Shawano derives from a Chippewa and Menominee term meaning "to the South." Shawano Lake received the name because it marked the southern boundary of Chippewa tribal territory, and the city and county were later named for the lake. Before white settlement, the site of Shawano was an Indian village. In the 19th century, a band of Menominee moved westward from Green Bay in search of a lake with good fishing, found Shawano Lake, and settled nearby. State Trunk Highway 55, which runs along Shawano's main street, was part of a military road built from Green Bay to Ontonagon on Lake Superior, authorized by an Act of Congress in 1863 and used extensively after the Civil War by loggers and lumbermen as a supply road.