For Immediate Release

Contact: Keri O'Keefe

keri.okeefe@wisconsinhistory.org

608-261-9597

Annual Friends of Villa Louis Dinner

Prairie du Chien, Wis – On Thursday, March 22, the Friends of Villa Louis will once again hold their annual dinner to support the Villa Louis Historic Site.  This annual dinner serves as a meeting and fundraiser to support the historic site throughout the year. 

“Everyone is invited to come celebrate, network, and learn more about Villa Louis,” said southwest site director Susan Caya-Slusser.  “Fundraising from the event this year will support signage improvements to the Villa Louis grounds and new exhibits in the Fur Trade Museum.”

This year’s annual dinner will also include a special presentation by Joshua Wachuta, site manager at Villa Louis, entitled “The Brisbois Store, the Wisconsin Ho-Chunks, and the Real Story of a Mislabeled Museum.”  The presentation will recall the origins of the Fur Trade Museum at Villa Louis, originally built as a storehouse in 1851 by B.W Brisbois, who traded with the Ho-Chunk people that were resisting pressure to leave Wisconsin.  “The Fur Trade Museum was once thought to be a post for John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company, but we’ve long known that this was wrong,” said Wachuta.  “It turns out that the building’s real origins are even more interesting.”

The annual dinner will be held on Thursday, March 22 at The Barn Restaurant in Prairie du Chien.  A social will begin at 5:30 pm with dinner starting at 6:00 pm and the presentation at 7:00 pm.  The cost to attend the event is $22.50 for Friends of Villa Louis members and $25 for non-members.  Advanced registration is required by March 19.  To purchase tickets call 608-326-2721 or for more information email joshua.wachuta@villalouis.org. The dinner will also serve as an annual membership meeting for the Friends of Villa Louis to vote on new board members and other proposals.

For more information please visit villalouis.org.

About Villa Louis

The historic Villa Louis mansion is the centerpiece of a grand Victorian estate built by the family of Hercules Dousman, a frontier entrepreneur who amassed a fortune in the fur trade and other frontier investments. The mansion has just undergone a top-to-bottom documentary restoration that has returned the Dousman home to the splendor of its 1890s heyday, using British Arts and Crafts interior designs inspired by famed designer William Morris.

About Wisconsin Historical Society

The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs, and services. For more information, visit wisconsinhistory.org.

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