Prairie du Chien is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,506 at the 2020 census. Its ZIP Code is 53821.
Hercules Louis Dousman was a fur trader and real-estate speculator who played a large role in the economic development of frontier Wisconsin. He is often called Wisconsin's first millionaire.
Hercules Louis Dousman II, better known as Louis Dousman, was notable as a wealthy Midwestern socialite and art collector. He was the heir to the estate of Wisconsin millionaire Hercules Louis Dousman, who had made a career in Prairie du Chien. Dousman had a new mansion built on the site of his family's house, and then soon moved away, living for years in St. Paul, Minnesota, and St. Louis, Missouri. In both cities he moved in upper social circles.
Fort Crawford was an outpost of the United States Army located in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, during the 19th century.
Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site is a partial reconstruction of the most important fur trading post on the upper Missouri River from 1829 to 1867. The fort site is about two miles from the confluence of the Missouri River and its tributary, the Yellowstone River, on the Dakota side of the North Dakota/Montana border, 25 miles from Williston, North Dakota.
Fort Winnebago was a 19th-century fortification of the United States Army located on a hill overlooking the eastern end of the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers east of present-day Portage, Wisconsin. It was the middle one of three fortifications along the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway that also included Fort Howard in Green Bay, Wisconsin and Fort Crawford in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Fort Winnebago was constructed in 1828 as part of an effort to maintain peace between white settlers and the region's Native American tribes following the Winnebago War of 1827. The fort's location was chosen not only because of its proximity to the site of Red Bird's surrender in the Winnebago War, but also because of the strategic importance of the portage on the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway, a heavily traveled connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Fort Winnebago's location near the portage allowed it to regulate transportation between the lakes and the Mississippi.
The Villa Louis is a National Historic Landmark located on St. Feriole Island, in Prairie du Chien, southwestern Wisconsin. The villa and estate are a historical museum operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society. The site has been restored to its appearance during the late 19th century, when it was the estate of the prominent H. Louis Dousman family, descendants of a fur trader and entrepreneur.
Jean Joseph Rolette, often known as Joseph Rolette, was a prominent fur trader and member of the Mackinac Company who operated a trading post in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.
The siege of Prairie du Chien was a British victory in the far western theater of the War of 1812. During the war, Prairie du Chien was a small frontier settlement with residents loyal to both American and British causes. By 1814, both nations were anxious to control the site because of its importance to the fur trade and its strategic location at the intersection of the Mississippi River and the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway, a transportation route linking the Mississippi with the Great Lakes.
Michel Brisbois was a French-Canadian voyageur who was active in the upper Mississippi River valley as early as 1781. Originally a fur trader for the Hudson's Bay Company, he eventually settled in Prairie du Chien, in what became Wisconsin. He had two families, including three children with a Ho-Chunk woman of mixed-race ancestry.
The Franklin and Armfield Office, which houses the Freedom House Museum, is a historic commercial building in Alexandria, Virginia. Built c. 1810–1820, it was first used as a private residence before being converted to the offices of the largest slave trading firm in the United States, started in 1828 by Isaac Franklin and John Armfield. "As many as [a] million people are thought to have passed through between 1828 and 1861, on their way to bondage in Mississippi and Louisiana". Another source, using ship manifests in the National Archives, gives the number as "at least 5,000".
Bernard Walter Brisbois was an agent for the American Fur Company.
The Brisbois House, also known as the Bernard Brisbois House, is a historic house located on St. Feriole Island in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Built circa 1840, the stone house is one of the oldest in Wisconsin. It was once thought to be built in 1808 by early settler and fur trader Michael Brisbois, but in the early 1920s, historians learned that it was built by his son after his death. The house is a National Historic Landmark and is now owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society.
The Dousman Hotel, is a historic hotel located at the intersection of Fisher Street and River Road in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. The hotel was built in 1864–65 to serve railroad and steamboat travelers coming to the city. The hotel was named after Hercules L. Dousman, an early Wisconsin fur trader, land speculator and millionaire.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Crawford County, Wisconsin. It is intended to provide a comprehensive listing of entries in the National Register of Historic Places that are located in Crawford County, Wisconsin. The locations of National Register properties for which the latitude and longitude coordinates are included below may be seen in a map.
The Prairie du Chien Post Office is a historic post office building at 120 S. Beaumont Road in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
Alexis Bailly was an American politician and fur trader.
The Rolette House is located in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.
John Lawe was a pioneer fur trader, merchant, land speculator, sawmill owner and judge in Green Bay, Wisconsin Territory. He served in the brief "Rump Council" which may be regarded as the first legislature of what was to become Wisconsin.
Maḣpiya Ḣota Wiŋ was the woman for whom Grey Cloud Island in Washington County, Minnesota was named. She was born around 1793 at the village of Prairie du Chien to a Dakota mother, also named Grey Cloud Woman, and a Scottish fur-trading father, James Aird. Grey Cloud lived through the final years when the fur trading economy was dominant in the region around the northern Mississippi River. She married her first husband, English-Canadian fur trader Thomas Gummersall Anderson, while just a young girl of 15. Together, they lived and traveled between several trading posts, including those at Patterson's Rapids and Pike Island. The couple had two children who survived infancy, Angus and Jane. Grey Cloud Woman was directly affected by the War of 1812, when her husband, who fought on behalf of the British, chose to return to Canada rather than live under American rule. Rather than follow him, Grey Cloud Woman separated from him and returned to her parents' home.
