Portage, located on the banks of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers and home to members of the Ho-Chunk and Menominee tribes, was the location where French explorers, Marquette and Joliet “portaged” over the area between the two rivers to reach the Mississippi. It is also home to a historic home district, which is explored below. Many of the historic homes are made from Portage Cream Brick. The yellow-colored brick was quarried locally and in the mid-1850s there were three brickyards in operation, supplying the cream brick in Portage and beyond. All images are part of the Digital Museum at the Portage collections.