Fort Atkinson State Preserve Fort Atkinson State Preserve is a state preserve of Iowa , USA , containing the remnants of Fort Atkinson , a U . S . Army frontier post created to keep the peace between various Native American tribes as well as prevent white settlers from encroaching on Indian lands . History . The 1830 Treaty of Prairie du Chien , negotiated between the United States and various tribes , established the Neutral Ground : the tribes agreed to land cession of a strip of land , two strips of land wide each on either side of the boundary roughly from present - day La Crosse , Wisconsin and Prairie du Chien , Wisconsin , extending from the Mississippi River to the Des Moines River in what today is southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa . Originally planned as a buffer zone between the Sioux , Sac and Fox Nation s , the land was soon designated for the Ho - Chunk ( or Winnebago ) tribe after their removal from Wisconsin . Fort Atkinson was founded to keep the Ho - Chunk on the Neutral Ground , and to protect them from other tribes as well as prevent white traders and settlers from intruding on Indian land . The post was also reinforced the authority of the U . S . government official who operated a school , model farm and provided supplies to the Ho - Chunk . A camp was founded on the site on May 31 , 1840 by Cpt . Lynde commanding Co . F , 5th US Infantry and named after Henry Atkinson , the commanding officer in charge of the Ho - Chunk resettlement . The fort took three years to construct and was completed by the end of summer of 1842 . Company B , 1st US Dragoons arrvied on June 24 , 1840 , remaining until June 20 , 1846 . Co . F , 5th US Infantry was replaced on Sept 10 , 1841 by Co . K , 1st US Infantry , which recently arrived from Florida . Co . I , 1st US Dragoons under Captain James Allen was additionally posted at Ft . Atkinson from August to November 1842 , the three companies marked the largest garrison at the post during its history with 196 soldiers in the garrison in August 1842 . Co . A & B , 1st US Infantry were each briefly at the post in the spring and summer of 1843 . Co . E , 1st US Infantry , replaced Co . K on May 19 , 1844 . The infantry left the post on Sept 9 , 1845 . After Co . B , 1st US Dragoons left in June 1846 , to report to Ft . Leavenworth in response to the Mexican – American War , the post was briefly vacant . Morgan ' s Iowa Company of Volunteer Infantry began staffing the fort on July 15 , 1846 . Parker ' s Iowa Company of Mounted Volunteers arrived in September 1846 , but was disbanded as being too expensive in November 1846 . Morgan ' s Company was reoganized as a mounted unit in July 1847 and helped moved the Ho - Chuck from Iowa to Minnesota in June 1848 . The last of the militia left on September 11 , 1848 . The fort was again briefly vacant until Co . C , 6th US Infantry under Captain T L Alexander reached the post from Mexico on Sept . 28 , 1848 . The fort was abandoned by the 6th US Infantry on February 24 , 1849 . The fort was sold at public auction in 1855 . The private owners had the land surveyed and plat ted for the town of Fort Atkinson . In 1906 , a geologic study of Winneshiek County named the stone used in the fort as the Fort Atkinson Limestone Member of the Maquoketa Group , having originated from a shallow tropical sea 440 million years ago . The state of Iowa acquired the fort in 1921 and reconstruction started in 1958 . In 1968 , the fort was dedicated as part of the State Preserves System because of its geological , archaeological and historical value . Design . The fort included 24 buildings and an 11 ' 9 " stockade , outside of which were 14 additional buildings . The design was typical of frontier posts , using a rectangular layout enclosed by a wooden picket - stockade . A parade ground was at the center , surrounded by four main barracks . Cannon houses sat at the northeast and southwest corners , a gunpowder magazine in the southeast corner and a commissary in the northwest . Buildings outside the fort included the granary , bakery , blacksmith and stables . The buildings were constructed out of limestone quarried nearby or hewn logs with cut - pine shingle roofs .