:''See also

Menominee River The Menominee River is a river in northwestern Michigan and northeastern Wisconsin in the United States. It is approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed Dece ...

'' The Menomonee River is one of three primary

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

s in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, along with the Kinnickinnic River and

Milwaukee River The Milwaukee River is a river in the state of Wisconsin. It is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 19, 2011 Once a locus of industry, the river is now the c ...

Description

Named after the Menomonee (also spelled

Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

) Indians, the word was given to the Menomonee people by the Chippewa people, and in the Chippewa language literally means "rice eaters" referring to the abundant

wild rice Wild rice, also called manoomin, Canada rice, Indian rice, or water oats, is any of four species of grasses that form the genus ''Zizania'', and the grain that can be harvested from them. The grain was historically gathered and eaten in both ...

that once grew along its shores in the Menomonee Valley. A tributary of the

, it is the most industrialized within the Milwaukee River Basin.

Watershed

The Menomonee River is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed May 19, 2011 and empties into Lake Michigan at Milwaukee. Not to be confused with longer

rivers A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

named after the same Indian tribe. With a watershed that covers approximately of urban landscape, it is home to a population of more than 336,670 people. This includes portions of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, Ozaukee, Waukesha, and

counties. A large swath of the river has been heavily channelized and industrialized as it runs through the Menomonee Valley. This has become a primary source of pollution for the river. Its estuary empties into

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

from the

near the Milwaukee harbor, along with the Kinnickinnic River to the south.

Parks

References

External links

Menomonee River
at Milwaukee Riverkeeper
Menomonee River
at Great Lakes Tributary Modeling Program
Menomonee Valley Partners
Rivers of Washington County, Wisconsin Rivers of Waukesha County, Wisconsin Rivers of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Geography of Milwaukee Rivers of Wisconsin Tributaries of Lake Michigan {{Wisconsin-river-stub