Curiosities: Ever Wonder Why There Are Two Egg Harbors?

The County of Door is divided into 19 municipalities. That leaves a lot of words to choose from to give them all their own name, yet there are six communities that share their name with another. 

If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for me? There’s the Town and City of Sturgeon Bay, the Town and Village of Forestville, and the Town and Village of Egg Harbor. Why two Egg Harbors?

With an estimated population of just 201 residents as of the 2010 census, the Village of Egg Harbor is the county’s least populous municipality. The Town of Egg Harbor has a small population as well — estimated at 1,345 — so it would seem to make sense to govern them together. 

The split is rooted in an old problem on the peninsula: “urban” business owners demanding more amenities and services to attract tourism, and more rural residents wanting to keep things simple. 

During the early 1960s, when what is now the Village of Egg Harbor was still part of the town, tensions grew between the “village” people and the town government because villagers had an increasingly hard time getting improvements made to the downtown business area. 

Those frustrations culminated in a 1964 dispute over a streetlight proposed for the intersection of Highway 42 and County G — which didn’t come to fruition. Ultimately, the villagers decided to figure it out themselves.