Kenosha /kɛˈnoʊˌʃɑː/ is a city in and the county seat of Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States. Kenosha is on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. With an estimated population of 99,889 as of July 1, 2013, it is the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin and the fourth-largest city on Lake Michigan. The city is part of the United States Census Bureau's Chicago Combined Statistical Area (CSA).

Early archaeological sites have been discovered in the Kenosha vicinity; the discoverer of two sites believes they antedate the Clovis culture, making them contemporaneous with the ice age.Paleo Indians settled in the area at least 13,500 years ago.

The Potawatomi originally named the area ginoozhe (also transcribed kenozia, kinoje) 'place of the pike'.

The early name by the Ojibwa Indians is reported as Masu-kinoja. This describes the place of spawning trout as "trout (pike) come all at same time". Thousands of fish were entering the rivers from Lake Michigan. Harvesting these fish provided food for the coming months.

The first white settlers, part of the Western Emigration Company, arrived in the early 1830s from Hannibal and Troy, New York, led by John Bullen, Jr., who sought to purchase enough land for a town. Thwarted in Milwaukee and Racine, the group arrived at Pike Creek on 6 June 1835, building log homes at first and, later, homes of frame, native stone, and brick. The first school and churches followed by 1835, with platting completed in 1836. As more settlers arrived and the first post office was established, the community was first known as Pike Creek in 1836. In the ensuing years, the area became an important Great Lakes shipping port, and in 1837, the village was renamed Southport, a name which lives on as a southeast-side neighborhood, park, and elementary school, and has been adopted by several businesses.

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