13 Facts About Hypolite Dupuis

Hypolite Dupuis was known as a "veritable old settler" in the Minnesota River Valley when it was largely inhabited by Native Americans.

Hypolite Dupuis was a French Canadian fur trader who eventually settled in Mendota, Minnesota, opened the first general store there, and served as the first treasurer of Dakota County.

Hypolite Dupuis was born in La Prairie de la Madeleine, near present-day Montreal in lower Canada.

Hypolite Dupuis married Angelique Agathe Renville, eldest daughter of Joseph Renville and Mary Tokanne.

Hypolite Dupuis moved to Mendota, Minnesota around 1840 and lived with his family in a small cabin on the property of Henry Hastings Sibley.

Hypolite Dupuis worked as a bookkeeper and then a business partner of Sibley, who later became the first governor of the state of Minnesota.

In 1848, Hypolite Dupuis naturalized as an American citizen around the time that Henry Sibley was elected as the at-large Congressional district representative for the Wisconsin Territory.

The fur trade had largely died out by the 1850s, and Sibley and Hypolite Dupuis liquidated their fur trade interests in 1853.

In 1854, Hypolite Dupuis built a two-story home made of Wisconsin brick, and operated the first general store and grocery in Mendota from the main floor.

Hypolite Dupuis closed the store during the Panic of 1857.

Hypolite Dupuis was active in the Mendota community, serving as Dakota County's first treasurer in 1854, the justice of the peace in 1855, and as the Mendota postmaster from 1854 to 1863.

Hypolite's brother Michael Dupuis moved to Mendota in 1854, and served as school clerk for ten years and as deputy sheriff for three years.

In 1871, Hypolite Dupuis sold his brick home to Timothy Fee, and moved to the Devil's Lake Reservation in North Dakota to work as storekeeper for the Fort Totten Indian Agency.