Villa Louis

Villa Louis was Wisconsin's first historic site. 6/27/25 dwm

Villa Louis (pronounced Louie) is the tenth of eleven Wisconsin Historical Society sites and museums we've visited.

Membership in the Wisconsin Historical Society comes with a very big perk, free admission to two or more of the locations annually (depending on the level of membership chosen).

Villa Louis is in Prairie du Chien, the oldest community on the upper Mississippi River that started as a fur trading post connecting Europeans from France and England with the local Native American tribes.

Hercules L Dousman. painting 6/27/25 dwm

As the post developed, it became busy enough that traders based in Mackinaw City, Michigan were sent to Prairie du Chien. It's worked out well for Hercules L. Dousman, who came into generational wealth as an entrepreneur, working as a fur trader, lumberman, and land speculator.

He had a lot of help from his wife, Jane, who was first married to a successful Frenchman in the world of buying and selling fur. In fact, Dousman started as a clerk to her husband, Joseph. They married after her husband died, and together built the first villa, called House on the Mound.

That mound was important because the Mississippi river floods regularly and the mound was high enough to keep the Dousman family dry.

The second version of the home was built by his son, H. Louis Dousman, on the same footprint with modern conveniences during construction or as they came along, like electricity.

Part of the parlor. 6/27/25 dwm

By the 1930s, the family no longer lived there, and gave it to the city of Prairie du Chien when the state was unable to accept it. The Wisconsin Historical Society became the owner in 1950, and opened it to the public two years later.

In the 1990s, the Historical Society renovated the home to show how it looked between 1893 and 1903. This is after the death of H. Louis Dousman and after the family returned to Wisconsin from New York City. After Louis' death, his widow, Nina Linn Sturgis Dousman, named the house for him, Villa Louis (Louie).

That ten-year period was chosen because among the family's artifacts and collections were hundreds of pictures that made it possible to re-create the way things looked. Original pictures now hang in many rooms.

It's an impressive home. In the family's 'office building' there is a room where the Dousman men ran the business in one room while entertaining family and guests in the billiard room. In addition to a variety of games, you can see many pictures of the family's prized race horses.

Family gathered for billiards.

The ice house was built in 1850 as an add-on to the original building. When that was demolished, it became an independent building. Each winter large blocks of ice were cut from the Mississippi and stored in the cellar or in a stone-lined room behind refrigeration cabinets.

Another building was the family's laundry. The first floor had rooms for servants and space to wash and iron. Clothes dried on the second floor where clothes lines ran the length of the building.

The laundry. 6/27/25 dwm

We had a personal guide on our visit because no one else signed up for the 11am tour. A Prairie du Chien resident for more than 40 years, the guide was personable and friendly guide throughout the tour.

The home was impressive, starting with the front door where a servant would have greeted any guest, collect the individual's 'calling card,' then announce the visitor to the family.

Inside the front set of doors is a huge framed mirror guarded by two ornate vases with a small plate where the calling cards are collected.

The first floor hall. 6/27/25 dwm

The dining room, two parlors, and an ornate bedroom comprise the first floor. The bedroom, we were told, was fanciest because it would be the only bedroom guests would see, for example, when placing coats when attending a party.

The dining room was the only place we saw from both sides - first from the main hall and then from the kitchen which was accessed through the servant's quarters.

Upstairs the bedrooms reflected the people who lived there from 1893 to 1903 - bedrooms for the children, the housekeeper, and the widow, Nina Linn Sturgis Dousman. Nina had adjoining rooms, one with her wardrobe where she dressed and a large bedroom which served as an office whether it was counseling children or handling the various family businesses.

At the top of the staircase is a stained glass window with H. Louis Dousman's initials that he commissioned. He never saw it, dying unexpectedly at age 37 before the home was finished. (Scroll to bottom)

Nina L.S. Dousman's room. 6/27/25 dwm

Servant quarters are on the second floor but are separated by a door and they lived much less comfortably than the family.

I suspect that the rooms used by servants would look pretty good compared to what the average citizen of Prairie du Chien lived in back then.

The kitchen was large area to prepare elaborate meals served in courses. A short hall allowed staff to observe the lady of the house signals when to serve, clean, or bring on the next course.

When the family lived in their home, there were other people living on the island. But after serious flooding in the mid-20th century, the Army Corps of Engineers moved resident homes or just the residents to dry ground. That leaves Villa Louis and it's associated buildings as the only ones on the Historic Site and surrounding city park land.

The visitor's center. 6/27/25 dwm

The Visitor Center and gift shop was built in 1978 with stairs to a second floor where the shop, offices,
and restrooms are located. The highest water in that spot historically was four-feet deep, they have more than twice that much room now.

On the grounds you can see the footprint of where Fort Shelby was built for American troops led by William Clark (he explored the west with Merriwether Lewis).

The British captured the fort during the only Battle of 1812 on Wisconsin soil. The Americans surrendered to the British after a siege. No one was killed, and the fort became the property of England known as Fort McKay.

When the U.S. ultimately won the War of 1812, the British burned their fort to the ground as they left.

A visit to a place like Villa Louis is like parachuting into a moment in time where you see what the experience was like for one family. It's open from now to November 3, 2025.

If you're interested in reading posts on the other Wisconsin Historical Society sites, on the blog's homepage, do a search under labels for "Wis Historical Society" and it should give you the others.