Wausau Wire Region: Communities and Cultures

A primary account of German settlement in Marathon County, the Wausau area's leading reported ancestry, was not retrieved this session.

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimate of Hmong residents (Hmong alone) in Marathon County is 5,493, margin of error +/-582.

Counting people who reported Hmong alone or in combination with another group, the ACS 2019-2023 estimate for Marathon County is 6,214, margin of error +/-569.

Hmong residents make up about 72.1% of Marathon County's Asian-alone population (5,493 of 7,619) in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

Hmong residents (alone or in any combination) are about 4.5% of Marathon County's 138,067 residents in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimate of Hmong residents (Hmong alone) in the City of Wausau is 3,449, margin of error +/-453.

Counting Hmong alone or in any combination, the ACS 2019-2023 estimate for the City of Wausau is 3,885, margin of error +/-460.

Hmong residents (alone or in any combination) are about 9.7% of the City of Wausau's 39,893 residents in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

Hmong residents are about 80.2% of the City of Wausau's Asian-alone population (3,449 of 4,303) in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

Among Wisconsin places, the City of Wausau has the third-largest ACS 2019-2023 point estimate of Hmong residents (alone or in any combination), after Milwaukee (12,500) and Sheboygan (4,821).

The ACS 2019-2023 estimate of Hmong residents (alone or in any combination) in the Village of Weston, Marathon County, is 780, margin of error +/-409.

The ACS 2019-2023 estimate of Hmong residents (alone or in any combination) in the Rib Mountain census-designated place, Marathon County, is 394, margin of error +/-192.

The ACS 2019-2023 estimate of Hmong residents (alone or in any combination) in the Village of Kronenwetter, Marathon County, is 348, margin of error +/-337.

The ACS 2019-2023 estimate of Hmong residents (alone or in any combination) in the Village of Rothschild, Marathon County, is 154, margin of error +/-133.

The ACS 2019-2023 estimate of Hmong residents (alone or in any combination) in Portage County is 1,272 (+/-273), including 417 (+/-257) in the City of Stevens Point and 252 (+/-191) in the Village of Plover.

The ACS 2019-2023 estimate of Hmong residents (alone or in any combination) in Wood County is 651 (+/-252), of whom 533 (+/-246) are in the City of Wisconsin Rapids.

The ACS 2019-2023 estimates of Hmong residents (alone or in any combination) are small in the other edge counties: Lincoln 13 (+/-17), Langlade 4 (+/-8), Shawano 0 (+/-21), Taylor 0 (+/-16), Clark 28 (+/-32).

Statewide, the ACS 2019-2023 estimate is 56,324 Hmong-alone residents (+/-2,438) and 60,218 Hmong alone or in any combination (+/-2,533).

Marathon County holds about 10.3% of Wisconsin's Hmong residents (alone or in any combination) in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

The Hmong American Center, formerly the Wausau Area Hmong Mutual Association, was organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit in 1984 to assist Southeast Asian refugees, primarily Hmong, in the Wausau-Marathon County area.

The Hmong American Center states the Wausau-Marathon County community has more than 9,000 Southeast Asian residents, calling it the second largest and highest per capita Southeast Asian population in Wisconsin.

The Hmong American Center describes itself as one of the largest Hmong Mutual Assistance Associations in Wisconsin, governed by a volunteer board of directors.

The Hmong American Center has owned its office building since 1997.

The Hmong American Center is at 1109 N 6th Street, Wausau, WI 54403, with office hours Monday to Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Hmong American Center services include interpreting and translating, a Hmong Community Higher Education Scholarship, emergency food vouchers, youth leadership programs, and presentations on Hmong history and culture.

The Hmong American Center marks April as Hmong Heritage Month.

The Hmong American Center states Hmong refugees were initially resettled in Wisconsin by church organizations such as Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Service, with area churches sponsoring families.

The Hmong American Center states the last group of Hmong refugee families came to the United States between 2004 and 2006.

The Hmong American Center cites the 2010 U.S. Census as counting 49,240 Hmong Americans in Wisconsin.

The Hmong American Center's history page states the CIA recruited Hmong in the early 1960s to fight a secret war in Laos, and that Hmong were forced to flee after the communist victory, many through refugee camps in Thailand.

WNRB-LP, a low-power FM station at 93.3 MHz, is licensed to the Wausau Area Hmong Mutual Association with Wausau as its community of license.

The 2026 Hmong Wausau Festival ran Saturday, August 1 to Sunday, August 2 at 602 E. Kent Street, Wausau, which Visit Wausau identifies as the People's State Bank Sports Complex.

The festival site calls the 2026 Hmong Wausau Festival its 7th annual event.

Hmong Wausau Festival admission was $11 for a one-day pass and $20 for a two-day pass, cash only, with children 10 and under and seniors 65 and older admitted at no charge.

Visit Wausau describes the Hmong Wausau Festival as presented by the Hmong American Center, Inc., in partnership with the Central Wisconsin Convention and Visitors Bureau, with sports competitions, singing, dancing, and a pageant.

Visit Wausau states the Hmong Wausau Festival has attracted roughly 14,000 attendees and a $1.03 million economic impact since its inaugural event.

Visit Wausau's festival page states Wisconsin has 50,000 Hmong residents and Marathon County over 7,000, about 12% of Wausau's population.

Visit Wausau lists the 2026 Community Cultures Festival and Backpack Bash for Thursday, August 13, 2026, with partners including the ECDC Multicultural Community Center, Mosaic of North Central Wisconsin, the Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce, New Beginnings for Refugees, HOLA, and the Indian Society of Central Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Historical Society Press describes Wisconsin as having one of the largest Hmong populations in the country, and publishes "Hmong in Wisconsin" by Mai Zong Vue in its People of Wisconsin series.

Wikipedia states Hmong refugees began arriving in Wausau at the end of the 1970s, from several dozen in 1978 to 200 by 1980 and 800 in 1984.

Wikipedia states Hmong enrollment in the Wausau School District grew from 160 students in 1981 to a peak of 2,214 in 1998.

65,134 residents of Marathon County (+/-1,885) report German ancestry in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates, about 47.2% of the population.

20,982 residents of Marathon County (+/-1,127) report Polish ancestry in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates, about 15.2% of the population.

16,105 residents of the City of Wausau (+/-1,094) report German ancestry in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates, about 40.4% of the population.

4,164 residents of the City of Wausau (+/-623) report Polish ancestry in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates, about 10.4% of the population.

Portage County has the footprint's highest Polish ancestry share: 20,143 residents (+/-1,039), about 28.6% of the population, alongside 27,215 (38.7%) reporting German ancestry.

5,794 residents of the City of Stevens Point (+/-649) report Polish ancestry, about 22.7% of the city, in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

4,296 residents of the Village of Plover (+/-757) report Polish ancestry, about 31.3% of the village, in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

14,153 residents of Lincoln County (+/-588) report German ancestry, about 49.8% of the county, and 2,333 (+/-318) report Polish ancestry, in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

9,838 residents of Taylor County (+/-328) report German ancestry, about 49.3% of the county, and 2,207 (+/-218) report Polish ancestry, in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

18,050 residents of Shawano County (+/-707) report German ancestry, about 44.1% of the county, and 3,230 (+/-323) report Polish ancestry, in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

33,834 residents of Wood County (+/-1,266) report German ancestry, about 45.7% of the county, and 7,870 (+/-731) report Polish ancestry, in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

13,962 residents of Clark County (+/-580) report German ancestry, about 40.2% of the county, and 2,572 (+/-218) report Polish ancestry, in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

8,136 residents of Langlade County (+/-642) report German ancestry, about 41.8% of the county, and 1,821 (+/-308) report Polish ancestry, in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

9,557 residents of the City of Marshfield (+/-569) report German ancestry, about 51.1% of the city, in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

4,533 residents of the City of Merrill (+/-507) report German ancestry, about 49.1% of the city, in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

Statewide, 2,143,886 Wisconsin residents (36.4%) report German ancestry and 462,215 (7.8%) report Polish ancestry in the ACS 2019-2023 estimates.

Wikipedia states German immigration to the Wausau area followed the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, and the settlement was incorporated as a village by 1861.

Wikipedia states that August Kickbusch returned to Germany and brought back 702 people, all believed to have settled in the Wausau area.

Wikipedia states that in 1858 five Polish immigrant families joined a German farming community at Ellis, two miles west of what became Polonia in the Town of Sharon, Portage County, and calls them probably the first Polish agricultural community in Wisconsin.

Wikipedia states the Poles at Ellis formed a separate Polish-speaking Catholic church there in 1865, moved the church building to a hill named Polonia in 1871, and opened a school there in 1874 staffed by Felician Sisters from Krakow.

Wikipedia reports that in the 2000 census 32.8% of Portage County residents were of Polish ancestry and 31.6% German, and 1.6% spoke Polish as a first language.

The Marathon County Historical Society's permanent exhibit "Our Stories: the History of Marathon County" opens with a theme called "Arriving Here," which introduces Native Americans, immigrants from past centuries, and recent arrivals.

The Wisconsin Historical Society Press states that by 1920 an estimated 150,000 Poles had arrived in Wisconsin, making them the second largest immigrant population in the state after Germans, with settlement reaching the farmland around Stevens Point.

The Stockbridge-Munsee Community states its council fire and seat of government persist in Shawano County, Wisconsin.

The Ho-Chunk Nation's directory lists the Siga Funmaker Community Center at W17634 Radke Road, Wittenberg, in Shawano County.

Menominee County, whose boundaries nearly match the Menominee Indian Reservation, borders two Wausau Wire edge counties, Langlade and Shawano, per the Census county adjacency file.