Stevens Point

City and administrative headquarters of Portage County, central Wisconsin, on the Wisconsin River, 32 km/20 mi northeast of Wisconsin Rapids; population (1990) 23,000. The centre of an area rich in dairy cattle and potatoes, it manufactures paper products, furniture, fishing equipment, plastics, beer, and food products. Sentry Insurance Company, a publishing house, and a large needlecraft centre have their headquarters in the city.

A trading post was founded here in about 1839 to service the area's lumberjacks. The railway stimulated growth in the 1870s. Polish immigrants settled in large numbers in the late 19th century. The University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point (1894) was originally a teachers' college.