Eagle Tower III – 2021
Using cranes and lifts, workers built this 60-foot tower from fabricated timber. You can reach the top of Wisconsin’s first accessible observation tower by using the 850-foot ramp or climbing the 95 stairs. The Friends of Peninsula State Park raised $750,000 towards the cost of the new tower and canopy walk.
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Eagle Tower II – 1932
Dates to 1932 when the original 1914 tower was dismantled and completely rebuilt.
- Dimensions: 108 stairs. 75-feet tall. 250 feet above water level. The top platform provided a panoramic view of the park, surrounding islands, and the Upper Michigan shoreline.
- Foreman Sam Erickson and crew used horses, tractors, trucks and other modern machinery. They wrapped cable around nearby trees to raise poles. A stump wrapped with rusty cable can still be seen a short distance from the tower, along the road leading towards Eagle Terrace (GPS N45.16275 W 87.19730). Poles (Western Red Cedar) came from Washington State.
- Though funded with state relief, this was not a Civilian Conservation Corps project. The nearby stone wall was, however, a CCC project (circa 1935).
- Safety improvements were made in 1972, including slanting the top deck railings. Hardware and decking were replaced and stained in subsequent years.
- The tower was closed in May 2015 due to structural and safety concerns. It was taken down in September 2016.
Eagle Tower I – 1914
- Total cost of the original tower: $1,061.92.
- Dimensions: 76 feet tall. 225 feet above water level.
- Constructed in the summer of 1914 as a fire tower in anticipation it would become a tourist attraction. The ledger of Peninsula’s first manager, A.E. Doolittle, lists payments to men for fire watch duty.
- The crew cut logs and boards from timber in the park without modern machinery. To erect the tower, they first raised the center pole. Then they used the center pole to raise other support poles. Three trees composed each corner pole, with platforms between the separate trees. Horizontal landing support beams were added, followed by planks for decking at the three levels.
- A telephone line connected the tower to the manager’s residence and the local exchange. This was in case of fires (large fuel build up was present at the park). Peninsula’s last significant fire was in1921.
- A second tower stood at Sven’s Bluff until 1947 when it was dismantled for safety reasons.