing agricultural property owners to file for rezoning and annexation in order to obtain city water and electric services that could not be provided by the town. The town argued that industrial development would jeopardize the town's residential nature. The court found the annexation proper, with no illicit bribes or improper conduct by the city.
In partnership with French automaker Renault, AMC manufactured several models in Kenosha in the early 1980s, including the Alliance, which won the 1983 "Car of The Year" award from Motor Trend. Two decades earlier, AMC's 1963 Rambler Classic had also received the award. In 1987, Renault sold its controlling interest in AMC to Chrysler Corporation, which had already contracted with AMC for the production of its M-body midsized cars at the Kenosha plant. The AMC Lakefront plant (1960–1988), a smaller facility, was demolished in 1990 (a chimney-demolition ceremony that June drew 10,000 spectators) and was redeveloped into HarborPark. The area now hosts lakeside condominiums, a large recreational marina, numerous parks and promenades, sculptures, fountains, the Kenosha Public Museum, and the Civil War Museum, all of which are connected by the Kenosha Electric Railway streetcar system.
From the beginning of the 20th century through the 1930s, Italian, Irish, Polish, and German immigrants, many of them skilled craftsmen, made their way to the city and contributed to the city's construction, culture, architecture, music, and literature.
In June 1993, the city installed reproductions of the historic Sheridan LeGrande street lights that were specially designed for Kenosha by Westinghouse Electric in 1928; these can be seen on Sixth Avenue between 54th Street and 59th Place. A classic two-mile (3.2 km) downtown electric streetcar system was opened on June 17, 2000, and on September 22, 2014, the Kenosha city council approved a crosstown extension of the system incorporating the existing route between 48th and 61st Streets on both 6th and 8th Avenues.
On December 7, 2021, "Carl the Kenosha Turkey", a turkey who became a social media sensation and local icon, was hit by a vehicle and killed. The turkey was named the city's unofficial mascot in 2020 and was seen by some as a source of positivity as Kenosha faced hardships in 2020–2021.
In the aftermath of the August 2020 police shooting of Jacob Blake, protests, riots, and civil unrest occurred in Kenosha. Demonstrations were marked by daily peaceful protesting followed by confrontations with law enforcement and rioting, looting, vandalism, and arson at night. A state of emergency was declared on August 23, and the National Guard was activated the following day. On August 25, a controversial shooting occurred during the unrest, leading to a polarized response. Both then-President Donald Trump and then-Presidential candidate Joe Biden visited Kenosha.
Protests continued daily through August 29 with approximately 2,000 members of the National Guard assisting the city in restoring order. Damages exceeding $50 million occurred with over 100 businesses affected.
In November 2021, Kenosha once again became the subject of worldwide attention as the jury trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the defendant in the 2020 unrest shooting, commenced. As part of the city's emergency preparedness, over 500 members of the National Guard were activated ahead of the verdict. Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed Rittenhouse's unlawful possession charge and the curfew violation charge for being legally unsupported, and a unanimous jury found Rittenhouse not guilty of the remaining charges. Following the verdict on November 19, some protests occurred in Kenosha but remained peaceful.
Kenosha has 21 locations and four districts (Library Park Historic District, Third Avenue Historic District, Civic Center Historic District, and Pearl Street Historic District) listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The city has a Kenosha Landmarks Commission, and among the many local city-designated landmarks are the 1929 YMCA, the Manor House, the John McCaffary House, the St. Matthew Episcopal Church, the Washington Park Clubhouse, and the Justin Weed House.
Kenosha has an elected mayor, who is the chief executive, and an appointed city administrator, who is the chief operating officer. The mayor is elected every four years. The city's Common Council consists of 17 aldermen from Kenosha's 17 districts (each district having several wards), elected for two-year terms in even-numbered years. The current mayor of Kenosha is John Antaramian, the longest-serving chief executive in the city's history from 1992 to 2008 and from 2016 to the present.
The city has historically favored the Democratic Party, with the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election being the first time since 1972 that a Republican candidate, Donald Trump, has won in Kenosha County. During the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, Trump lost Wisconsin but won in Kenosha County for the second time.
Kenosha is represented by Bryan Steil (R) in the United States House of Representatives, and by Ron Johnson (R) and Tammy Baldwin (D) in the United States Senate. Robert Wirch (D) represents Kenosha in the Wisconsin State Senate, and Tip McGuire (D) and Tod Ohnstad (D) represent Kenosha in the Wisconsin State Assembly.
According to Walk Score, Kenosha is a largely "car dependent" city, with an overall walk score of 45/100 and has "minimal biking infrastructure", with an overall bike score of 49/100, though its downtown central business district has much higher scores, 84/100 and 72/100 respectively.
I-41 / I-94 / US 41 – Milwaukee, Chicago
WIS 50
WIS 31 (Green Bay Road)
WIS 32 (Sheridan Road)
WIS 158
WIS 165
Kenosha has been served by rail service to and from Chicago since May 19, 1855, when the predecessors to the Chicago and North Western Railway, the Milwaukee and Chicago Railway Company (originally the Illinois Parallel Railroad) and the original "Lake Shore Railroad" (later the Green Bay, Milwaukee and Chicago Railway) were officially joined with great ceremony just south of today's 52nd Street. Today, the former C&NW line is operated by the Union Pacific Railroad while the former Milwaukee Road line is operated by the Soo Line Railroad, a division of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
The Chicagoland commuter rail network Metra has a line between Downtown Chicago and Kenosha. The Metra Kenosha station has seen ridership increase as many in southeastern Wisconsin utilize the line to commute between southeastern Wisconsin and Chicago.
Although some Union Pacific North Line trains terminate and originate in Kenosha; most terminate at Waukegan, Illinois, to the south of Kenosha.
Since June 2000, a 2-mile (3.2 km) streetcar line has served the downtown area and HarborPark, connecting the Metra station with downtown and several area parks. Kenosha is one of the smallest cities in America with any type of streetcar system today.
In addition to its streetcar line, Kenosha has a city bus network with eight routes. Kenosha was the first city to color-code transit routes (with the Blue, Green, Red, and Orange Lines), and also the first city to use electric trolley buses in full transit service, both occurring on February 14, 1932.
Kenosha Regional Airport (KENW) serves the city and surrounding communities. The city is located approximately 52 miles north of O'Hare International Airport in Chicago (one of the world's busiest airports) and approximately 32 miles south of General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee.
Kenosha has two hospitals: the Froedtert South Kenosha Medical Center Campus downtown and the Aurora Medical Center at the extreme western edge of the city limits. Just outside of the city limits in neighboring Pleasant Prairie is the St. Catherine's Medical Center Campus, which opened in 2002 and has a heart institute named in honor of cardiac surgeon Michael E. DeBakey.
The Kenosha Police Department is responsible for the law enforcement in Kenosha since 1850, and is housed in the Kenosha Public Safety building. The Kenosha County Courthouse and Jail were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The jail and a separate facility, the Kenosha County Detention Center (KCDC), are operated by the sheriff's department. The Kenosha Correctional Center, a minimum security state prison, is also located in Kenosha and is under the operation of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.
In August 2020, during the Kenosha unrest, a probation and parole building utilized by the Division of Community Corrections was burned down by rioters.
Kenosha's economy is fueled by its position within the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor. Nearly half of Kenosha's workforce commutes outside of Kenosha County to their employers. The Chicago-area commuter rail network Metra has a route between Downtown Chicago and Kenosha. A 2016 study found that Kenosha's "out-commuters most likely work for positions in healthcare, manufacturing, professional/scientific and technical services. The majority of occupations included management, business/financial, and office/administrative support position", and 73 percent of out-commuters have a bachelor's degree or a higher level of education. Due to lower housing costs compared to other parts of the Chicago metropolitan area, Kenosha is a popular relocation area those wanting to benefit from high paying jobs and a lower cost of living.
Snap-on Tools world headquarters and Jockey International corporate headquarters are in Kenosha. Kenosha has a number of light industrial and distribution companies in outlying business parks. Amazon, Rustoleum, Uline, Associated Wholesale Grocers, and others have warehouses and distribution centers located in Kenosha. In 2022, Square Roots farm opened a fully indoor hydroponic facility within refurbished shipping containers in Kenosha. It is expected to be able to grow 2.4 million packages of fresh produce annually for distribution to the surrounding Chicago metro area and into the Milwaukee metro area.
Tourists spent an estimated $196.6 million in Kenosha County in 2015, with the county ranking fourth in the state in tourist money generated.
Downtown Kenosha sits along the Lake Michigan lakefront. In recent years, organizations such as Downtown Kenosha Inc. (DKI) manage the day-to-day economic development efforts, business support and promotional activities for the district. In 2023, a $450 million development to the downtown area was approved by the city council. The development plan will include thousands of apartments, condominiums, office buildings, retail spaces, hotels, and government buildings all within a nine-block radius.
Downtown Kenosha is home to the Kenosha HarborMarket, a European-style farmer's market held mid-May through mid-October on 2nd Ave bisected by the 56th Street boulevard streetcar line. It hosts stalls with local food products and artisan creations. In addition, the downtown area has a collection of over 50 restaurants, bars, breweries, and shops of various kinds. Frank's Diner, which has been an attraction in downtown Kenosha since 1926, is the oldest diner in the United States and has been featured twice on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, once in 2007 and again in 2021. Residential developments have also provided added condominiums and apartments.
Near downtown, the Kenosha Public Museum System includes the main Kenosha Public Museum, the Dinosaur Discovery Museum in association with Carthage College and the Smithsonian, and the Kenosha Civil War Museum. On Simmons Island, the Kenosha History Center and adjacent Maritime Museum offer memorabilia from the city's nautical past.
In February 2020, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers announced $10 million in state funding toward the proposed Kenosha STEM Innovation Center within the Kenosha Innovation Neighborhood (KIN), which is a currently planned 60,000 sq. ft. building to be constructed on the empty 107 acre site of the former Chrysler factory. It will serve as a multi-purpose building dedicated to education, workforce development, and entrepreneurial opportunities. In December 2020, the city announced a plan for the KIN. In July 2021, the federal government awarded Kenosha $4.9 million in federal CARES Act funds toward the neighborhood, and in November, Mayor John Antaramian announced that Lakeview Technology Academy would relocate to the KIN. In March 2022, Evers officially announced $15 million in funding toward the KIN, which is expected to take 8–10 years to be fully completed and will include the collaboration of UW-Parkside, Carthage College, Gateway Technical College, and Herzing University.
