Peninsula State Park to get accessible observation tower, ramp
A first-of-its kind fully accessible observation structure in Wisconsin will open in early fall 2019 in Peninsula State Park, replacing a tower that treated visitors to majestic views of Door County for generations.
The $2.1 million project will feature an 850-foot ramp that winds through a canopy of trees to a viewing deck overlooking Green Bay.
The walkway leading to the tower will be a first for the Wisconsin state park system and will rise from Eagle Bluff, one of the highest points in Door County, affording a 360-degree view of the bay and peninsula.
It replaces 75-foot-tall Eagle Tower, which was built in 1932 and initially served as a lookout for forest fires. Over time, the tower became the park’s chief tourist attraction. (An earlier tower at the same location was constructed in 1914 and demolished when it fell into disrepair.)
“The tower was probably the most iconic feature in the park,” said Missy Vanlanduyt, capital development coordinator for parks at the Department of Natural Resources.
Vanlanduyt said most people who visit Peninsula, which was established in 1910 and is one of Wisconsin’s oldest state parks, climbed the stairs of the old tower if they were physically able.
William H. Tishler, a professor emeritus of landscape architecture at the University of WisconsinMadison, is a Door County native and author of a history of the park.
“As Old Faithful is to Yellowstone, the tower is to Peninsula State Park,” Tishler said.
He wrote “Door County’s Emerald Treasure,” a history of the park, in 2006.
“Once you were on top, there are incredible views of Green Bay and some of the islands,” Tishler said.
But riddled by rot and ravaged by time, the tower
was closed in 2015 and dismantled the following year after experts found that steps, railings and support timbers were severely deteriorating.
In April, a second tower in Door County also was closed by the DNR after similar problems were discovered at Potawatomi State Park. It, too, was constructed in 1932 and its future status is up in the air, according to Vanlanduyt.
For the new tower, also called Eagle Tower, a review team evaluated three options proposed by Eau Claire-headquartered Ayres Associates, before settling on a ramp design that resembles the shape of an irregular U. There will be three observation decks on the structure.
The 60-foot-high tower will be constructed principally of wood sourced in the Upper Midwest.
Visitors can either climb steps at two points or walk up the ramp, taking in sights along the way.
According to Vanlanduyt, incorporating the ramp has dual advantages of meeting requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act while allowing visitors to see forest life from a different perspective.
“It’s going to provide a new recreational experience,” she said.
The tower and ramp are expected to be the biggest draw in the park, which attracts more than 1 million visitors a year. In most years, Peninsula ranks No. 2 in attendance after Devil’s Lake near Baraboo and is one of the major revenue generators in the system, according to the DNR.
Peninsula’s new tower will be constructed with a mix of public and private dollars: $750,000 from the state stewardship program; $500,000 from federal conservation funds; $100,000 in money raised through state tax dollars; and $750,000 in donations from the Friends of Peninsula State Park.
As a landscape architect, Tishler quibbles with the inclusion of the ramp, which he said will meander through the woods like an “elongated roller-coaster.”
Nevertheless, rebuilding Eagle Tower was the right thing to do, he said.
Another tower in the park, Sven’s Tower, was closed in 1947. A ski jump is gone.
And a girls’ camp, Camp Meenahga, founded by a two St. Louis widows in 1916, closed in 1948.
“The tower is a central landmark in the park, in my view,” Tishler said. “We have lost a lot already.”