Sturgeon Bay Historical Society

Summary

We are dedicated to preserving Sturgeon Bay’s living history, which defines our community character and cultural evolution, for future generations through advocacy, preservation and education. We do this by saving, restoring, repurposing and sharing the story of Sturgeon Bay’s authentic historic structures. The Sturgeon Bay Historical Society Foundation, Inc. is working in conjunction with the City of Sturgeon Bay to preserve and restore the 1901 Teweles and Brandeis Grain Elevator, now named the Door County Granary. The Door County Granary is the last remaining structure of the turn-of-the-20th-century agricultural economy that transformed Sturgeon Bay into a year-round community. Its presence on the westside waterfront tells a story that weaves together outlying farms, Great Lakes shipping, the Ahnapee and Western Railway, and the Shipping Canal – many of the pieces that have made Door County the unique place it is today.

More Information

The granary earned its spot on the National Register of Historic Places for the role it played in agricultural shipping. Its location in a protected harbor along a navigable waterway serviced the farm families who had cleared their wooded property and cultivated productive farm fields. According to Door County Historian George Evenson, “Everyone thinks that shipbuilding built Door County. Door County was built, primarily, on agriculture.” During its heyday, the granary was just one of many agriculturally-related structures on Sturgeon Bay’s industrial waterfront including a milk condensery, a pea and cherry processing plant, a brewery, mills and warehouses. The granary is the last structure standing to illuminate and pay homage to an important chapter in Door County’s cultural evolution.