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French-Canadian house makes National Register of Historic Places

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The St. Germain dit Gauthier-Coorough house at 5th and Bolvin Streets was recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Donations are being accepted for restoration of the building.

Once upon a time, French-Canadian houses, like the St. Germain dit Gauthier house, stretched along the Mississippi River and French Town Road in Prairie du Chien. Now, all but a handful have been demolished. One of the survivors is the small log house at the corner of 5th and Bolvin Streets, on St. Feriole Island.

The St. Germain dit Gauthier house is located in the former main village of Prairie du Chien. It is constructed of hewn logs set horizontally and joined at the corners by dovetails. Within its structural details are several elements consistent with a method of French-Canadian construction called “piece sur piece a que d’aronde”—the length of the house is a multiple of 13 feet, the hewn logs are on average 5 inches wide, and Roman numerals are present on most timbers in the house.

The St. Germain dit Gauthier House was constructed on main village lot no. 7, as delineated in the 1820 Isaac Lee map. Main village lot no. 7 was confirmed to Jean Baptiste Caron as the lot had been occupied since 1790. Jean Baptiste Caron came to Prairie du Chien from Montreal in the employ of Berthelot and Rolete, Prairie du Chien fur traders.

The next occupant of the lot was Guillaume St. Germaine. He was from Yamaska and engaged to work for Forsyth, Richardson & Company at Michilimackinax for three years. At the end of his engagement. St. Germain remained in the “Pays d’en haut.” He moved to Green Bay, where he married Magdelaine Brunet and then arrived at Prairie du Chien about 1825. 

Three generations of the St. Germain did Gauthier family occupied the house and property until 1890, when it was sold to Nina Dousman McBride. Mrs. McBride first rented and then sold the house to Charles Gremor. He moved the house in 1900 to its present location. George Coorough purchased the house and property from Gremore in 1902. The house stayed in the Coorough family until the relocation of the residents of the Prairie du Chien Fourth Ward in the 1970s and ‘80s. 

The St. Germain dit Gauthier-Coorough house was one of three homes that were not demolished or relocated as part of the relocation overseen by the Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The house has stood vacant for many years. The city of Prairie du Chien turned over ownership of the house to the Prairie du Chien Historical Society a few years ago, and it was very recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Plans are to restore the house and open it to the public. Funds are greatly need for this project. Anyone interested is asked to please consider donating to this unique endeavor. For a $10 gift or more, donors will be given a hot pad holder with a pencil drawing of the house on it.

For more information or to make a donation, contact the Prairie du Chien Historical Society at the Fort Crawford Museum, 326-6960.

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