The Old Military Road was a road built by the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

in 1835-36, connecting Fort Howard ( Green Bay) Wisconsin with Fort Crawford (

Prairie du Chien Prairie du Chien () is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,506 at the 2020 census. Its ZIP Code is 53821. Often referred to as Wisconsin's second oldest city, Prairie du Chien was esta ...

) via Fond du Lac, Fort Winnebago ( Portage), and Dodgeville. This first military road was a beginning of government planning for overland travel, which eventually led Wisconsin, first as a territory and later as a state, and its localities to finance its own system of roadways for various purposes. Remains of the road that exist today are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

Financing and construction

Financed by Congressional action in 1832 and constructed between 1835 and 1837, the first military road in Wisconsin Territory connected three forts. From Fort Howard near Green Bay, the road extended south along the eastern shore of

Lake Winnebago Lake Winnebago ( mez, Wenepekōw Nepēhsæh, oj, Wiinibiigoo-zaaga'igan, one, kanyataláheleˀ) is a shallow freshwater lake in the north central United States, located in east central Wisconsin. At 137,700 acres it is the largest lake entire ...

and then headed southwest toward

Fort Winnebago Fort Winnebago was a 19th-century fortification of the United States Army located on a hill overlooking the eastern end of the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers east of present-day Portage, Wisconsin. It was the middle one of three f ...

(near present-day Portage along the

Wisconsin River The Wisconsin River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At approximately 430 miles (692 km) long, it is the state's longest river. The river's name, first recorded in 1673 by Jacques Marquette as "Meskous ...

). From Fort Winnebago, the road looped further southwest toward

Fort Crawford Fort Crawford was an outpost of the United States Army located in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, during the 19th century. The army's occupation of Prairie du Chien spanned the existence of two fortifications, both of them named Fort Crawford. The ...

on the Mississippi River (near present-day

). The road was underwater at times during wet seasons, and foot-high stumps in the road complicated travel. The 1973 work ''The History of Wisconsin'' described the road as "little more than a lane through the timber and a pathway over the prairie, with streams bridged and swamps ditched, the road was crude and often impassable; but it nevertheless filled the important objective of traversing Wisconsin from east to west". Maintenance by settlers attracted to the area kept the road passable. The cost for initial construction and maintenance for the road was $12,000.

Remains of the road

Its modern descendant follows the route from Green Bay to Fond du Lac along

Wisconsin Highway 55 State Trunk Highway 55 (often called Highway 55, STH-55, or WIS 55) is a state highway in Wisconsin, United States. It travels south-to-north in the northeastern part of Wisconsin from an intersection with U.S. Route 151 (US ...

and U.S. Highway 151, then west on Wisconsin State Highways 68 and 33 to Portage, where it travels west via U.S. Highway 18. The name survives as one for local streets paralleling the current highways. Military Ridge State Trail runs over a portion of its alignment. An actual segment of the road in its original state is also preserved in Fond du Lac County, It is located on farmland purchased by Albert and Martha Raube in 1911; Raube Road was listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1992. Other present-day reminders of the road's legacy include Military Avenue in Green Bay and Military Road in Fond du Lac.

east of Lake Winnebago is also called Military Road in some of the communities it passes through.

References

Durbin, Richard D. and Durbin, Elizabeth (1984). Wisconsin's old military road: its genesis and construction: The Wisconsin Historical Society's Wisconsin Magazine of History Archives, p2 ISSN 1943-7366, volume 68. {{coord, 43, 43, 49, N, 88, 43, 49, W, region:US-WI, display=title Wisconsin military road Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Historic trails and roads in Wisconsin Landmarks in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin