1800s
- The British were formally removed from Fox River area following the end of the War of 1812
- The Fox tribe is removed after the Black Hawk War in 1832
- The Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Company constructed a series of locks and dams in order to connect the Fox River to the Wisconsin River in Portage, being completed in 1876. This company had wanted to establish Green Bay as a port city rival to Chicago using the Fox River as a shipping route between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. The Fox River was too shallow even after the dredging.
- Because shipping was not a viable industry, flour mills begin to take hold along the banks of the river. Wisconsin was a leading producer of wheat in the mid 1800s and the water power from the Fox River helped to establish flour mills to turn the wheat into flour. Changes in wheat production and several wheat crop failures led production centers to move away from the Fox River area in the late 1800s.
- Flour mills were then converted to paper mill companies. The combination of large amounts of timber being forested with the water power to generate the paper mills lead to the development of the paper mill industry.
- The Neenah Paper mill was constructed in 1873 and is the oldest continuously running mill inside of Neenah Paper, Inc.