Biohazard Cleanup Near Core Area Waunakee, WI

Waunakee is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, a fast-growing suburb of Madison in the Madison metropolitan area.

Waunakee bills itself as 'The Only Waunakee in the World' — its official motto, since no other place on Earth shares the name.

The village was founded in 1871 when settlers Louis Baker and George Fish platted it along the Chicago and North Western Railway, persuading railroad officials to move the depot to their site in exchange for $1,500 and two miles of right of way; it was formally incorporated in 1893.

The name Waunakee is of Native American origin and is commonly translated as 'fair and pleasant valley,' while the Wisconsin Historical Society traces it to the Chippewa name Waunaki, 'he lives in peace.'

Waunakee's population reached 14,879 at the 2020 census, up from 12,097 in 2010, and the Census Bureau estimated it had already grown to about 16,411 by 2025.

Waunakee has grown in every census since 1880, when it had just 279 residents — a more than fifty-fold increase driven by Madison's suburban expansion.

At the 2020 census Waunakee had 5,348 households and 5,537 housing units, and 42.5 percent of its households included children under 18, reflecting its popularity with young families.

The historic Waunakee Railroad Depot in the center of town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and now houses the Waunakee Area Chamber of Commerce.

Waunakee has drawn an unusual amount of presidential-campaign attention for a village its size: Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy campaigned there for their brother John in March 1960, Barbara Bush campaigned there in October 2000, and Donald Trump held a rally at Dane Manufacturing in October 2024, the first visit by a Republican presidential nominee to Dane County since 1996.

Six Mile Creek, the village's main waterway, runs west to east through Waunakee before turning south on its way to Lake Mendota.