Editing Grand Chute, Wisconsin (section)

== History ==
The Town of Grand Chute was formed on April 3, 1849 inside what was then [[Brown County, Wisconsin|Brown County]], Wisconsin. By state legislative act, Grand Chute was split off of the Town of Kaukaulan (later [[Kaukauna (town), Wisconsin|Kaukauna]]). The Town of Grand Chute's boundary at its establishment comprised a much larger area than it has today, formed by what today are the towns of [[Dale, Wisconsin|Dale]], [[Hortonia, Wisconsin|Hortonia]], [[Greenville, Wisconsin|Greenville]], [[Ellington, Wisconsin|Ellington]], and present-day Grand Chute.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://images.library.wisc.edu/WI/EFacs/AppletonPlats/aplFox/reference/wi.aplfox.i0014.pdf|title=Land of the Fox, Saga of Outagamie County|last=Outagamie County State Centennial Committee|date=1949|access-date=September 28, 2016}}</ref> By 1850, due to a large influx of new settlers, the towns of Hortonia (which included Dale at the time), Greenville, and Ellington had all been split away from Grand Chute to form new towns.<ref name=":0" />

Outagamie County was set up by law in February 1851 and had its county government formally organized on April 1, 1851. At that time, the Town of Grand Chute (which by definition changed from Brown to Outagamie County) was established as the seat of county government affairs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.foxvalleymemory.org/ryans/Textfiles/part2r.html|title=History of Outagamie County - Part 2|website=www.foxvalleymemory.org|access-date=September 28, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/WI_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm|title=WI: Individual County Chronologies|website=publications.newberry.org|access-date=September 28, 2016|archive-date=April 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170414132220/http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/WI_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Grand Chute's population in 1984 was estimated to be 10,874.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xBFWAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA746|title=The State of Wisconsin Blue Book|date=January 1, 1985|publisher=Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, distributed by Document Sales|language=en}}</ref> In March of that year, residents overwhelmingly approved using town funds to attempt incorporation into a village. After town hearings in late 1984, Grand Chute petitioned to the State of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Department of Development denied the town's request to incorporate on March 25, 1985. At the time of the denial, the DOD's findings were that some (but not necessarily all) government services would be better provided by the City of Appleton, and that the proposed village was not compact or homogenous.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/189659326/|title=Green Bay Press-Gazette from Green Bay, Wisconsin &middot; Page 4|date=March 26, 1985|website=Newspapers.com|access-date=October 2, 2016}}</ref>