Careful planning and perseverance in preservation is making the Tewels and Brandeis Granary a sight to behold.
The Door County Granary has its soft-opening on September 21, 2024.
Phase two of the Door County Granary is complete. The Soft Opening was a happy day for the attendees who heard about the history of the Granary and the role that the rail road played. Laurel Duffin Hauser – President of the Sturgeon Bay Historical Society Foundation (SBHSF) spoke to the audience members followed by Mayor Ward of Sturgeon Bay. A guest from the National Railroad Museum, Daniel Liedtke, presented about the history of the railroad in Door County and its relationship to the Door County Granary.
The third phase of renovations will focus on the top floors, which will include a floor of exhibits and access to the head-house. Live music was provided by Helen Accordian and The Gliddiots featuring Kelly Catarozoli, Treasurer of the SBHSF, on drums.
The Granary’s open hours during the month of October will be for a few days each week and then close at the end of the month for the winter before reopening next May. Phase three is planning to be complete in 2025, when there will be a Grand Opening.
August 20, 2024, The Teweles and Brandeis Granary is nearly complete.
It literally, has been a long journey for the Wisconsin Historic Landmark. The Granary was moved to the East Waterfront to save it from Demolition in 2018.
On March 29, 2018, at 3 am in total darkness, a plethora of skilled workers from DeVooght House & Building Movers use remotes to guide the movement of a 117-year old, nearly 300,000 lb., historic structure across the full width of the Maple-Oregon Bridge to its temporary home on 1st Avenue. While the City of Sturgeon Bay legislators battled over voting to tear down the iconic structure, the stick-to-it-ive-ness of the Sturgeon Bay Historical Society won out. Boosted by over a million dollars in funding from a private donor, they negotiated to purchase and move the Teweles and Brandeis Granary to private property on the east side of the city.
Guests at Lily Pad Cottage and Eagle View Suite may take a short walk to see the historic grain elevator at the base of the Oregon Street Bridge on the West Waterfront. preserved by Sturgeon Bay Historical Society (SBHS). The SBHS plans to complete the restoration in 2024.
By unanimous vote, the Wisconsin Historic Preservation Review Board approved the granary for inclusion on the State Registry of Historic Places. In February 2018, the Teweles and Brandeis Granary was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“The grain elevator, which was built in 1901, is a treasure,” says County Historian George Evenson. “It’s the last surviving structure that tells the story of our agricultural past.”
“It was Tracy Teweles and her 91-year-old mother Nicole’s relatives that built the Teweles and Brandeis grain elevator over a century ago, after the Teweles Seed Company expanded into the area on their way to becoming the second largest forage seed company at the time. The Brandeis family was also well-known, boasting a department store founder, a movie producer, and even a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Both families first came to America to escape religious persecution,” says reporter Tim Kowols.
You can listen to his complete Door County Daily News interview with the Teweles family, see historical photos, and read old interviews online at their website.
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