The name Kewanee means "friendly Indian."  It was named after the town in Illinois because the founders who ran the Fisher Lumber Company were from there.  It was founded in 1907 by the Fisher Lumber Company, the first house was built by the company's manager, H. L. McGee.  At the apex of growth the town had over 600 residents, two hotels, two stores, and more than one hundred buildings.  In 1907 the Fisher Lumber Company built the town's first school.