National Register of Historic Places listings in Door County, Wisconsin facts for kids

Door County, Wisconsin, is a beautiful peninsula known for its stunning shoreline along Lake Michigan and Green Bay. It's also home to many places that are important to history! These special spots are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This list helps protect buildings, shipwrecks, and other sites that tell us about the past.

There are 73 amazing places in Door County on this list. Each one has a unique story about the people, events, or changes that shaped the area. Let's explore some of these cool historic sites!

Historic Lighthouses and Shipwrecks

Door County's waters can be tricky for ships. That's why many lighthouses were built here. These lights helped guide ships safely. But even with lights, some ships still met their end in the stormy waters.

Lighthouses: Guiding Lights of the Past

Baileys Harbor Range Light

This is a pair of lights built in 1869. They helped ships find a safe path into Baileys Harbor. The back light was also the home for the lightkeeper. These lights served for 100 years, until 1969.

Cana Island Lighthouse

Built in 1869, this lighthouse has a 65-foot brick tower. It also had a house for the lightkeeper. In 1902, a steel cover was added to protect the brick tower.

Chambers Island Lighthouse

This 42-foot brick tower was built in 1868. It had a special lens called a Fresnel lens to make the light bright. The lightkeeper's home was part of the lighthouse building.

Eagle Bluff Lighthouse

This brick lighthouse was built in 1868. It stands on a bluff in Peninsula State Park. It has a 44-foot tower with a powerful Fresnel lens.

Pilot Island Light

This lighthouse was built in 1858 on Pilot Island. It's located at a dangerous spot called "Death's Door." Because of heavy fog, loud foghorns were added in 1864.

Plum Island Life-Saving and Light Stations

The first light here was built in 1846. Later, in 1896, new lights were built. These "range lights" helped ships line up for a safe path. A foghorn and a life-saving station were also built here.

Pottawatomie Lighthouse

This lighthouse was built in 1858 on Rock Island. It's made of local limestone. An even older lighthouse stood here from 1836. It was the first lighthouse on Lake Michigan!

Sherwood Point Light

This red brick lighthouse was built in 1883. It stands on a bluff at the entrance to the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal. A 600-pound fog bell was added in 1892 to warn ships.

Sturgeon Bay Canal Light

This light is on a 98-foot steel tower. It was first built in 1898. It helps guide ships through the Sturgeon Bay Canal.

Shipwrecks: Stories Beneath the Waves

Australasia Shipwreck

The Australasia was a huge wooden ship, 285 feet long. Built in 1884, it was the largest wooden ship of its time. It carried goods like salt and wheat. In 1896, it caught fire and sank off Baileys Harbor.

Bullhead Point Historical and Archeological District

You can see the remains of three old ships here in shallow water. They were all used to haul limestone. In 1931, they were burned. These include the steamer Empire State (built 1862) and the schooners Oak Leaf and Ida Corning.

Christina Nilsson (shipwreck)

The Christina Nilsson was a 139-foot schooner built in 1871. It was named after a famous singer. In 1884, a big storm pushed it onto a reef, and it was wrecked.

Clafin Point Site

This is the wreck of a 170-foot wooden ship. It sank around 1898 in Little Sturgeon Bay. It's thought to have been a fast steamship that later became a barge for hauling limestone.

Fleetwing (shipwreck)

The Fleetwing was a 132-foot schooner built in 1867. It carried grain and lumber. In 1888, it ran aground in a storm near "Death's Door."

FRANK O'CONNOR (bulk carrier)

This 301-foot wooden ship was built in 1892. In 1919, it caught fire and sank off Cana Island while carrying coal.

GRAPE SHOT (schooner) Shipwreck

The Grape Shot was a schooner that sank near Plum Island.

GREEN BAY shipwreck (sloop)

These are the remains of an old freighting sloop from the 1840s to 1860s. It's the only wreck of its kind in Wisconsin waters.

HANOVER (schooner) Shipwreck

The Hanover was a 109-foot schooner built in 1853. It carried goods like grain on the Great Lakes. In 1863, a storm pushed it aground near the Strawberry Islands.

Iris (shipwreck)

The Iris was a 74-foot schooner built in 1866. It was abandoned in 1913 after getting stuck in Jackson Harbor.

JOYS (Shipwreck)

The Joys was a 131-foot wooden steam barge built in 1884. It carried lumber and stone. In 1898, it caught fire and sank in the Sturgeon Bay ship canal.

Lakeland (steam screw) Shipwreck

The Lakeland was first built in 1886 as a freighter. It was later changed into a passenger ship and then a car carrier. In 1924, it sank in a storm while carrying cars from Chicago.

Louisiana (shipwreck)

This 267-foot steamship was built in 1887. In 1913, a snowstorm pushed it aground at "Death's Door."

Meridian (schooner) Shipwreck Site

The Meridian was a 120-foot schooner built in 1848. It carried timber for 25 years. In 1873, a storm wrecked it on the Sister Islands shoal.

Ocean Wave (shipwreck)

This wooden schooner was built in 1860. It sank in a storm in 1869 while carrying limestone.

SUCCESS (scow schooner) Shipwreck

The Success was a 151-ton schooner built in 1875. It carried lumber on Lake Michigan. In 1896, a storm pushed it aground in Whitefish Bay. Parts of the ship are still very well preserved.

Historic Buildings and Districts

Many old buildings in Door County tell stories of early settlers, businesses, and community life.

Homes and Hotels

Anderson Dock Historic District

This area started in 1858 when Norwegian immigrant Aslag Anderson built a pier. Ships brought goods and people here. You can still see his store (1858), his house (1864), and other old buildings.

Cupola House

This unique house was built in 1871 by Levi Thorp. He paid for it with money he earned in the California Gold Rush! Today, it houses shops.

Hillside Hotel

This was one of the first hotels in Ephraim, opening around 1900. It was started by a Norwegian immigrant family. It shows how the area changed from fishing to tourism.

Alexander Noble House

This was the first fancy house in Fish Creek, built in 1868 or 1875. Alexander Noble was a blacksmith and postmaster. Today, it's a museum and the oldest building in town still in its original spot.

Peter Peterson House

Peter Peterson was a Norwegian immigrant who was a storekeeper and town leader. His house, built in 1874, was later used as a parsonage (a home for a church leader).

Freeman and Jesse Thorp House and Cottages

This Queen Anne-style house was started in 1902 by boat-builder Freeman Thorp. After he passed away, his wife Jesse finished it and rented out rooms. Later, tourist cottages were added.

Louis Vangindertahlen House

This house was built in 1921 with concrete walls. It's a unique example of a farmhouse from that time.

Welcker's Resort Historic District

This district includes buildings from a resort started in 1907 by Dr. Herman Welcker. He brought a hotel from Marinette across Green Bay on the ice to be his "Casino"!

Albert Zahn House

Retired farmer Albert Zahn and his wife built this concrete house in 1924. They surrounded it with cool folk art carvings and called it "Bird's Park."

August Zahn Blacksmith Shop and House

This blacksmith shop was built in 1905 with unusual "stovewood" walls. The house was built in 1912. Today, it's an inn.

Community Buildings and Businesses

Baileys Harbor Town Hall-McArdle Library

This building was built in 1937. It's made of local limestone. It was funded by a local boy who became a rich industrialist and the WPA (Works Progress Administration), a government program that created jobs during the Great Depression.

Carnegie Free Library (Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin)

This library was built in 1912. It's a "Carnegie Library," meaning it was funded by famous businessman Andrew Carnegie. It's made of local limestone.

Ephraim Moravian Church

This was the first church on the Door Peninsula, started in 1857. It was moved up a hill in 1883.

Ephraim Village Hall

This community hall was built in 1927. It's made of limestone from Eagle Bluff. It hosted village meetings, basketball games, and even fish boils!

Free Evangelical Lutheran Church-Bethania Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Congregation

This church was built in 1882 by local Scandinavians. It was designed to be welcoming to everyone.

Gibraltar District School No. 2

This schoolhouse was built in 1868. It served as a school for 80 years! Now it's a museum.

Globe Hotel (Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin)

This building started in 1867 and was a hotel from 1874 to 1886. It was run by Roger Eatough, an early businessman.

Jischke's Meat Market

This butcher shop was built in 1902 by German immigrant Frank Jischke. Some of its walls are made of unusual "stovewood" construction.

Joint Brussels and Garner District School Number One

This school was built in 1910. It has a cupola (a small dome on the roof) and concrete block walls. It's also known as the "Tornado School."

L. A. Larson & Co. Store

This fancy office building was built in 1875. It has a large cornice (a decorative molding) at the top. The builder, Adolph Larson, made ornamental woodwork and furniture.

Sturgeon Bay Bridge

This iron bridge was built in 1931. It has a "drawbridge" section that opens to let ships pass. It connects the two halves of Door County.

Sturgeon Bay Post Office

This brick and limestone building was designed in the Art Moderne style and built in 1937. It even has a mural inside!

Vorous General Store

This was the third general store in Fish Creek, built in 1895. It later housed a garage and the town post office.

Water Tower (Washington Island, Wisconsin)

This rustic limestone water tower was built in 1929. It was part of the Thordarson Estate on Rock Island.

William Zachow Farmstead

The barn and house here were built around 1896. The walls of the barn and part of the house are made of unusual "stovewood" construction.

Historic Districts and Archeological Sites

These areas include many historic buildings or show signs of ancient human activity.

Historic Districts

Louisiana Street/Seventh Avenue Historic District

This area has 28 historic buildings. It includes the beautiful St. Joseph's church (1909) and homes built between 1890 and 1920.

Murphy Farms Number 1

This "show farm" was built from 1918 to 1925. Rich Green Bay millionaires built it to show off their special Holstein-Friesian cattle. It has unique Dutch Colonial Revival homes and barns.

Namur Belgian-American District

This rural area was settled by French-speaking Belgian farmers. It has 261 buildings built between 1871 and 1930. You can see old farmhouses, the St. Mary of the Snows Catholic Church (1891), and the Fairland School (1910).

Rock Island Historic District

This island was home to Native American camps for thousands of years. People from the Middle Woodland period (around 0 CE) to the Potawatomi in the 1670s lived here.

Thordarson Estate Historic District

This is the island estate of Chester Thordarson, an inventor and book collector from Iceland. The buildings are made of rustic limestone and wood, built from 1910 to 1935.

Third Avenue Historic District (Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin)

This area has a mix of old businesses and homes. It includes a hardware store from 1872, the Queen Anne-style Wegener Business Block (1880s-1890s), and the Art Moderne George Draeb Jewelry Store (1935).

Archeological Sites

Cardy Site

This site shows where Paleo-Indians camped about 11,000 years ago! They were not far from the last glacier that covered Wisconsin. Tools found here are like those from the Clovis culture.

Jacksonport Wharf Archeological District

You can find the remains of three old piers here, started in 1848. They were used to load shingles and poles onto ships. The remains of three schooners that wrecked nearby are also here.

Little Lake Archeological District

This is the site of an ancient Woodland village and burial ground. Artifacts found here are up to 3,000 years old!

Pilot Island NW Site

This site holds the wrecks of three wooden ships. They all sank on the reef southwest of Pilot Island in the late 1800s during storms.

Porte des Morts Site

This was a prehistoric camp along the lakeshore. People from the Woodland and Mississippian cultures lived here. Many different tools and pottery styles have been found.

Whitefish Dunes-Bay View Site

Artifacts found in the sand here show that different groups of people lived here over time. The "North Bay People" were here around 100 BCE.

Images for kids

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  The Frank and Clara Englebert House, built in 1924, was once listed but has since been removed from the Register.