Home of the Wilson, Stout and LaPointe families, three generations of Menomonie founding families, the Wilson Place Mansion has a history as rich and colorful as that of Menomonie and Dunn County. Built-in 1859 by Captain William Wilson, it was originally a large colonial-style house with a pillared porch. Captain Wilson, was a principal in the Knapp, Stout & Co. Company, founder and first mayor of the city of Menomonie, and the area's first state senator. In 1875, he enclosed the 22-acre estate with a sandstone wall, part of which fronts the museum today.