history

In the days before Wisconsin’s statehood, the Fox River was an important water highway for travelers and fur traders. Since as early as 1760, the land where the Mansion now stands held a trading post to welcome travelers at a natural portage point along the Fox River. The Grignon family actively ran the fur trade post for over 100 years until Charles took over 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 indigenous 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 United States Government: the area now known as Northeast Wisconsin.
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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.