(This information was gleaned from a variety of historical web sites.)
In 1828 the US Army established a fort on the Fox River at "the portage" between the Fox & Wisconsin Rivers. Used for centuries by local Native Americans, this marshy lowland area where the two rivers are only about 1 mile apart was shown to Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet in 1673 while they were searching for a passageway from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. The Portage became commercially important to Wisconsin by bringing furs and lumber from north and central Wisconsin both to the Mississippi River trade route and to the Great Lakes shipping routes. In the early 1800s, the Winnebagos were demanding tolls for use of their land, to which settlers and traders objected. Fort Winnebago was built to protect settlers and traffic from hostilities, and the town of Portage grew nearby. The fort was abandoned in 1845. Attempts to build a canal between the two rivers began in the 1830s. Wisconsin was granted statehood in 1848. It was about this time that the canal was actually constructed. Many Irish came to the area to work on the canal, then settled there. Others came to work on the railroad in the mid 1850s. In 1856 Dennis Cussen/Cushing and son John bought nearly 275 acres of land made available by an act of Congress to encourage settlement around the canal.
The city of Portage was built on a hill overlooking "the portage" in the early 1850s. Portage City was incorporated in 1854. Major railroads were built through Portage in the late 1850s. Because of the thriving commercial traffic between the rivers and, later, the railroads, Portage rapidly grew into an important town. Some of the history web pages paint a picture of a bustling center of activity that changed fairly rapidly from wilderness on the "western frontier", to a small town, to an impressive city. Barges and steamboats were going up and down the river. Merchants in the central business district included grocery stores, drug stores, hardware stores, blacksmiths, cobblers, liveries, banks, hotels, saloons, bakeries, clothing stores, newspaper offices (English and German), butchers, jewelry stores, harness shops, cabinetmakers, wagon shops, etc. Also in the area were a lumber mill, brewery, foundry (metal works), stone monument company, cigar factory, rug and clothing manufacturers, and warehouses. Phone service was introduced in 1883, gas street lights in 1886, running water in 1887.
About 9700 people live in Portage today, 93% white. Median household income is less than $36,000 per year. 7.2% of the population lives in poverty. Zona Gale, an author and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright (for Miss Lulu Bett in 1921), wrote many books with Midwestern settings. I haven't read any of them, but she apparently set some of her stories in Portage, so this may be some interesting historical reading. She was a contemporary and good friend of Winifred Nugent Cushing.
(Information from DiscoverOurTown.com, columbiacountytourism.com, wisconsinhistory.org, and other web sites.) Some of these sites are open during limited hours or during part of the year. Call or contact the Portage Chamber of Commerce for more information.
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Historic Indian Agency House |
Portage Canal |
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Fox-Wisconsin Portage Site |
Portage Canal Industrial Historic District |
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Fort Winnebago Surgeon's Quarters |
Society Hill Historic District |
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American Legion State Headquarters & Museum |
Museum at the Portage |
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Church Hill Historic District |
St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church |
| Columbia County Courthouse 400 DeWitt, Portage |
Cushing Farms |
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Fort Winnebago Lock |
St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery |
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Zona Gale House |
Portage Industrial Waterfront Historic District Portage Retail Historic District Marquette & Joliet Monument |
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Historical Marker: Frederick Jackson Turner: 1861-1932 Considered the most important historian of the United States in the twentieth century, Frederick Jackson Turner brought a new understanding to the meaning of the American experience. He was born in Portage; his father was Andrew Jackson Turner, a longtime local newspaper editor and activist. Turner's essay on "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" (1893) reoriented the study of American history toward the nation's westward migration and its consequences. For over a half century Turner's frontier thesis defined the American character and dominated research and teaching of the American experience. Erected 1993 from columbiacountytourism.com |
Historical Marker: The Circus More than a hundred circuses began in Wisconsin, many nearby. The Ringling Brother's World Greatest Shows began in nearby Baraboo in 1884. Each of the communities on the map was the home of at least one circus. Thousands of items recalling the exciting and colorful history of the circus are preserved in a vast complex 15 miles from here, at Baraboo's Circus World Museum. from columbiacountytourism.com |
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Historical Marker: Potters' Emigration Society In 1849 Thomas Twiggs began a settlement of unemployed potters from Staffordshire, England. To help farmers on both sides of the Fox River reach his store and black-smith shop at Twigg's Landing, he operated Emancipation Ferry, named to express his hope that here they would find freedom from the poverty of the Old World. from columbiacountytourism.com |
Historical Marker: Marquette On June 14, 1673 Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet started the portage (1.28 miles) from here to the Wisconsin River which led to their discovery of the Upper Mississippi June 17, 1673 at Prairie du Chien. Marquette, a talented Jesuit missionary, dedicated his life and energy ministering to the Indians. |
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Historical Marker: Fort Winnebago In the autumn of 1828, a permanent fort was built on this site by the First Regiment of the United States Infantry under the command of Major David Twiggs, later a general in the Confederate Army. The fort was constructed primarily to control the important Fox-Wisconsin portage and to protect American traders from interference by the Winnebago Indians. The fort was garrisoned until 1845 and was destroyed by fire in 1856. The only remaining portion is the restored Surgeon's Quarters on the hill across the highway. from columbiacountytourism.com |
Historical Marker: Ketchum's Point Ketchum's Point, named for a local family, stands above the low, marshy Portage connecting the Fox River and the Great Lakes with the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers. The 1827 Ho-Chunk Uprising, begun by the rapid expansion of the lead mining settlements, ended with Red Bird's surrender near Ketchum's Point. This led to a series of treaties which took Ho-Chunk territory and removed them from their lands. from columbiacountytourism.com |
Still under construction:
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Copyright © 2006 by Michael Cushing.
portage.htm; last updated 1 July 2006