Fort Atkinson State Preserve

About the Park

Fort Atkinson State Preserve in northeast Iowa’s Winneshiek County contains the structural remains and buildings of a frontier-era U.S. military post. Constructed between 1840 and 1842, and occupied until 1849, the post featured prominently in the removal of the Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) people from their ancestral lands. Today, the site is managed by the Iowa state park system as a historically significant site.

Learn more about the geological significance, features, and history of the preserve.

Contact information

c/o Volga River State Recreation Area
10225 Ivy Road
Fayette, IA 52142

Plan Your Visit

The fort is open from Memorial Day weekend through the Rendezvous at the end of September. There is no admission charge. 

• Visit Ft. Atkinson year-round, with daily hours of 4:30 a.m. - 10:30 p.m. A museum at the site is open by appointment only.
• Explore the structures still in existence including a wooden and stone stockade encompassing the footprint of the site. The remaining buildings are the North Barracks, Northeast Cannon House, Southwest Cannon House and a Powder Magazine. In addition to the Fort, the state park system maintains the grounds of the Saint James Church west of the Fort Atkinson tree nursery, and the First Congregational Church Southwest of the Fort Atkinson Library.
• Take part in the Fort Atkinson Rendezvous, held annually during the last full weekend of September. The event recreates life on the 1840s Iowa frontier with authentic buckskinners, U.S. Army dragoons, black powder shoots, crafts, contests and demonstrations. Although a trappers' rendezvous would have actually taken place in the mountainous west and not in Iowa, the presence of an authentic frontier fort gives 20th century Iowans the opportunity to witness and recreate frontier life.

History of the Fort 

The U.S. Army began construction of Ft. Atkinson on May 31, 1840 by establishing a camp at the site. The fort was meant to provide neutral territory for interactions with the Winnebago People as they were resettled from Wisconsin into northeast Iowa. Resettlement played prominently in U.S. policy in the 1800s; Ft. Atkinson is historically significant in understanding the negative treatment of Native Peoples in American history.

Completed in 1842, the fort included 24 buildings and a 11 foot, 9 inch stockade wall. Fourteen additional buildings outside the wall completed the fort. On June 20, 1846, the U.S. Army re-assigned regular army troops out of Fort Atkinson to fight in the war with Mexico. On July 15, 1846, Iowa volunteers staffed the fort and continued to carry out their duties until the post was abandoned after the Winnebago People were again removed from the area. The last company of infantry marched out of its gates on February 14, 1849. *Excerpts from the Fort Atkinson Technical Report, by Bradley Williams.

As early as 1900, local residents recognized the significance of Ft. Atkinson and worked to protect the site. In 1921 the State of Iowa took ownership of the property and established it as part of the state park system.

Museum & Annual Events

Museum artifacts on display include:

• Guns
• Small tools
• Clothing of the period
• Indian canoe
• Photographs of soldiers
• Prints of Indians
• Old letters
• Orders
• Maps
• Drawing of the fort

During the fall of 1977, the Iowa Conservation Commission joined the Iowa Development Commission for the first “Fort Atkinson Rendezvous.” Craftspeople, buckskinners, and military reenactors gathered to trade their goods and provide visitors with an interpretation of Iowa’s history. An annual rendezvous has been held ever since during the last full weekend in September. 

Visitors have an opportunity to experience a taste of military life on the frontier as it existed in the 1840s. Cannon drills are held every hour on the hour, with flint and steel contests, shooting demonstrations, and tomahawk and knife-throwing matches occurring throughout the weekend. A historic movie of Fort Atkinson is also shown every half-hour during the rendezvous. 

Another historical preserve in the immediate area of the preserve is Saint James Lutheran Church.