Since the earliest Paleolithic camp sites along Lake Koshkonong to the modern city of today, citizens have called the Fort Atkinson area “home” for thousands of years.
In July 1832, General Henry Atkinson directed his troops to build Fort Koshkonong here on the banks of the Rock River where it joins the Bark River. The Black Hawk War had begun a few months earlier when the Sauk warrior, Black Hawk, and his followers crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois in an attempt to return to their ancestral homeland. After clashing with the Illinois militia, Black Hawk led his people north along the Rock River into what is now Wisconsin. He was pursued by federal and militia forces commanded by General Atkinson, who complained that finding the elusive Black Hawk in the Wisconsin wilderness was like “hunting a shadow.”
Stopping in what is now Fort Atkinson, a weary Atkinson decided to build a fort to serve as a supply post. Soon after it was built, the fort was abandoned as the war moved quickly to the west when Black Hawk made a desperate dash for the Mississippi River.
Yankee land speculator, Dwight Foster, recycled some of the logs of this stockade into one of the early log homes in this area. A state historical marker indicates the approximate location of Fort Koshkonong and is visible on East Milwaukee Avenue within city limits. A reproduction of the log stockade is located at Rock River Park, off of Riverside Drive, west of Fort Atkinson.