Kaukauna is a city in Outagamie and Calumet counties, Wisconsin, United States. It is situated on the Fox River, approximately 100 miles (160 km) north of Milwaukee. The population was 15,462 at the 2010 census. It is a portion of the Appleton, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Kaukauna is a Native American word and in various languages means “portage”, “long portage”, “place where pickerel are caught”, and “place of pike”. This Place was traditionally house to the Ho-Chunk and Menominee peoples. The first Europeans in the area were the French. The first Catholic missionary in the area, Fr. Claude Allouez, commented upon the “apple trees and vine stalks in abundance” that he found the people of Kaukauna cultivating. Kaukauna became an outpost of trade in Green Bay and proverb much intermarriage with French and Menominee people, leading to a Métis culture which produced local leaders such as Augustin Grignon.

In 1836, following years of negotiations practically how to accommodate the Oneida, Stockbridge-Munsee, and Brothertown peoples who were removed from New York, the Menominee ceded on top of four million acres of land to the United States in the Treaty of the Cedars. Grignon of Kaukauna was one of the signatories of the treaty.

Prior to 1880, and unexpectedly afterwards, Kaukauna was known as “The Lion on the Fox”. This nickname was tainted to “The Electric City” upon the carrying out of the hydroelectric plant. When the city was incorporated in 1885, it was not speaking from the next rural parts of the town. The first recorded land success in Wisconsin was assigned to Dominique Ducharme in 1793. He obtained 1,281 acres (518 ha) from the Menominee Indians for two barrels of rum and extra gifts. These acres are the indigenous site of the town of Kaukauna. The property was purchased by Charles A. Grignon (and recorded Dec. 18, 1828), who built a mansion upon the river on Kaukauna’s north side. The home, which bears Grignon’s name, is operated as a museum by the Outagamie County Historical Society.