Before the introduction of the railroad, the Wisconsin River was one of the most practical routes for moving lumber and farm products to distant markets, and the old Village of Dekorra was well situated to benefit from that traffic. Its river landing had long been used by native people and connected to a system of Native American trails, some of which later became early Wisconsin territorial roads. Thompson, Trimble, and Morton first platted the landing as Kentucky City in 1837, where the only building was Lafayette Hill's home, which also served as an inn and tavern. In 1843, Thompson and Trimble took sole ownership of the landing and replatted it as the Village of Dekorra, naming it for Old Gray-headed Decorah, a well respected Ho-Chunk leader. They also built the Dekorra Mill outside the village on Rocky Run Creek, the first grist mill in south-central Wisconsin. As lumber raft traffic increased around the Wisconsin pinery, Dekorra quickly became an important lumber distribution center for Madison and the surrounding area, with a thousand foot wharf, inns, taverns, several stores, two blacksmiths, a wagon maker, a post office, and one of the best ferries on the river. After the Madison-Portage Railroad was completed in 1870 and bypassed the village, the flow of lumber rafts and the local mill trade declined, and the Village of Dekorra slowly disappeared, leaving few reminders of its once vibrant past.