 The name "Kinnickinnic" is a word from the Ojibwe "giniginige", and refers to tobacco mixed with other plant material for smoking.The first settler of European descent along the Kinnickinnic River was Judge Joel Foster.He first settled in the area over the winter of 1848-1849 in a walled-in cave overhang at the confluence of the main channel and the South Fork of the Kinnickinnic River.