Little Chute, WI Community Profile
Nestled in the heart of the Fox River Valley, just east of Appleton, Wisconsin, the Village of Little Chute combines a pleasant small-town, semi-rural atmosphere with all the amenities of a larger metropolitan area. The Village is blessed with an abundance of natural resources – including the historic Fox River on its southern border. The Village of Little Chute offers an excellent quality of life and is truly on the river and on the way.
Complete Little Chute, WI Community Profile
Community History
The Fox River forms a wonderfully scenic backdrop for Little Chute, and has played a key role in the Village's development. La Petite Chute, French for Little Falls, is the original name for the area of rapids in the Fox River where Little Chute is today.
In 1832, Father Theodore van den Broek, a Catholic priest from North Brabant, Holland, was sent to Wisconsin as a missionary. He established St. John Nepomucene Parish near the rapids of Little Chute in 1836. One of the earliest groups to immigrate to Wisconsin were natives of North Brabant, Zeeland and Limburg in the Netherlands. Fueled by the hope of economic opportunity, land ownership and the chance to be "free and equal before the law" regardless of one's religious affiliation, Catholic Dutch immigrants began arriving on the lower Fox River region in 1848.
In 1898, residents of La Petit Chute petitioned for incorporation as the Village of Little Chute, which was formally granted on March 8, 1899. Planning began immediately. In "The History of Outagamie County – 1911", it states that the newly elected officials, ". . . at once set about to make public improvements and as a result can probably show more miles of good sidewalks and good roads than any other village in the county. The Village has a good engine house and council rooms, an outfit of fire fighting appliances and a good school building."
In 1923, a water works system was installed and a deep well was dug. A second well was added in 1966, a third in 1974 and a fourth in 1999. The community grew in fifty years to a population of just over 5000 and more than doubled again in the last half of the 1900s.
Up until the 1970s, Little Chute was primarily a bedroom community. That changed with the establishment of the Village's first industrial park in 1971. Intergovernmental cooperation was evident with the establishment of the Heart of the Valley Sewerage District in 1975. The need for the professional management of the Village was recognized with the addition of a full time recreational director in 1971, a village administrator in 1986, a public works director in 1988, and a finance director in 1988.
The 1990's was the decade of intergovernmental cooperation with the consolidation of the Little
Chute Police Department with the Village of Kimberly's, the consolidation of the Little Chute and Kimberly libraries, the consolidation of custodial services with Kimberly, and the Village's first municipal boundary agreement, which was with the City of Appleton. Utility and community facility improvements included a large deep interceptor sewer across USH 41 to serve several thousand acres of future expansion, a new 20 acre park in the northwest area of the village, the expansion of Legion Park, the expansion of the Industrial Park, the replacement of the old elementary school with a new school, and the construction of storm water detention facilities near the Industrial Park. The Village's first Tax Increment District was created, Jack's Pizza expanded into a new plant and was sold to Kraft, a recycling program was established with the county, the village was mapped on a CAD system establishing a computerized base map, and
the position of Community Development Director was added to the Village's administrative team. In 1999 the Village celebrated its centennial.
In the last five years, the Village constructed a new well, treatment plant, and water tower. Two more tax increment districts were created for industrial and business development near USH 41. St. John's Church expanded and remodeled. A new public middle school was constructed as an addition to the public high school, along with its remodeling and expansion. The old middle school was razed and the land sold to St. John's for use a playground area for its elementary school. Public and private development efforts came together with the construction of approximately 200 acres of privately-owned business park land and publicly owned storm water treatment ponds along USH 41. The Village formed a storm water utility and implemented automated refuse collection. In 2003 Main Street was reconstructed and opened with a celebratory street party. The Main Street design won an award from the National Concrete Pavers Association. In 2004 the operations of the water utility were contracted to a private operator under the direction of the Water Commission.
Source: Village of Little Chute web site and A Century of Progress 1899 to 1999, published by the Village of Little Chute Centennial Committee.