Located in: Vincennes, Indiana
The Grouseland Mansion and Museum is a National Historic Landmark important for its architecture and its role in history. Grouseland is the first brick home built in the Indiana Territory. Built for William Henry Harrison, during his term as Governor of the Indiana Territory (1800-1812), the mansion was completed in 1804 and reportedly dubbed “Grouseland” by Harrison due to an abundance of grouse in the area. Also called the “White House of the West”, it was built on a knoll overlooking the Wabash River near a walnut grove.
Grouseland was designed by architect William Lindsay and constructed at great personal expense to Governor Harrison. In the wilds of a frontier village, Grouseland was a palatial mansion in its day, built in part to give credibility to the rather young Governor. The project was daunting at the time, as the territory had no established roads. Nevertheless, Grouseland was built from local materials by skilled labor imported from the east, and decorated in grand style to mark his place in the American aristocracy—William Henry was the youngest son of Benjamin Harrison, a signer of The Declaration of Independence.
During Harrison’s governorship of the Indiana Territory, Grouseland was the focal point of the social and official life of the territory. As the capital of the Northwest Territory, more land was governed from Vincennes than any city outside Washington, D.C. Grouseland was home to Harrison until 1812, and remained in the Harrison family until the late 1840s.
The mansion includes the council chamber where Harrison met with representatives from various American Indian tribes. In 1805, Harrison negotiated the Treaty of Grouseland with a number of important Indian leaders, including Little Turtle and Buckongahelas. Harrison had two confrontations with the Shawnee leader Tecumseh at Grouseland in 1810 and 1811. Harrison’s thirteen treaties with Native American leaders resulted in millions of acres being acquired by the United States.
Today, Grouseland is owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution 9DAR) who saved the building from destruction. It is overseen by the Grouseland Foundation, a volunteer board of directors composed of DAR and non-DAR members, to manage the structure and its programs.
With a matching grant of $400,000 from the Jeffris Family Foundation, the DAR initiated major improvements, including all the decorative arts to undo a rather speculative interior décor installed in an earlier misguided restoration.
Photo credit: TR Photography courtesy Grouseland
