Rapides des Peres-Voyageur Park Historical Marker #266 

Year Erected: 1981.

Wisconsin Historical Marker.

Voyageur Park celebrates the “Rapides des Pères” and its significance to early explorers, missionaries and traders of the Fox River waterway. The rapids were the easiest place to cross the Fox River without a boat making it a natural crossroads for all types of travelers. Father Claude Allouez built his mission nearby in 1671 which led to the name Rapides des Pères meaning “rapids of the fathers” and is the namesake of the city of De Pere, the Claude Allouez Bridge, and nearby village of Allouez.

The 21-acre Voyageur Park, which was formally named as such in 1979, offers excellent fishing, a themed children’s playground, walking paths, and the entrance to the De Pere Riverwalk and Wildlife Viewing Pier.

One of the few De Pere parks to allow leashed dogs, Voyageur Park is open to visitors daily from 4am to 11pm.

Completed between 2012 and 2013, De Pere’s Riverwalk and Wildlife Viewing Pier leads you to where the rapids most likely were located before the first version of the lock and dam was built in 1836.