Villa Louis

About this property

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. The site was inhabited by Native American tribes, especially the Mound Builders, as is evidenced by the large mound upon which later structures at the site (Fort Shelby, Fort Crawford, and the homes of Hercules and of Louis Dousman) have all stood. In 1814, the Siege of Prairie du Chien was fought in the area by American and British troops hoping to control Fort Shelby during the War of 1812. Later the land was occupied by Fort Crawford. After white settlers drove Indigenous communities from their homelands, the land was purchased by Hercules L. Dousman, who was a man of many trades: a fur trader, a lumberman, a land sculptor, and a frontier entrepreneur. In the mid-1840s, he began construction on the estate from which Villa Louis would be born. The location he chose was perfect due to its proximity to the Mississippi River. Later Dousman's son, Louis, established the present estate, at the center of which is an elegant Villa Louis mansion designed by E. Townsend Mix built in 1871 in the Victorian Italianate style. The estate now known as Villa Louis began when Prairie du Chien trader and investor Hercules Dousman purchased land previously occupied by Fort Crawford. Dousman had the remains of the fort cleared away. In 1843, he built a large, brick Greek Revival house atop an Indian mound, which had been the site of the old fort's southeastern blockhouse. Because of this, Hercules Dousman's home has come to be called the "House on the Mound". This name was also used as the title of an August Derleth novel that featured Dousman as a principal character. Hercules Dousman lived in the House on the Mound until his death in 1868. At the time of his death, he was one of the wealthiest men in Wisconsin, and his fortune passed to his wife Jane and his son Louis. Upon coming into his father's estate, Louis decided to demolish the House on the Mound and replace it with a more contemporary Victorian Italianate style house that included modern indoor plumbing and central heating, both considered luxuries at the time. Louis Dousman contracted with Milwaukee architect E. Townsend Mix in 1870 to have the new house designed and built, and construction was finished in 1871. The new mansion was built with some parts of the old demolished one. The two-story Cream City brick house became the residence of Louis's mother, Jane, while Louis himself moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota not long after construction was finished.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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