Solomon Juneau was a pioneer in the state of
Wisconsin in the
19th century.
He was born in Montreal in 1793, and eventually started making his living as a trapper and fur trader. In 1818, he was sent to his new trading post at Milwaukee.
He quickly expanded his trade, and in addition to his sales of furs he opened a General Store and started the area's first newspaper: The Sentinel.
He was well-liked by the local people and grew in stature among natives and immigrants alike. In 1831, he officially became a United States citizen. Take that Canada!
In 1835, he used a portion of his amassed wealth to travel to Green Bay for an auction and purchased a large swath of land between the Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan which he promptly named Juneautown. He also hastened to build the first tavern, and get himself appointed the first postmaster.
Being a polite gentleman he waitied until 1837 to have himself made village president.
He spent the better part of a decade after this trying to rebuild his bank account after The Panic of 1837, and preoccupied himself with laying out the streets in a completely insane design calculated to enrage his neighbors. This led to The Bridge War of 1845.
In 1846 Solomon Juneau was named mayor of the newly re-united city of Milwaukee and remained a leading citizen for many years, naming many local landmarks after himself.
He died from 1856 to the present.