Town of Gordon, Douglas County, WI. – The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of the Antoine and Sarah Gordon House in the Town of Gordon, Douglas County, in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Antoine and Sarah Gordon House began as a simple log house built in 1859 by Antoine Gordon. The house served as his home and trading post, as well as a hotel for visitors to northern Wisconsin arriving on the new stagecoach line that connected Fort Snelling in Minnesota with the newly established city of Bayfield. In 1874, the Gordons built an addition, also constructed with logs. The home’s exterior was sided with wood in 1900, signaling the prosperity of the owners.
The building is an exceptionally rare home with close associations to the Métis community. Métis is a French label for people of mixed-ethnicity, born of unions between French or English traders and Native women. They are a unique and identifiable cultural group that bridged relationships between American Indian tribes and early European explorers and settlers during Wisconsin’s early settlement period. Both Antoine and Sarah Gordon belonged to the Métis community. Antoine Gordon was a founder of the town, and his business and philanthropic activities in the area helped to establish and grow the community. Métis families, with connections to both Native and European communities, wielded powerful influence in the social, political and economic development of the region.
The home is privately owned. The National Register is the official list of historic properties in America deemed worthy of preservation and is maintained by the National Park Service in the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Wisconsin Historical Society administers the program within Wisconsin. It includes sites, buildings, structures, objects and districts that are significant in national, state or local history, architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture.
