FOND DU

LAC  , a city and the county-seat of Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, U.S.A., about 6o m . N. of Milwaukee, at the S. end of Lake Winnebago, and at the mouth of the Fond du Lac river, which is navigable for only a short distance . Pop . (1890) 12,024; (1900) 15,110, of whom 2952 were foreign-born; (191o) 18,797 . 'The city is a railway centre of some importance,and is served by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul, the Minneapolis, St Paul & Sault St Marie, and the Chicago & North-Western railways, by interurban electric lines, and by steamboat' lines connecting through the Fox river with vessels on the Great Lakes . At North Fond du Lac, just beyond the city limits, are car-shops of the two last-mentioned railways, and in the city are manufactories of machinery, automobiles, wagons and carriages, awnings, leather, beer, flour, refrigerators, agricultural implements, toys and furniture . The total value of the city's factory products in 1905 was $5,599,606, an increase of 95.7% since 1900 . The city has a Protestant Episcopal cathedral, the Grafton Hall school for girls, and St Agnes hospital and convent, and a public library with about 25,000 volumes in 1908 . The first settlers on the site of Fond du Lac arrived about 1835 . Subsequently a village was laid out which was incorporated in 1847; a city charter was secured in 1852 .