Weigh in on Potawatomi Tower Plans

Potawatomi Tower has stood in the park since 1932, but has been closed since 2018. While studies continue to be done on the historic structure, repair is nowhere in sight. File photo by Len Villano.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is hosting a public information session Thursday, Jan. 12, at 6 pm on the future of the Potawatomi State Park observation tower.

The design options developed by engineering company GRAEF will be presented during the meeting. The DNR will then ask participants for public feedback on which option they prefer. Following that comment period, Gov. Tony Evers will include the most popular design as a project in the 2023 Capital Budget.

The state selected GRAEF to provide pre-design through construction services on the tower – a move that Evers and the DNR announced in April at the tower site.

The tower has been closed to the public since December 2017 due to wood decay and unsafe conditions. Since then, the Sturgeon Bay Historical Society Foundation has fought to save the tower as it stands, successfully listing it as a historic structure on both the state and federal Registers of Historic Places, and hiring a wood specialist to assess the tower’s condition. That engineer determined the tower could be repaired – a finding the state has refuted with its own studies. 

The present plan to provide options for the tower came about in April 2022, following a public information session with the DNR during which the overwhelming majority of people were in favor of saving the tower.  

The Jan. 12 information session will be presented virtually. Attendees can join the Zoom meeting at us02web.zoom.us/j/8313095944 or by phone at 312.626.6799.

An engineering report and public survey for the Potawatomi Tower will be available in January.