Hercules L. Dousman - Community Leader

Community Leader

In 1844, two years after Joseph Rolette's death, Dousman would marry his widow, Jane. Together the couple moved into the large two story brick house that Dousman had constructed a year earlier. Today this house, which was replaced by the Villa Louis in the 1870s, is called the "House on the Mound", because of its location atop what is believed to be a prehistoric Indian mound. Hercules and Jane Dousman had one son, Hercules Louis Dousman II, who was born on April 3, 1848. Less than two months after the child's birth, Wisconsin became a state.

As Wisconsin grew, the fur trade was sent into decline, primarily because the Native Americans who formed an essential part of the trade were being pushed west by new settlers. Dousman withdrew from the fur trade in the late 1840s in order to focus on his investments. In addition to his numerous holdings in real-estate, grain, and lumber, Dousman became involved in transportation companies, investing in packet companies and steamboats that ran on the Mississippi River.

In 1852, Dousman became a principal investor in the Madison & Prairie du Chien Railroad, a company formed to ensure that the larger Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad would meet its goal of connecting Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River. The two companies combined only a few years later, and would eventually grow into the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. Dousman was very influential in bringing the railroad to Prairie du Chien by 1857, making the Milwaukee & Mississippi the first railroad to lay track all the way across Wisconsin. Prairie du Chien's new rail connection caused a small boom in the city's population and business. Since Dousman owned much of the land in the city he made a large profit from this, and his net worth grew substantially, reaching a million dollars at a time when fewer than a thousand Americans could claim to possess such a figure.