Your guess is as good as anybody's regarding what a new or refurbished Potawatomi State Park Observation Tower will look like. Exact plans and costs are unknown, but they will be included in a virtual public information session on Thursday at 6 p.m. After the presentation, the DNR will ask for general feedback on which option is preferred. Governor Tony Evers will include the most popular design in the 2023 Capital. Friends of Potawatomi State Park President Scott Bader hopes to have some direction after the project has been kicked down the road since the tower was closed due to safety concerns in 2017. The one sure thing is that the Friends of Potawatomi State Park would likely need to fundraise more money for the construction of a tower similar to Eagle Tower.
Eagle Tower cost $3.7 million and required the Friends of Peninsula State Park to raise $750,000 to help fund its construction. The Potawatomi State Park Observation Tower was built in 1931 and placed on the State Register of Historic Places in 2019 and the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. The Sturgeon Bay Historical Society helped fund work done by Wood Research Development to see if a restoration of the tower was possible. Evers and then-DNR Secretary Preston Cole announced their selection of architectural firm GRAEF to create concept designs to be considered last April. You can click this link to learn how to tune into the presentation.
