Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin

Prairie du Chien (/ˌprɛəri du ˈʃiːn/ PRAIR-ee doo SHEEN) is a city in Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. The population was 5,506 at the 2020 census. Often called Wisconsin's second-oldest city, Prairie du Chien was established as a European settlement by French voyageurs in the late 17th century. Its settlement date of June 17, 1673, makes it the fourth colonial settlement by European settlers in the Midwestern United States, after Green Bay, Wisconsin; Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan; and St. Ignace, Michigan. The city has many sites showing its rich history in the region.

Prairie du Chien is near the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers, a strategic point along the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway that connects the Great Lakes with the Mississippi. This location offered early French missionaries and explorers their first access and entrance to the Mississippi River. Early French visitors to the site found it occupied by a group of Meskwaki led by a chief whose name Alim meant chien in French ('dog' in English). The French explorers named the location Prairie du Chien, French for 'dog's meadow'. Originally, this name applied only to the plain upon which the settlement lay, but it was later applied to the city as well. The city of Prairie du Chien is between the towns of Prairie du Chien and Bridgeport.