by Terry Burns, Laurie Graney and Kristal Prohaska
Updated May 1, 2022
As you may know if you’re reading this, the three of us–Terry Burns, Laurie Graney, and Krystal Prohaska–have given several presentations now on the history of “Indian Park” in Platteville. We’ve put this page together for those who want to know more information about the materials we’ve presented.
First, here are the slides to that presentation:
The square of land now known as “Indian Park” has had a plethora of names through the years. Here are the ones we know of:
Names used for the parcel now called “Indian Park”
| Date | Name/Use | Reference |
| Before 1841 | Name/use of this specific parcel of land is unknown. The area was Ho-Chunk territory, though there were no known permanent settlements here. Various evidence we will present (17 natural springs in the area, other geological features, profusion of archaeological finds) make us speculate that the surrounding area was a meeting area and trade area of some sort in addition to a place where women mined lead. But the “mound-building” culture is not Ho-Chunk (though the Ho-Chunk and others claim descent from this culture) and the reason for the creation of conical, linear and effigy mounds in southwest Wisconsin remains a mystery. Native and non-native archaeologists today assume that conical mounds connect as much or more to native cosmology as to burial, since many mounds do not contain burials. More on this in the presentation. Native American settlement in the area is complicated to trace because of the numbers of native people to the east already pushed off of their lands and the alliances of different tribal groups (Ho-Chunk, Sauk, Dakota, Mesquakie, Menomonie) with different U.S. and European powers in the French and Indian War and then the Black Hawk War. Best source: Philip Millhouse, “Native American Lead Mining in the Galena River Valley and the Potential for Archaeological Research” Also, Murphy, “The Expansion of Native American Lead Mining,” in | |
| 1841 | No known name. | John Hawkins Rountree plats the original village of Platteville. (Multiple sources.) |
| 1841-1848 | No known name. Possibility: the ground was used to bury smallpox victims. One of two cemeteries in town. | John Rountree owns this parcel of land. (Deed search) |
| February 8th, 1847 | No known name. Likely used by Presbyterian church though still owned by Rountree. Beginning of a series of odd legislative and deed exchanges. | Legislature of the Territory of Wisconsin gives Presbyterian church the right to “sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of the property belonging to said church” but not the right to sell Platteville Academy. Presbyterian Rev. John Lewis is one of the founders of the Academy. |
| February 22, 1848 | Presbyterian cemetery (Note: while records exist calling it a cemetery, its exact name at this time is unclear. “Presbyterian cemetery” is meant as a descriptive phrase, not a title.) | On February 22, 1848 – John Rountree deeds land to the Presbyterian Church to be used as a “burying ground for the interment of the dead.” |
| February 8th, 1847 | Presbyterian/Congregationalist cemetery (descriptive phrase based on state legislative records, though it could already be “Hill cemetery”) | Wisconsin Territory legislative records. |
| February 6, 1849 | In 1849, a very unusual act is taken by the Wisconsin State Legislature, authorizing the Presbyterian Church in Platteville to change its name and form of government (basically its denomination.) The Presbyterian church in effect becomes a Congregational church. (What happened to the early Presbyterian church sexton records?) Source: Wisconsin State Legislative Records | |
| 1849 | Presbyterian/Congregationalist cemetery (descriptive phrase based on state legislative records, though it could already be “Hill cemetery”) | Based on prior act of Wisconsin Territory and State Legislative Records |
| July 9, 1849 | Deed transfer deeds the Presbyterian Church property to the Congregational Church for the sum of $1. This includes a “certain one acre lot” that is “described and used as a burying ground.” | Grant County Deed search. Deed specifically mentions the above “special act” passed by the Wisconsin State Legislature on February 6, 1849. |
| August 27, 1850 | Presbyterian (Congregational) burying ground | Thomas Paine Aiken and Eleanor Donelson die from cholera. According to family records, Aiken and Donelson are among those buried in the Presbyterian (Congregational) burying ground. |
| January 6, 1949-September 13, 1951 | [No newspaper records] [Many people die of cholera. Is this why the paper shut down?] [Federal Census Mortality Schedules Index, 1850-1880 lists many 1850 cholera deaths in Grant County but not where those persons are buried.] Sometime before 1853, Hill Graveyard/Hill Cemetery becomes a common title. | The local newspaper, the Independent American, suspends publication. During this time, a cholera epidemic hits Platteville. While the |
| Nov. 11, 1853 | Hill Cemetery | Article in the Platteville paper, the Independent American, reports that a new fence, with gates has just been completed around the cemetery. |
| Oct. 20, 1854 | Hill Graveyard | The Independent American reports that Hill Graveyard, one of two city burial grounds and the one “north of the Academy” is in poor condition. Columnist complains it is difficult to locate many of the graves, and that the lot is full of weeds, underbrush and appears to be “entirely abandoned.” |
| August 17, 1855 | Specifically excludes Presbyterian burial ground. | Warranty deed is recorded between John and Lydia Rountree and John Lewis. This warranty deed is for 21 acres that surround the area of Indian Park. A mortgage is also recorded on this date. |
| November 6, 1861 | Cemetery | Tax Deed – Ownership of the cemetery goes to Grant County. (According to Register of Deeds Marilyn Pierce, this should not have happened as the parcel is a cemetery and cemeteries were not to be taxed.) |
| May 30, 1868 | Presbyterian burying ground | Grant County quit claim deeds the Presbyterian Burying Ground to John Rountree for $3. |
| July 20, 1869 | Lots 9, 10, 19 & 20 of Covell’s Addition | On July 20, 1869 Eliphalet and Rebecca Covell and Electa Lewis quit claim deed Lots 9, 10, 19 & 20 of Covell’s Addition, (Indian Park), to John Rountree for $50. |
| July 25th, 1895 | Lots 9, 10, 19 and 20 of Covell’s Addition | Lydia Rountree, Jennie Rountree and John S. Rountree sell these lots and several others to Robert Spear |
| 1898 | Cemetery, Lots 9, 10, 19 and 20 of Covell’s Addition | Rountree heirs attempt to sue the Presbyterian Synod to eject them from the ground and to terminate its use as a cemetery. Court document showing that the Rountree heirs are entitled to possession of 41’ 6” on the south side of lots 10 and 19. The balance of lots 10, 19, 9 and 20 are for cemetery purposes. |
| January 15, 1901 | Lots 9, 10, 19, & 20 of Covell’s Addition, “Presbyterian burying ground.” | E. B. Rice has a lien recorded at Grant County for lots 9, 10, 19, & 20 of Covell’s Addition. (The word “affidavit” is written alongside this handwritten document.) The lien is for compensation of materials, labor and attorney fees of the “Presbyterian burying ground”. |
| January 16, 1901 | Indian Park/Cemetery, Presbyterian burying ground | A deed is recorded at Grant County, which transfers the ownership of Indian Park/Cemetery, Presbyterian burying ground, (except for a strip of land on the south side of lots 10 and 19), to O. W. Barrett. |
| 1901 & 1902 | “cemetery” and “graveyard” | tax roll records show that O. W. Barrett is the owner, but no taxes were paid as the said property is a “cemetery” and “graveyard.” |
| 1903 | ? | Tax roll left blank |
| 1904 | “public property” | Tax roll record indicates that the property is now “public property”. |
| May 29, 1917 | ||
| 1917 | “Indian Park” | The sign in park says it was established in 1917, though no known records support this. Speculation: this may have been a common title due to the gatherings there, which (as one article puts it) “stopped abruptly” in the late teens. |
| 1918 | “Cemetery Park” | Sometime before March 8, the land was plotted as “Cemetery Park” Source: City of Platteville web site |
| March 8, 1918 | “Rountree Park” | City Council votes to rename the cemetery “Rountree Park” |
| April 3, 1918 | “Rountree Park” | City Council votes to remove all bodies found in Rountree Park and to rebury them in Greenwood Cemetery. Rountree Park Committee is then authorized and empowered to level the surface of the ground and to erect fences on the north and south sides of park. |
| 1919 | Platteville tax roll record line is left blank for lots 9 and 10 | |
| 1920 & 1921 | “Park lots 9 & 10” | Platteville tax roll record for lots 9 and 10 |
| 1929 & 1930 | “North Park” | Platteville tax roll record for lots 9, 10, 19, 20 |
| 1936 | “North Park” | Platteville tax roll record for lots 9, 10, 19, 20 |
| 1938 | Children’s Park | City of Platteville 2019 website refers to ”a [1938] newspaper article from The Fennimore Times” that calls it this name. |
| 1945 | “North Park” | Platteville tax roll record for lots 9, 10, 19, 20 |
| 1951 | “North Park” | Platteville tax roll record for lots 9, 10, 19, 20 |
| 1961 | “North Park” | Platteville tax roll record for lots 9, 10, 19, 20 |
| 1959 | “Fourth Street Park (also known as North Park and Indian Park)” | Platteville City Common Council notes as quoted on 2019 city web site |
| 1962 | “City of Platteville” | Platteville tax roll record for lots 9, 10, 19, 20 |
| Late 1950s-present | “Fourth Street Park,” “Fourth Street Cemetery” | A few Platteville residents responding on social media recall these names being used for the park though not in recent times. |
| Late 1950s-present | “Indian Park” | Platteville residents responding at last presentation and on social media (“Platteville Historic Images,” “Friends of Indian Park”) report this is the most common or only name they have heard. Also, the park is labeled “Indian Park, established 1917.” The book Walking Tours of Wisconsin’s Historic Towns (1998) used the name “Indian Park” and reports it is a “cholera burial ground.” |
| We are now within living memory. What do you remember the park being called? |