About Antigo.Antigo (/ˈæntɪˌɡoʊ/ AN-ti-goh) is a city in and the county seat of Langlade County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 8,100 at the 2020 census. Antigo is the center of a farming and lumbering district, and its manufactures consist principally of lumber, chairs, furniture, sashes, doors and blinds, hubs and spokes, and other wood products.
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Established in 1876The city was founded in 1876 by
Francis A.Deleglise, accompanied by George Eckart. The log cabin in which Deleglise lived is preserved and on display at the Langlade County Historical Society Museum. A street in Antigo also bears his name. The city gained its charter in 1883. |
The Name "Antigo" The name Antigo is derived from the Ojibwe phrase "niibin-inaandagoog-ziibiing", meaning "summer balsam firs by the river", which was recorded by early settlers as "nequi-antigo-sebi". An alternate etymology, nibii-aamijiwan-ziibiing, seems to be derived from mookijiwan-ziibiwishenh, "spring little-river", which became the name of the river which runs through modern Antigo, "Spring Brook". This alternate etymology lives on in the name of Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan Scout Reservation near Pearson, WI.
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Our Team
The RegionThe region that is now Langlade County originally belonged to the Menominee, with several Ojibwe and Potawatomi groups migrating to the area from the east throughout the 16th-19th centuries. During this time, the Ojibwe waged and won a major war against the eastern Dakota people, driving them out of Wisconsin and Minnesota and securing the area's wild rice beds for themselves
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By the mid-1800sBy the mid-1800s, the Eau Claire River and its branches to the west of modern Antigo formed a boundary between the Ojibwe, Menominee, and Ho-Chunk tribes. The first permanent European-American settler in Langlade County was Willard Ackley, who arrived in 1853 from New York and established a trading post. He married an Ojibwe woman and became close with what is today the Sokaogon Chippewa Community.
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In the early part of the 1900sAntigo was best known for its sawmills. At the turn of the millennium, the city's economy had a balance of industry and agriculture. High on the list are potatoes, dairy products, fur, shoes, fertilizer, steel, and aluminum products, along with the lumber and wood product industries established in the earlier years.[16]
On April 24, 2016, a former Antigo High School student shot two students with a rifle during prom. As he approached the school with a rifle a police officer who was already on the scene shot him. He later died at a Wausau hospital. |
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Geography
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Antigo is located at 45°8′28″N 89°9′12″W (45.141218, -89.153385), approximately 160 miles (260 km) northwest of Milwaukee.According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.60 square miles (17.09 km2), of which 6.54 square miles (16.94 km2) is land and 0.06 square miles (0.16 km2) is water. Antigo sits on a plateau about 1,500 feet (460 m) above sea level. The wide expanse of level land, the fine stand of timber and the fertility of the "Antigo Flats" soil soon attracted many settlers. Today, the Antigo Silt Loam soil is the state soil of Wisconsin.
Climate
Antigo has a cool humid continental climate. Annually the temperature drops below 32 °F (0 °C) on 187 days, and below 0 °F (−17.8 °C) on 43 days. The daily mean temperatures of the winters in this region are associated with subarctic climates with frequent subzero temperatures, but due to the extended warm period of daily means above 50 °F (10 °C) from May to September it stays within the humid continental temperature range.
Airport
Antigo is served by the Langlade County Airport (KAIG). Located two miles northeast of the city, the airport handles approximately 8,250 operations per year, with roughly 97% general aviation, 2% air taxi and 1% military. The airport has a 4,010-foot asphalt runway with approved GPS approaches (Runway 17-35) and a 3,400-foot asphalt crosswind runway with GPS approaches (Runway 9-27).
Education
Public schools in Antigo are administered by the Antigo Unified School District. Public schools within the city include: East Elementary School, North Elementary School, West Elementary School, Antigo Middle School, Antigo High School, and AIMS Academy. In addition, there are two parochial schools in Antigo: Peace Lutheran School(K-8) and All Saints Catholic School (K-8).Beginning with the 2018-19 school year, the district's 8th-graders began attending school in the high school building with the traditional 10th- through 12th-graders.In 2022 the Antigo Childcare Center opened; previously there had been a lack of childcare options in the area.
Athletics
Antigo's high school football team, the Red Robins, won Division 1 state championships in 1976, 1978, and 1982. The Red Robins also won three state titles prior to the introduction of the WIAA tournament system in 1976. From 1920 to 2007, the school won 23 Wisconsin Valley Conference championships and six state titles from 1970 to 1982, including seven seasons in which the team did not lose a game. The Red Robins' chief football rival is Rhinelander High School. Every year since 1935, the schools have played for Gene Shepard's Hodag Bell, donated by Mrs. E.S. Shepard from the SS Hodag, which sank in 1903.[26] As of 2022, Antigo leads the series 56-30-2
Recreation
In Antigo and the surrounding area recreational activities include fishing, hunting, swimming, snowmobiling. The Kettlebowl ski area, in nearby Bryant, Wisconsin, provides downhill and cross country skiing opportunities. The Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association is in Antigo.
The Clara R McKenna Aquatic Center opened in 2005 on the site of Antigo High School, offers Antigo area residents a year-round recreation pool and lap pool.
The Langlade County fairgrounds, located in Antigo, has an indoor ice rink in winter and facilities for off-road racing and demolition derbies in summer. As well as Friday night stock car races, the National Anthem starts at 7 pm.
The Clara R McKenna Aquatic Center opened in 2005 on the site of Antigo High School, offers Antigo area residents a year-round recreation pool and lap pool.
The Langlade County fairgrounds, located in Antigo, has an indoor ice rink in winter and facilities for off-road racing and demolition derbies in summer. As well as Friday night stock car races, the National Anthem starts at 7 pm.
Notable People
Justin Christopher Berg (born June 7, 1984) is a right-handed former professional baseball pitcher.
John Henry "Jack" "Doc" Bradley (July 10, 1923 – January 11, 1994) was a United States Navy Hospital corpsman who was awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism while serving with the Marines during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. During the battle, he was a member of the patrol that captured the top of Mount Suribachi and raised the first U.S. flag on Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945.
Darrell Wayne Lukas (born September 2, 1935 in Antigo, Wisconsin) is an American horse trainer and a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee. He has won twenty Breeders' Cup races, received five Eclipse Awards for his accomplishments, and his horses have won 25 year-end Eclipse Awards. He was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2007.
Raymond Jack "Ray" Szmanda, Sr. (June 22, 1926 – May 6, 2018) was an American radio and television announcer known throughout the Midwestern United States as the spokesperson for Menards.
Local businessman, James “Jim” P. Draeger passed away peacefully at Evergreen Terrace, Sunday, June 7, 2020 under the loving care of Evergreen Terrace Staff and surrounded by family at his side. Jim was born July 13, 1938 in Antigo to the late Edward and Carmen (Fermanich) Draeger.
Howard L. Wagner, who parlayed his family’s small filling station into the largest Shell Oil distributor in Wisconsin, died Sunday, August 16, 2020 at Aspirus Wausau Hospital. He was 83 years old.
Howard, known by his friends as Howie, was an exceptional community supporter and philanthropist, supporting causes large and small across the Northwoods
Howard, known by his friends as Howie, was an exceptional community supporter and philanthropist, supporting causes large and small across the Northwoods
Jerry Remington, a longtime businessman, died Tuesday, August 30, 2022, at Eastview Medical and Rehabilitation Center in Antigo. He was 81 years old. He was born on July 29, 1941, in Antigo, a son of Elwyn and Lillian (Heller) Remington. erry had a passion for business adventures, working too hard, and used cars. The words often coming out of Jerry's mouth were "Fuel is our game". He enjoyed going to car auctions, attending sporting events for his grandchildren, and supporting JP's racing career and VP Racing Fuels.