Five rapids covering a distance of about three miles in this area were referred to as Nekoosa (swift water) by the Chippewa Indians, who made their campground on high Swallow Rock overlooking these rapids. At the lower end of the rapids, Wakeley's Tavern served as rendezvous and resting place for the river traveler and lumber raftsmen. Wakeley's was the nucleus for the development of a settlement named Point Basse (low point). The name was later changed to Nekoosa. The settlement became a key town during the colorful era when lumber was rafted down the river from the pineries of the North to the Mississippi River markets. Daniel Whitney built the first sawmill on the Wisconsin River here at Whitney's Rapids in 1831, making Nekoosa the birthplace of Wood County. From this first harnessing of the river's power developed scores of power facilities, making the Wisconsin River the hardest - worked river in the world.

For countless ages the wild cranberry flourished in many marshy areas of Central Wisconsin. In 1829 Daniel Whitney mentioned the purchase of three canoe loads of cranberries brought down the Yellow River by Indians from the area we know as Cranmoor. During the 1870's a few hardy souls literally carved out by hand the bogs in this area and, in spite of the many hazards such as fires and lack of water, succeeded in establishing a new crop. With time the native vines were supplanted by higher producing selections which have given some of the highest yields per acre in the nation. At the turn of the century hand-picking predominated. Later, improved rakes replaced the colorful family groups together with their nightly entertainment. Today the machine has replaced hand labor in the operation of the bogs, and many of the simple pleasures and intimate association accompanying the laborious tasks of the cranberry bogs are now only menories of the past.

Robert Friedrich, who devoted a lifetime to the sport of wrestling, claims Nekoosa as his boyhood home. Born in 1890, he began his wrestling career at the age of sixteen when he challenged another local rival to raise funds for his baseball team. While Assistant Athletic Director at Kentucky University, he studied anatomy, thereby learning which nerve centers he might apply pressure to and thereby gain an advantage over his opponents. He gave to the sport of wrestling a scientific study which it had never known.

Adopting the name Strangler Lewis, he is the only man to be recognized on five different occasions as heavyweight champion of the world. For twenty years he challenged and defeated all contenders. His greatest asset was his famed headlock which he pitted adinst Joe Stecher's famed scissors hold, to capture the crown in 1920.

He retired to a life of youth work, devoting his time to working with under-privileged boys.

A member of the Athletic Hall of Fame, Lewis's name is carved in the record books along with other great names like Hackenschmidt, London, Stecher and Caddock.

Prior to World War II, few Americans had ever been held as prisoners of war on foreign soil. But the surrender of U.S. forces in the Phillippines in the spring of 1942 suddenly swelled the number of POWs into the thousands, and soon a network of support groups was formed in the U>S> to exchange information about loved ones held captive. At the war's end, the Bataan Relief Organization absorbed similar 'barbed - wire clubs' and in 1949 became the American Ex - Prisoners of War. A Wisconsin Department was established in 1977, and Stanley G. Sommers of Marshfield, a sailor captured at Corriegidor, became National Commander in 1980. Sommers was instrumental in compiling data regarding the effects of incarceration on ex-POWs, some of which informed the congressional debate over passage of the Former Prisoners of War Benefit Act of 1981. A total of 142,227 Americans were captured and held as prisoners of war during both World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam, including 1,929 Wisconsinites. Some 15,190 U.S. service personnel died in captivity, almost three-quarters of them in Japanese hands during World War II.

Here the vast Wisconsin River paper industry began in 1887 when the Centralia Pulp and Water Company converted a sawmill into a pulp and paper mill. The pulp mill spanned the river to the island at the site of the present hydroelectric plant. The paper mill and boiler house were located just south of this marker. Two paper machines were installed and five water-driven pulpwood grinders reduced logs to pulp. The paper mill operated until 1912 when it was destroyd by fire. The pulp mill was removed in 1920 to make room for an addition to the hydroelectric plant. From the beginning, the Wisconsin River area now has become the largest producer of printing papers in the United States.

Indians called this section of the river "Ahdawagam--the two-sided rapids" while lumbermen knew it as "Grand Rapids"--the most treacherous stretch of the river, accentuated by perilous Pilot (Sherman) Rock. Bloomer, Sampson and Strong harnessed the water power in 1838 for sawing lumber. The abundant water power resulted in other mills being built and communities developed on each bank of the river. Centralia was on the west bank and Grand Rapids on the east side were united in 1900 as Grand Rapids and later renamed Wisconsin Rapids.

Ferries spanned the river until a wooden toll bridge was built in 1867, only to be washed out in 1888. On several occasions, the Grand Rapids have been unable to cope with the ice and flood waters with devastating floods resulting; the worst of these being in 1880 and 1935. The flow of water in 1935 reached a record half-million gallons per second, accompanied by the cry, "The Biron Dam has gone out!"

The last lumber raft passed over the rapids in 1887. In 1901 the numerous water power developments on both sides of the river were combined into one company known as Consolidated Water Power Co., a parent company of the present paper mill on the opposite bank of the river. Thus lumbering gave way to papermaking.

Dr. Byron Robinson, born in southern Wisconsin, worked his way through Mineral Point Seminary and the University of Wisconsin from which he received a degree in 1878. In 1882, following graduation from Rush Medical College, Dr. Robinson located at Grand Rapids where he practiced medicine for seven years. During this time Dr. Robinson made three trips to Europe to study gynecology and abdominal surgery at Heidelberg, Vienna, Berlin and London. In 1889 he was appointed the the chair of anatomy at Toledo Medical College. he also held professorships at Post Graduate Medical School, Illinois Medical School and Chicago School of Medicine and Surgery. In 1894 he married a co-worker, Dr. Lucy Wait.

As a citizen he was always at the forefront in all movements for good, order, and betterment of the community. Dr. Robinson personally donated the land for this park which is named in his honor.

World known for his work, studies and discoveries in medicine, Dr. Robinson is best remembered for his kind, studious and conscientious treatment, and his persevering fight for civic improvement.