National Park Service - Explorers and Settlers (Wisconsin) (2024)

	GREEN BAY Wisconsin
Location: Brown County. City of Green Bay

Green Bay, located along the banks of the Fox River,is the oldest settlement in Wisconsin. Early French voyageurs andcoureurs de bois probably knew about the site and named itBaye des Puants because the Puants, a Winnebago tribe, residedthere. Not until 1634, however, did Jean Nicolet, commissioned byChamplain, arrive at La Baye and claim the region for France. Formore than 30 years little happened at La Baye, but in 1669 FatherClaude Allouez, a Jesuit missionary, founded a mission there. In 1673,Marquette and Jolliet left St. Ignace to open up a water route to theMississippi. They sailed from Lake Michigan to Green Bay and then wentdown the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers to the Mississippi. After thisjourney, because of its strategic position on the water route to theMississippi, La Baye became an important fur trading center andrendezvous. In 1684, the French Government appointed Nicolas Perrotcommandant of the region, and he built a crude frontier fort and tradingpost at La Baye. Soon, many traders, trappers, Indians,missionaries, and French soldiers settled there.

During the first half of the 18th century, thesettlement was involved in constant warfare with the Fox Indians, andthe French built Fort La Baye in 1716 to keep the area open for trade.In 1728, the Indians destroyed it, but the French rebuilt it 5 yearslater. At the end of the French and Indian War, in 1763, the Britishoccupied Fort La Baye. They called the settlement Green Bay (La BayeVerte) because the water and shore assumed green tints early in thespring. During the British regime, the fur trade reached its height andGreen Bay developed into a prosperous farming community. After 1783,when the United States acquired the Northwest Territory from theBritish, French and British traders continued to live in the settlementand opposed American interference. Not until after the War of 1812 didAmericans share fully in the fur trade of the region, when John JacobAstor's American Fur Company gained control.

Located at Green Bay is the oldest extant house inWisconsin, the Roi-Porlier-Tank Cottage.

	PRAIRIE DU CHIEN Wisconsin
Location: Crawford County. Prairie du Chien Chamber of Commerce

Located on a broad terrace overlooking theMississippi, 3 miles north of the confluence of the Mississippi andWisconsin Rivers, Prairie du Chien is the second oldest settlement inWisconsin—the first being Green Bay. Prairie du Chien was a vitalstation on the route between Canada and the vast French-claimedheartland of North America.

Soon after Louis Jolliet and Père JacquesMarquette passed nearby in 1673 while journeying down the Wisconsin andMississippi Rivers, the site became an important gathering place forFrench and Indian trappers, traders, and hunters. In the mid-1680's,Nicolas Perrot erected Fort St. Nicolas there, but a permanent Frenchgarrison was never assigned. In the mid-1700's, French stragglers mayhave settled at the site and named it for a Fox Indian chief whom theycalled Le Chien ("the dog"). A land claim made by three FrenchCanadians in 1781, however, is usually considered the date of the firstpermanent settlement.

For more than a century, the settlement was a basefor the French commercial exploitation of the entire region west of theGreat Lakes. In spite of the British occupation during the War forIndependence and for a short time in 1814, and subsequent American rule,no notable change occurred in commercial activities at Prairie du Chien.Both British and American trading companies prospered, even though thesettlement changed hands.

No structure survives from the French period. Theimportant surviving buildings date from the late 18th and early 19thcenturies. Historical interest is centered in the older part of town, onSt. Feriole Island; at Villa Louis, administered by the State HistoricalSociety of Wisconsin; the Brisbois House; and the Astor Warehouse. Othermore recent sites of interest include the second Fort Crawford, theDousman Hotel, and the Diamond Jo Steamship Line warehouse. All of thesebuildings, as well as the city of Prairie du Chien, are eligible for theRegistry of National Historic Landmarks (relating primarily to theadvance of the frontier, 1763-1830).

	ROI-PORLIER-TANK COTTAGE Wisconsin
Location: Brown County, 10th Avenue and 5thStreet, Green Bay. Heritage Hill State Historic Park

This cottage in Green Bay is the oldest extantresidence in Wisconsin. It is typical of those built by early furtraders in the old Northwest. The original section was built in 1776 byFrancis Roi, a French trapper, several years after France had lostWisconsin to Great Britain. Roi incorporated a huge fireplace, built ofwattle and daub—an unusual method of construction in FrenchAmerica, but quite common in Canada. In 1805, Jacques Porlier bought thecottage and used it as his residence. During the War of 1812, Englishofficers used it to hold conferences. Nils Otto Tank, a Norwegian,purchased it in 1850 and had it clap-boarded, plastered, and painted. Healso added low wings on each side. Originally located on the west bankof the Fox River, the cottage was moved to its present site by the GreenBay Historical Society and the South Side Improvement Association. It isopen to the public all year.