Sturgeon Bay: Shipbuilding (Images of America: Wisconsin)
by Ann Jinkins, Maggie Weir
Category: History

Stretching midway across Wisconsin's famous Door County peninsula, Sturgeon Bay has developed into the county's business and industrial center. Divided by the waterway it's named after, this small city provided a home to a working waterfront that once housed sawmills and docks for shipping ice, quarried stone, and, later, cherries. A canal dug from Sturgeon Bay to Lake Michigan in 1880 enabled ships to avoid the long passage over the tip of the peninsula. Sturgeon Bay became a shipbuilding capital, housing three major yards. The lively downtown districts on each side of the bay sported the typical hotels, taverns, stores, and blacksmith shops. Residents took pride in their newly formed schools, churches, and public services such as the Pioneer Fire Department. Families, fortunate to live in a land of great natural beauty, enjoyed recreational pursuits in the woods and on the water, whether it was perch fishing early on a summer morning or skating over the ice on a crisp winter afternoon.