Now that the money has been secured, you should see work being done on the Potawatomi State Park Observation Tower in the coming months. Earlier this week, Governor Tony Evers agreed to the emergency stabilization of the Potawatomi State Park Observation Tower, much to the celebration of residents, visitors, and local leaders like State Rep. Joel Kitchens and State Sen. Andre Jacque. The decision makes up to $500,000 from the state building trust fund or from the Departments of Administration or Natural Resources available to make the repairs. Wisconsin State Parks Director Steven Schmelzer says they will be working with GRAEF, who was tapped to work on the concept designs of a reimagined tower with ADA accessibility, on the next steps for the project.

Improvements to Potawatomi State Park Observation Tower were included in the state’s capital budget announced earlier this year by Evers. The stabilization of the current tower was part of a multi-million project that would add a helical ramp for visitors to use to get to the top of the historic structure if they could not or did not want to use the stairs. If funding for the tower falls through, Schmelzer says he is unsure at this point if the emergency stabilization would be enough to re-open the tower due to other issues with the structure.