Menominee Indiansa tribe of the Algonquian linguistic stock. Throughout historic times, they have occupied parts of northern Wisconsin. The Menominees were one of the least populous of the Great Lakes tribes; there were about 3,000 in the 17th century. They farmed, fished, hunted, and gathered wild rice, nuts, and berries. Menominee means “wild rice men.”
In 1854 the Menominees were assigned to a reservation in Wisconsin's Wolf River valley. They gave up their reservation status in 1961 but had it reinstated in 1973 because of poor economic conditions. There are presently about 7,900 Menominees.