Fort Atkinson State Preserve

Fort Atkinson State Preserve
Iowa State Preserve
Fort Atkinson's powder magazine
Country	United States
State	Iowa
County	Winneshiek

Location	Fort Atkinson
- coordinates	43°8′43″N 91°56′22″W / 43.14528°N 91.93944°W / 43.14528; -91.93944Coordinates: 43°8′43″N 91°56′22″W / 43.14528°N 91.93944°W / 43.14528; -91.93944

Area	5 acres (2.0 ha)

Founded	1968
Management	Iowa Department of Natural Resources

Location of Fort Atkinson State Preserve in Iowa
Website: Fort Atkinson State Preserve

Fort Atkinson Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
NRHP Reference #	13000036^[1]
Added to NRHP	February 27, 2013

History

Remains of north barracks, showing exposed interior fireplaces

Fort Atkinson north barracks in 1912, after abandonment

The 1830 Treaty of Prairie du Chien, negotiated between the United States and various tribes, established the Neutral Ground: the tribes agreed to land cession of a 40-mile-wide (64 km) strip of land, two strips of land 20 miles (32 km) wide each on either side of the boundary roughly from present-day La Crosse, Wisconsin and Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, extending from the Mississippi River to the Des Moines River in what today is southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa. Originally planned as a buffer zone between the Sioux, Sac and Fox Nations, the land was soon designated for the Ho-Chunk (or Winnebago) tribe after their removal from Wisconsin. Fort Atkinson was founded to keep the Ho-Chunk on the Neutral Ground, and to protect them from other tribes as well as prevent white traders and settlers from intruding on Indian land. The post was also reinforced the authority of the U.S. government official who operated a school, model farm and provided supplies to the Ho-Chunk.

A camp was founded on the site on May 31, 1840 by Cpt. Lynde commanding Co. F, 5th US Infantry and named after Henry Atkinson, the commanding officer in charge of the Ho-Chunk resettlement. The fort took three years to construct and was completed by the end of summer of 1842. Company B, 1st US Dragoons arrvied on June 24, 1840, remaining until June 20, 1846. Co. F, 5th US Infantry was replaced on Sept 10, 1841 by Co. K, 1st US Infantry, which recently arrived from Florida. Co. I, 1st US Dragoons under Captain James Allen^[2] was additionally posted at Ft. Atkinson from August to November 1842, the three companies marked the largest garrison at the post during its history with 196 soldiers in the garrison in August 1842. Co. A & B, 1st US Infantry were each briefly at the post in the spring and summer of 1843. Co. E, 1st US Infantry, replaced Co. K on May 19, 1844. The infantry left the post on Sept 9, 1845. After Co. B, 1st US Dragoons left in June 1846, to report to Ft. Leavenworth in response to the Mexican–American War, the post was briefly vacant. Morgan's Iowa Company of Volunteer Infantry began staffing the fort on July 15, 1846. Parker's Iowa Company of Mounted Volunteers arrived in September 1846, but was disbanded as being too expensive in November 1846. Morgan's Company was reoganized as a mounted unit in July 1847 and helped moved the Ho-Chuck from Iowa to Minnesota in June 1848. The last of the militia left on September 11, 1848. The fort was again briefly vacant until Co. C, 6th US Infantry under Captain T L Alexander reached the post from Mexico on Sept. 28, 1848. The fort was abandoned by the 6th US Infantry on February 24, 1849.^[3]

The fort was sold at public auction in 1855. The private owners had the land surveyed and platted for the town of Fort Atkinson. In 1906, a geologic study of Winneshiek County named the stone used in the fort as the Fort Atkinson Limestone Member of the Maquoketa Group, having originated from a shallow tropical sea 440 million years ago. The state of Iowa acquired the fort in 1921 and reconstruction started in 1958. In 1968, the fort was dedicated as part of the State Preserves System because of its geological, archaeological and historical value.^[4]

Design

1842 sketch of Fort Atkinson

The fort included 24 buildings and an 11'9" stockade, outside of which were 14 additional buildings. The design was typical of frontier posts, using a rectangular layout enclosed by a wooden picket-stockade. A parade ground was at the center, surrounded by four main barracks. Cannon houses sat at the northeast and southwest corners, a gunpowder magazine in the southeast corner and a commissary in the northwest. Buildings outside the fort included the granary, bakery, blacksmith and stables. The buildings were constructed out of limestone quarried nearby or hewn logs with cut-pine shingle roofs.

References

↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
↑ Captain James Allen at http://www.jlindquist.com/allen.html
↑ Steven M. Baule, A brief look back at Ft. Atkinson, Iowa and the Year 1843, Ft. Dodge, IGG, 1992.
↑ Carr, Jeffrey T.; William E. Whittaker (2009). "Fort Atkinson, Iowa, 1840-1849". In W.E. Whittaker. Frontier Forts of Iowa: Indians, Traders, and Soldiers, 1682-1862. Iowa City, Iowa: University of Iowa Press. pp. 146–160. ISBN 978-1-58729-831-8.

External links

Protected areas of Iowa

Federal

National Monument	Effigy Mounds

National Historic Site	Herbert Hoover

National Wildlife Refuges	DeSoto Driftless Area Neal Smith Northern Tallgrass Prairie Port Louisa Union Slough Upper Mississippi River

State

State Parks	Ambrose A. Call Backbone Badger Creek Banner Lakes at Summerset Beeds Lake Bellevue Big Creek Black Hawk Brushy Creek Cedar Rock Clear Lake Dolliver Memorial Elk Rock Elinor Bedell Emerson Bay Fairport Fort Defiance Geode George Wyth Memorial Green Valley Gull Point Honey Creek Lacey-Keosauqua Lake Ahquabi Lake Anita Lake Darling Lake Keomah Lake MacBride Lake Manawa Lake of Three Fires Lake Wapello Ledges Lewis and Clark Maquoketa Caves Marble Beach McIntosh Woods Mines of Spain & E.B. Lyons Mini-Wakan Nine Eagles Okamanpedan Palisades-Kepler Pikes Peak Pikes Point Pilot Knob Pillsbury Point Pine Lake Pleasant Creek Prairie Rose Preparation Canyon Red Haw Rice Lake Rock Creek Springbrook Stone Templar Trapper's Bay Twin Lakes Union Grove Viking Lake Volga River Walnut Woods Wapsipinicon Waubonsie Wildcat Den Wilson Island

State Forests	Backbone Barkley Gifford Holst Loess Hills Pilot Mound Shimek Stephens White Pine Hollow Yellow River

State Preserves	A.F. Miller Ames High Prairie Anderson Prairie Behrens Pond and Woodlands Berry Woods Bird Hill Bixby Bluffton Fir Stand Brush Creek Canyon Brushy Creek Cameron Woods Casey's Paha Catfish Creek Cayler Prairie Cedar Bluffs Cedar Hills Sand Prairie Cheever Lake Clay Prairie Claybanks Forest Cold Water Spring Crossman Prairie Decorah Ice Cave Dinesen Prairie Doolittle Prairie Fallen Rock Fish Farm Mounds Five Ridge Prairie Fleming Woods Fort Atkinson Freda Haffner Kettlehole Gitchie Manitou Hanging Bog Hardin City Woodland Hartley Fort Hayden Prairie Hoffman Prairie Indian Bluffs Primitive Area Indian Fish Trap Iowa's State Preserves System Kalsow Kish-Ke-Kosh Prairie Lamson Woods Liska-Stanek Prairie Little Maquoketa Malanaphy Springs Malchow Mounds Manikowski Prairie Mann Wilderness Area Marietta Sand Prairie Mericle Woods Merrill A. Stainbrook Merritt Forest Montauk Mossy Glen Mount Pisgah Cemetery Mount Talbot Nestor Stiles Prairie Ocheyedan Mound Old State Quarry Palisades-Downs Pecan Grove Pellett Woods Pilot Grove Pilot Knob Retz Woods Roberts Creek Rock Creek Island Rock Island Roggman Boreal Slopes Rolling Thunder Prairie Saint James Lutheran Church Savage Woods Searryl's Cave Sheeder Prairie Silver Lake Fen Silvers-Smith Woods Slinde Mounds Starr's Cave Steele Prairie Stinson Prairie Strasser Woods Sylvan Runkel Toolesboro Mounds Turin Loess Hills Turkey River Mounds White Pine Hollow Williams Prairie Wittrock Indian Village Woodland Mounds Woodman Hollow Woodthrush

County

State Parks (Leased)	Bobwhite Cold Springs Crystal Lake Eagle Lake Echo Valley Frank A. Gotch Heery Woods Lake Cornelia Lake Icaria Kearny Margo Frankel Mill Creek Oak Grove Oakland Mills Pammel Sharon Bluffs Spring Lake Swan Lake Three Mile Lake

Iowa Department of Natural Resources

National Register of Historic Places in Winneshiek County, Iowa

Bluffton	Gilliece Bridge Upper Bluffton Bridge

Burr Oak	Burr Oak House/Masters Hotel Burr Oak Savings Bank Kinney Octagon Barn

Calmar	Calmar Passenger Depot

Decorah	Birdsall Lime Kiln Broadway-Phelps Park Historic District Cooley-Whitney House Decorah Ice Cave Decorah Municipal Bathhouse and Swimming Pool Decorah Woolen Mill Ellsworth-Porter House Highlandville School Horn House Jacobson Farm Koren Library Locust School Luther College Farm Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Combination Depot Norris Miller House Painter-Bernatz Mill Steyer Bridge Steyer Opera House Ten Mile Creek Bridge Washington Prairie Methodist Church

Fort Atkinson	Fort Atkinson Bridge Fort Atkinson Historic District

Frankville	Frankville School

Jackson Junction	Lawrence Bridge

Ossian	Ossian Opera House

Spillville	Wenzil Taylor Building

See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Winneshiek County, Iowa and List of National Historic Landmarks in Iowa

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