When William Henry Harrison, the governor of the Indiana Territories and future president of the United States, built his magnificent mansion Grouseland, the the house stood on 300 acres that stretched down to the Wabash River. The land was used for farming and raising livestock.

Now, also located on the site, is the Vincennes State Historic Sites that includes the Indiana Territory Capitol, Jefferson Academy, Elihu Stout Print Shop and the Maurice Thompson Birthplace. For the first 13 years, at the beginning of the 1800s, Vincennes was the capital of the Indiana Territory.

The Indiana Territory Capitol, a two story framed structure put together with wooden pegs, was one of the buildings used by the Territorial Legislature and is considered the oldest major government building in the Midwest. Restored in colors that were appropriate to the times and furnished in a style typical of a territorial legislature, the building is another peak back into time.