Racine

City, seat (1836) of Racine county, southeastern Wisconsin, U.S. It lies along Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River, just south of Milwaukee. Founded in 1834 as Port Gilbert by a lake captain, Gilbert Knapp, in 1837 it adopted its present name, which was derived either from the French word for �root� or from the Algonkian pakwasewin, meaning �a place where wild rice is gathered.� The improvement