This week in Prairie du Chien
Nothing on Prairie du Chien’s calendar for the next two weeks yet.
About Prairie du Chien
Prairie du Chien sits on a wide plain where the Wisconsin River meets the Mississippi, the spot where the French explorers Marquette and Joliet first reached the big river by canoe on June 17, 1673. The French named it 'dog's meadow' after a Meskwaki chief whose name meant dog, and for more than 150 years it was a busy fur-trading town, which is why it is often called Wisconsin's second-oldest city. On St. Feriole Island, fur trader Hercules Dousman's family built the Villa Louis mansion in 1870; it became Wisconsin's first state historic site, with old stone fur-trade buildings close by. Today families tour the mansion and the Fort Crawford Museum, walk and bike along the river on St. Feriole Island, watch for bald eagles, and come out each June for the Rendezvous fur-trade camp and on New Year's Eve for the Droppin' of the Carp.