The history of Sturgeon Bay
The City of Sturgeon Bay, situated at the midpoint of the nearly 90 mile long Door County peninsula, was named for the long, fish-shaped bay it borders. The first Euro-American settlement was established in 1850 when the first house was built along the waterfront at the present Pennsylvania Ave.
The settlement continued to develop along the waterfront and by 1862, three sawmills were in operation and 222 people resided there. Several stores and a tavern were clustered near Main Street, which is presently Second Avenue. Later in the nineteenth century, Sturgeon Bay became a stone quarrying center, with five quarries shipping hard compact limestone to many Lake Michigan ports for harbor improvements.
The area's potential was fully realized in the 1880's when the canal linking Sturgeon Bay to Lake Michigan was completed. This 20-year project not only provided an efficient shortcut, it also eliminated the need for ships to travel through the dangerous Ports Des Morts (Death's Door) Strait. The new passage quickly attracted throusands of ships.
With burgeoning maritime traffic, Sturgeon Bay became a nucleus for shipbuilding on the Western Great Lakes. Several Sturgeon Bay companies grew from modest beginnings to become firms of considerable size providing world-renowned commercial, military and luxury vessels.
Sturgeon Bay was named the Door County seat in 1857 and organized as a city in 1883. In 1886, John D. Leathem and Thomas H. Smith built the first wooden bridge in Sturgeon Bay, which was used for wagon crossings between the city and its suburb, Sawyer. In 1894 the Anhapee and Western Railroad completed a rail bridge into Sturgeon Bay, giving the city access to year-round transportation. In 1931 the steel Sturgeon Bay Bascule Bridge, which crossed the canal at Michigan Street, was built. This bridge has connected lower and upper Door County since that time.
Sturgeon Bay continues to grow, change and prosper. Today, vessels are built here for worldwide export, and the city supports a healthy and growing tourism economy.
The Michigan Street Bridge
The 1986 Intensive Survey form identified the Sturgeon Bay Bridge as "technologically significant under National Register Criterion C as an excellent example of an overhead-truss, Scherzer-type, double-leaf, rolling-lift bascule." It is the only example of this bridge in Wisconsin. The inventory form also states that overhead-truss construction was reserved for movable spans subjected to great stresses. This method was appropriate for Sturgeon Bay, with windy conditions, heavy vehicular use and the required 140-foot clear-span crossing. At the time of construction it was the largest span in Wisconsin.
The Sturgeon Bay Bridge is a 13-span structure that includes five deck concrete-girder spans; five overhead Parker trusses; two overhead Warren trusses with polygonal top chord; and one double-leaf, overhead, Warren-truss bascule span. The bascule span is a Scherzer-type rolling lift with overhead counterweight and was constructed by D.H. Keller and H.P. Harrington, movable bridge apecialists. The structure's engineering demonstrates the technological achievements of Keller and Harrington, former employees of Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company of Chicago.
2008 Sturgeon Bay Events
