First Capitol Historic Site
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First Capitol
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The museum in 2013
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| Location | N of Belmont off U.S. 151 |
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| Nearest city | Belmont, Wisconsin |
| Coordinates | 42°46′12″N 90°21′39″W / 42.770124°N 90.360746°WCoordinates: 42°46′12″N 90°21′39″W / 42.770124°N 90.360746°W |
| Area | 9.9 acres (4.0 ha) |
| Built | 1836 |
| NRHP Reference # | 70000036 |
| Added to NRHP | April 28, 1970 |
First Capitol Historic Site is a free-admission historic museum located outside Belmont, Wisconsin, United States. The museum includes two of the buildings first used by legislators to meet in Wisconsin Territory. Currently owned and operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society, the site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
From 1818 to 1836, the land that is now Wisconsin was part of Michigan Territory. In 1836, Michigan itself achieved statehood and Congress created Wisconsin Territory from the frontier lands to the west. That territory was larger than you might guess, including the lands that are now Minnesota, Iowa, and the eastern Dakotas. At that time, this vast area was sparsely settled, with a total population of about 22,000. In 1836, Milwaukee had under 2,000 people. Madison was only wooded hills and swamps between the four lakes, which had just been bought by James Doty and some other real estate speculators with an eye toward founding a city there.
Early leaders in the territory needed a place to meet and establish the territorial government. Several land speculators saw this need even before the territory was official, and tried to prepare sites which could be chosen as the territorial capital, hoping to become wealthy if the capitol was built in their city. One such speculator was John Atchison, a general merchandise businessman from Galena. In 1835 he laid out the village of Belmont, Wisconsin and in 1836 began building four public buildings there to attract the lawmakers to his site: a council house where lawmakers could convene, a lodging house for the legislators, a house for the territorial governor, and a courthouse for the territorial supreme court. These wooden buildings were constructed outside of Wisconsin (possibly Pittsburg) and shipped to Belmont for final assembly. On September 9, 1836, territorial Governor Henry Dodge announced that Belmont would be used as the territorial capital, at least for the first legislative session, making Atchison's council house the first capitol. The likely reason for Dodge's selection of Belmont as capital city was its location in Wisconsin's lead mining region, which at that time was the territory's most populous area. However, the selection was controversial, and some contend that Dodge had other motives for the selection based upon his earlier associations with Atchison.
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