Wisconsin’s Old Military Road, 1833-1837

Wisconsin’s first great civil engineering project was a wagon road that stretched from Green Bay to Prairie du Chien. Built for military purposes by the War Department, the U.S. Army never used the great thoroughfare in wartime because the last military conflict in Wisconsin was the Black Hawk War of 1832. It became a major artery for transporting newly arrived immigrants into the state from the 1830s onward and illustrates the challenges of building a road of 235 miles through the wilderness of Wisconsin. 

The troops at Fort Crawford constructed the road from Prairie du Chien to Portage; those at Fort Winnebago extended it to Fond du Lac, and those at Fort Howard completed it to Green Bay. Blazed trees and plowed furrows marked the route. Brush laid in riverbeds made wagon crossings possible. But the road was underwater at times during wet seasons, and foot-high stumps in the road complicated travel.   Remains of the road that exist today are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.