du Lac Department. It had stockade walls, two houses of 40 ft each, a shed of 60 ft, a large warehouse, and a canoe yard. Over time, Native American peoples and European Americans settled nearby, and a town gradually developed.

In 1808, German-born John Jacob Astor organized the American Fur Company. The company began trading at the Head of the Lakes in 1809. In 1817, it erected a new headquarters at present-day Fond du Lac