The end of Chequamegon Bay is known as the site of the first dwelling in present-day Wisconsin to have been occupied by European men. Two French fur traders, Médard des Groseilliers and Pierre-Esprit Radisson, built a hut somewhere on the west shore of the bay, probably in 1658. Other traders dwelt on this bay in 1660-1663 and were visited in the spring of 1661 by Father René Menard, the first Jesuit missionary to the Northwest.