About Fort Mulligan's
The Famechon Building
formerly known as The French Store & Circle Bar from 1855 to 2000.
For more than 40 years from 1844 - 1855, Julius Famechon was a fixture in the Prairie du Chien business community with regular ads in the local paper.
He was born in France in 1924, and we know he had a linseed plant here in 1844. Famechon also ran a liquor store with John Pion from the Phoenix Hotel (later the Kane) built in 1839. Famechon was very young at the time, 19 or 20 years old when he began his business career. People referred to him as "Jules".
By 1849, Famechon was in business with another Frenchman 14 years his senior, Augustus Gaillard. They remained partners until Gaillard died in 1864. Famechon continued on his own for another 20 years. It is believed their first store was on the island near the water front. By 1852, they had a stand on Water Street next to the Phoenix. Most of their business was in dry goods and groceries.
In 1855, they built the limestone buliding on Bluff Street from materials recycled from the 2nd Fort Crawford. Locals referred to it as the French Store.
The Famechon Building has been the home to the Circle Bar since the mid 1930s. In 2000, Mike and Trisha Hager opened Fort Mulligan's Grill Pub in this landmark building.
The building has many historic features including the tin ceiling and exposed limestone walls which are 23 inches thick. A window with a steel shutter in the back of the pub are original.
The hardwood, gym flooring in the bar and the marble dividers in the bathrooms were recycled from B.A. Kennedy School. The lumber work in the front is from a Dubuque ice house. The 1937 Heilmann Beer calendar hanging in the front of the restaurant was found in one of the walls during remodeling.
