ATTENTION
The alley behind the Museum is scheduled to be re-paved April 14 – May 16. The Museum’s parking lot will be inaccessible during this time.

The Charles A. Grignon Mansion

Visit the Grignon Mansion and return to the last colorful days of Wisconsin's fur trade era!

In the days before Wisconsin's statehood, the Fox River was an important water highway for travelers and fur traders. At a natural portage point along the Fox, where the Mansion now stands, a trading post was established as early as 1760. Charles A. Grignon, whose family had been active in the fur trade for over 100 years, took over this post in 1830.

In 1837, Charles A. Grignon built this elegant Mansion as a wedding gift for his Pennsylvania bride, Mary Elizabeth Meade. An oasis of luxury and civilization on the Wisconsin frontier, this stately home was known as "The Mansion in the Woods" to countless travelers.

The Mansion and the Grignon family were also familiar to local American Indian tribes. The grandson of a Menominee woman, Charles acted as an interpreter for the U.S. government at the Treaty of the Cedars, which transferred four million acres of Menominee land to the U. S. Goverment for European and Euro-American immigration: the area now known as Northeast Wisconsin.

Costumed guides lead group tours (10 or more people) of the Mansion and tell about the Grignons, their home, and everyday life on the Wisconsin frontier. Visitors may also browse through the Mansion's historic apple orchard, and take home a treasure from the Museum Shop.

Today, the Grignon Mansion is a proud reminder of our state's beginnings. Restored to the time period of 1837-62, when Charles lived there, the Mansion is a beautiful link to our heritage.

(Interior Photos by Rick Gneiser.)

Location

The Charles A. Grignon Mansion
1313 Augustine Street
Kaukauna, Wisconsin

Get directions @ Google »

Summer Hours

The Mansion will be open on Thursdays and Fridays from 12 PM to 4 PM beginning June 5 through August 29, 2008.

Tours

The Grignon Mansion is open for group tours year-round by appointment only. Call 920.733.8445, ext. 104 to schedule a group tour.

Send Mail for Mansion To

Outagamie Historical Society
330 E. College Avenue
Appleton, WI 54911