Daily Blog: De Pere: Shooting the Rapids

The citizens of De Pere, Wisconsin (population 22,495) can look back on some significant days in the history of their town.

There was the time in 1890 when the town on the east side of the Fox River was annexed into De Pere, which was on the river’s west side – resulting today in De Pere being the only city in the state of Wisconsin with two school districts.

Earlier, there was a time in 1671 when the St. Francis Xavier Mission was founded at the last set of Fox River rapids before arriving at the Bay of Green Bay. The Mission eventually became the city of De Pere.

But, to its credit, De Pere is looking ahead, beyond the economic rapids, with plans to upgrade and grow their city.

To fund their plans, De Pere is selling municipal bonds as part of a new federal program called Build America Bonds, a new opportunity to assist with municipal infrastructure projects.

According to Business Week, May 18, 2009, p. 25, early reports indicate an encouraging response from investors.