| Organization | Promotion | Design | Economic Restructuring |
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Executive Director director@mainstreetportage.org Phone: 608-745-1861
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Main Street Portage
The purpose of Main Street is to revitalize and maintain the historic downtown as a source of community pride- an enjoyable place to shop, live, work, play and socialize. News, reports, and resources. Portage history and great reasons to visit the city we are so proud of.
Portage (the 3rd oldest settlement in Wisconsin) lies in a unique location between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. Here the two rivers, one flowing north to the St. Lawrence, and the other, south to the Mississippi, are separated by a narrow neck of land over which, for centuries, Indians, missionaries, trappers, traders, adventurers, and settles traveling the waterway had to portage their canoes and heavy packs from one stream to another. The settlement, which grew here became of resulting traffic, was first known as "Wau-wua-ona", Winnebago for "carry on the shoulder". During the French occupation, it was simply "le portage" (from porter: to carry). This eventually developed into Portage.
Downtown Retail District As a trade center for central Wisconsin, the downtown retail district was a beehive of activity as early as the 1860's. Many of the buildings have been preserved in their original Victorian architecture, providing a colorful background for the busy retail area of today.
Indian Agency House The Historic Indian Agency House, built in 1832, is one of Wisconsin's earliest houses. It was constructed by the US Government as a resident for the Indian Agent to the Ho Chunk ( Winnebago). The agency House is on its original site above the Portage Canal, located off Highway 33 east of Portage on Agency House Rd.
Museum at the Portage William L. and Zona Gale Breeze home at 804 MacFarlane was donated to the city of Portage in 1946 to house the Portage library. In 1994 the library moved to its current location and in 1996 the Museum was established to showcase displays relevant to the history of the City. The Portage Historical Society works to continually to honor the rich history of Portage, the third oldest settlement in Wisconsin.
Society Hill This residential district of 138 buildings was home to the city's early prominent citizens. Many of the buildings are made of yellow Portage brick and were constructed between 1870 and 1910.
Church Hill District Containing six churches and many prestigious homes built between 1855 and 1930, itis only two blocks from the downtown area.
Industrial Waterfront District This District includes commercial buildings that were constructed around the Portage Canal as it ran through the center of the city.
Zona Gale Home After the successful publication of her first novel in 1906. Zona Gale built this home for her parents on the bank of the Wisconsin River. It's classical Greek revival exterior is in contrast to its rustic Craftsman interior. Her 1920 novel, Miss Lulu Bett, shared bestseller honors with Sinclair Lewis's Main Street. The dramatization of her novel brought her the Pulitzer Prize in 1921.
Portage Center for the Arts The Portage Center for the Arts , located on the east edge of the downtown district, hosts many cultural events during the year.
Fort Winnebago Surgeons' Quarters The Surgeons' Quarters is the only remaining building of the Historical Ft. Winnebago, used from 1828 to 1845. The Surgeons' Quarter overlooks the site where Lois Joliet and Father Jaqucues Marquette left the Fox River at the east end of Wauona trail in 1673. In 1828 soldiers came to erect the Fort, the middle link in a chain of three forts along the Fox-Wisconsin waterway.
Portage Canal The idea for a canal to connect the Fox and Wisconsin rivers was developed in the 1820's and 1830's. The canal in its current location was dug by hand from1849 to 1851and then improved after the Civil War by the Army Corps of Engineers. The canal was finished in 1876 and at its peak for recreational boat traffic in 1903
Ice Age Trail The Heritage Trail Chapter in Columbia County contains over 12 consecutive miles, boasts 21 hand built bridges and showcases the intersections of prairie, wetlands, and waterways including the historic Portage Canal and the Fox River also called "marriage of the waters". |
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