SINIPEE

NAME: Sinipee COUNTY: Grant ROADS: 2WD GRID: 9 CLIMATE: Cold/Snowy in Winter, Hot/Humid in Summer BEST TIME TO VISIT: Spring or Fall (When leaves are fallen)

COMMENTS: Is in 10 on the grid, but the submission page will not allow me that option. Town is difficult to find, and the area is now occupied by farms, rural residential, and a bow and arrow club. Sinipee sat almost directly across the Mississippi River from Dubuque, Iowa. The town was located on the Sinipee River, which is a tributary to the Mississippi. Also, a small road, called Sinipee Road is near the site. REMAINS: Nothing that I can find. Supposedly the rock foundation of the old hotel is still there.

Sinipee was originally set up in about 1831. Because of its close proximity to the Mississippi River, and location on the Sinipee River, Sinipee was for a short time a very prosperous traffic area. It competed with Galena, Illinois, and Dubuque, Iowa for superiority of shipping at the time. Also, SInipee boasted a glorious stone hotel. The town was well known enough at the time that two men who would later become presidents (one was for the confederates)stayed at the stone hotel on more than one ocasion. The hotel was fed from within by a small spring. Supposedly the hotel foundation, with the still-running spring, can be seen today. Unfortunately, the town only lasted two years. It flooded in about 1833. Although the flood damage was easily repaired, malaria spread from the sitting pools of water. Most of the town died of the illness. Some of the buildings (which were new at the time) were moved to Mineral Point, Wisconsin after the town was deserted. The site overgrew with vegetation and is now mostly forgotten. Very few Wisconsin history books even acknowlege Sinipee's short-lived existance. Submitted by: Matt Jegerlehner

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