DOOR COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A nearly 90-year-old Door County tower is set to be stabilized, as it waits for a possible restoration.
Signs are posted around Potawatomi State Park, letting people know that the tower is closed due to safety concerns. Although, hikers at the park Tuesday say they are grateful that new steps are being taken towards the tower’s future.
“I’m very excited that finally this is happening, It’s been a very long wait, so the tower is truly a community Door County icon so we are excited to have the possibility of it being rebuilt,” says Brussels resident, Patty McKinnon.
The tower will receive necessary repairs to stabilize the structure before the scheduled restoration begins in 2025.
Governor Tony Evers, has authorized up to $500,000 in state money to make the repairs on an emergency basis.
Evers said in a statement:
It is clear there is a significant and imminent need to preserve and stabilize the structure. I am concerned further deterioration and decay could result in more damage, loss of the structure completely, and that there is risk of that damage causing harm to State Park staff and/or members of the public.
Friends of Potawatomi State Park say they would not have been able to make this possible on their own.
“Our group is not a big group compared to like the friends of Peninsula State Park, and we decided that we wanted that tower to remain if possible but we just didn’t have the resources or staff,” says Friends of Potawatomi State Park President, Scott Bader.
Following the repairs there is still talk of what will be done in the tower’s final restoration.
Evers says the plan that received the most support, is restoration of the tower with a ramp to make it accessible for people with disabilities.
Eagle Tower at nearby Peninsula State Park was rebuilt with a ramp. It opened in 2021.
But not all believe that is a model Potawatomi should follow.
“That tower was not built to be ADA complaint, and when you start changing it, then you lose the historical factor of it too,” says Bader.
McKinnon hopes there can be a compromise.
“That it can be accessible even to a point on the tower without necessarily reworking absolutely everything, tearing down more trees, spending more money,” says McKinnon.
The construction will be done by GRAEF.
