Sinsinawa () is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Grant County, Wisconsin Grant County is the most southwestern county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,938. Its county seat is Lancaster and its largest city is Platteville. The county is named after the Grant River, in t ...

, United States. The community is in the towns of Jamestown and Hazel Green, one mile north of the border with

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. The community is east of

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is a city in Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 59,667 at the 2020 United States census. The city lies along the Mississippi River at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a region ...

, and west of the village of

Hazel Green, Wisconsin Hazel Green is a village in Grant County, Wisconsin, Grant and Lafayette County, Wisconsin, Lafayette counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 1,173 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Of this, 1,151 were in Grant Co ...

. The town is best known for being the mother house of the

Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters The Congregation of the Most Holy Rosary of the Order of Preachers, better known as the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, is an American religious institute of the Regular, or religious (Catholicism), religious, branch of the Third Order of St. Domi ...

History

The community's name means either "

rattlesnake Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genus, genera ''Crotalus'' and ''Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting sm ...

" or "Home of the Young

Eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

" in

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...

. The first white settler in the area was

George Wallace Jones George Wallace Jones (April 12, 1804 – July 22, 1896) was an American frontiersman, entrepreneur, attorney, and judge, was among the first two United States Senators to represent the state of Iowa after it was admitted to the Union in 1846. ...

, who purchased land for a

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron, copper, silver, tin, lead and zin ...

in 1827. He soon sold the land to the Dominican priest

Samuel Mazzuchelli Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli, Order of Preachers, OP (November 4, 1806 – February 23, 1864) was a pioneer Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic missionary priest who helped bring the Church to the Iowa-Illinois-Wisconsin tri-stat ...

, who subsequently built a men's college,

Sinsinawa Mound College Sinsinawa Mound College for men (1846-1852) was located in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin Sinsinawa () is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Grant County, Wisconsin, United States. The community is in the towns of Jamestown, Wisconsin, Jame ...

, in 1846. Mazzuchelli founded the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters in 1847. This religious order founded a women's college and high school in Sinsinawa in 1865.

Sinsinawa Mound

Sinsinawa Mound is a cone-shaped hill in the area, from which the area gets its name. Sinsinawa River runs along the hill south towards the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. The

Sinsinawa Mound raid The Sinsinawa Mound raid occurred on June 29, 1832, near the Sinsinawa mining settlement in Michigan Territory (present-day Grant County, Wisconsin in the United States). This incident, part of the Black Hawk War, resulted in the deaths of two m ...

of June 29, 1832, part of the

Black Hawk War The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans led by Black Hawk (Sauk leader), Black Hawk, a Sauk people, Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of ...

, took place near Sinsinawa Mound. In August 2007 there was a commemoration of the 175th anniversary on the war.

Notes

External links

Sinsinawathe word Sinsinawa
an
Sinsinawa Mound
from the ''Dictionary of Wisconsin History'', published by the Wisconsin State Historical Society {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Grant County, Wisconsin Unincorporated communities in Wisconsin