PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. – The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of the Blackhawk Avenue Historic District in the National Register of Historic Places on September 22, 2025, at the local level of significance. This area has provided commerce to Prairie du Chien, Crawford County, since 1847 and continues to serve the community today.
The Blackhawk Avenue Historic District contains 42 buildings located on both sides of the 100 and 200 eastern and western blocks of Blackhawk Avenue in downtown Prairie du Chien. Located at the approximate city center, the area has been occupied by residents since the mid-1800s, and extant commercial buildings are present from 1847. This stretch of buildings contains former hotels, the I.O.O.F. Lodge, City Hall and a Greek Revival residence; it continues to serve the thriving community today.
The Blackhawk Avenue Historic District is representative of local commercial businesses and downtown development between the late 1840s and the mid-1970s, when the district was fully developed. It is the only remaining cohesive commercial/retail area in the city and stands today as a visually distinctive group of mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century commercial buildings. The architectural styles are reflective of nondescript, vernacular commercial styling, as well as several high-style examples that were popular during more than a century of development, such as Boomtown, Italianate, Queen Anne, Federal, Modern, Greek Revival, Classical Revival, and twentieth-century Commercial examples.
Additional information for the Blackhawk Avenue Historic District is available at: https://wisconsinhistory.org/Records/NationalRegister/NR2835
To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit: https://wisconsinhistory.org/hp/register/
About the Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit wisconsinhistory.org.
