New sign honors early settlers and history makers

The Allamakee County Conservation Board recently completed the installation of the historic sign pictured above which tells the story of Patrick Keenan and Richard Cassiday, who were early settlers in the Makee Township area, with Keenan being the first individual in Allamakee County to apply for and receive American citizenship at the Allamakee County Courthouse through the U.S. Naturalization Law. They built a log cabin on what is now the County Home property. Patrick Keenan was the first Keenan to settle in the area and many Keenan families have descended from him. The site was pointed out to the Conservation Board by Joe Palmer and Carl Christianson a number of years ago. The new sign is not located at the exact location of the old cabin site, which is located about 100 yards down the trail and is only accessible to the public by foot. The sign is located at the upper shelter house at the County Home Park just off of Highway 9 north of Waukon. Visitors can park their vehicles by the County Home Park shelter house to view the sign and walk the trail past the restroom to view the cabin location. The Conservation Board has done some work at the old building site and is checking into the process of having the location placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Work completed by the Conservation Board on the site included cutting trees out of the building site and planting additional trees near the old cabin site. The possibility of having some archeology work completed on the site would be part of the process for placing the location on the Register of Historic Places.