Rarities of Wisconsin Postal History

Although Madison is known as the “City of the Four Lakes” there was once a nearby post office which served as a rival in the selection of the state capital. The City of the Four Lakes post office operated intermittently from 1837-1841 to service the “paper town” of the same name. This is the only recorded cover from this office and one of the great rarities of Wisconsin postal history.

This 1834 cover from Niagara, New York was sent to Fort Winnebago, Wisconsin, where it was forwarded to Fort Howard in Green Bay. John W. Quinney, the recipient, left New York for Wisconsin in the early 1820s as a sachem and diplomat for the Stockbridge Tribe. The letter was written by John W. Newcom, a half-Indian petitioning the Stockbridge Tribe for money he claims was taken from him when the tribe was relocated from New York in 1825 and lamenting the fact that he was not given a land grant owing to his mixed heritage.

Located opposite Fort Howard in Green Bay, the town of Navarino was laid out by pioneer settler Daniel Whitney and named for the Greek seaport. Although Navarino’s post office only operated for 16 months between 1833 and 1834, the site is important in the history of Wisconsin. The region’s first newspaper was printed there in 1833, and every major industry in Wisconsin Territory had strong ties to the town. In 1836 the borough of Green Bay was established, combining Navarino with the town of Astor and forming the basis for today’s city of Green Bay.

This 1827 folded letter from Green Bay to Detroit is datelined “Ouisconsin Portage”, demonstrating the persistence of the original French spelling well into American settlement of the region. The letter was written by John Kinzie, a future Winnebago Indian Agent, and provides the earliest historical account of the surrender of the infamous Ho-Chunk warrior Red Bird. The Winnebago Uprising of 1827 would serve as a precursor to the larger (and deadlier) Black Hawk War five years later.

Only three covers are recorded from Grand Cackalin (now Kaukauna), with this March 1835 folded letter being the latest. It is addressed to the Reverend Absalom Peters, an important early American theologian who served as secretary of the American Home Missionary Society in New York City, and discusses dealings with the local Stockbridge Indians. Established in 1831, Grand Cackalin was the first post office in present-day Outagamie County and served as an important outpost along the Fox River.