Property Record
1824 STATE HIGHWAY 33 E
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | FORT WINNEBAGO SURGEON'S QUARTERS |
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| Other Name: | FORT WINNEBAGO SURGEON'S QUARTERS |
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| Reference Number: | 3315 |
| Location (Address): | 1824 STATE HIGHWAY 33 E |
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| County: | Columbia |
| City: | Portage |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1826 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1975 |
| Historic Use: | barrack |
| Architectural Style: | Other Vernacular |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Log |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Fort Winnebago Surgeon's Quarters |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 10/28/1970 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation. In the 1820s and 1830s, the area between Green Bay and Prairie du Chien was a major fur-trading region. Fort Winnebago, built at the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, was the middle link in a chain of three garrisons constructed to protect this trade. All that is left of the fort today is the Surgeon's Quarters, built between 1819 and 1828 and remodeled in 1834. The building, now a museum, actually predates the fort and never stood within the stockade’s enclosure. It began as the home of Francois LeRoi, who operated a portage business. The army established the fort in 1828 and purchased the house for use as a sutler’s store and, later, the post surgeon's house. The fort ceased operation in 1845, after which the house was extensively altered. During the 1930s, the Daughters of the American Revolution restored the building to its 1834 appearance. The U-shaped house is built of hand-hewn pine logs with wide chinks. It consists of two front-gabled wings, each with two rooms, connected by a passageway. Inside, the walls are plastered with lime over hand-sawn and -tooled lath, and much of the original flooring remains. |
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| Bibliographic References: | FOND DU LAC REPORTER 3/31/1994. Portage Daily Register 4/17/1999. Princeton Times Republic 4/22/2004. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |