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Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1982. It stands in Baileys Harbor town. It lies in ZIP code area 54202. The Survey maps it on the Baileys Harbor East quadrangle. 334 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 732 feet above sea level.

Baileys Harbor within Door County

On record in Baileys Harbor

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 10 records

Population over time

2 figures

Baileys Harbor grew from 257 to 334 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010257
2020334+77 (+30%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 8 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the county-history sources

5,512 words on this township

History Of Door County Wisconsin The County Beautiful, published 1917 names this settlement in its chapter on Baileys Harbor Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Baileys Harbor enjoys the distinction of being the first place in Door County that was selected for a village site. Not only this, but it was officially selected as the county seat several years before Door County's actual organization was effected. The genesis of this early Baileys Harbor boom is as follows:

Passage source: History Of Door County Wisconsin The County Beautiful, published 1917.

Elated. with his discovery Captain Bailey took with him several cords of building stone and firewood and proceeded on his way to Milwaukee. Here he gave such an enthusiastic account of the harbor he had discovered that among other captains of the line "Baileys Harbor" at once became a famous place. The owner of the line, Mr. Alanson Sweet, also became very much interested in the samples of stone and wood that Captain Bailey had brought with him. Mr. Sweet was doing an extensive business in the forwarding and commission business and owned about a dozen large vessels. These plied between Milwaukee and Buffalo. On the way down there were always large cargoes of grain to be carried but on the way up the freight was scant and uncertain, consisting chiefly of salt and immigrants.

Passage source: History Of Door County Wisconsin The County Beautiful, published 1917.

In Captain Bailey's discovery he saw a chance to augment his profits by adding freight to his return trips. Building stone, cordwood and lumber were in great demand in Milwaukee and at "Baileys Harbor" they were all easily accessible. In the summer of 1849 he therefore purchased lots 3 and 4, section 20, containing about 125 acres. 'These with lots 1 and 2 in the same section include the present Village of Baileys Harbor. Lots 1 and 2 were entered by Joel Carrington from Peshtigo in September, 1849, and the patents to lots 3 and 4 were issued to Wm. S. Trowbridge who entered them May 29, 1850. There is therefore some doubt as to Sweet's title.

Passage source: History Of Door County Wisconsin The County Beautiful, published 1917.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Baileys Harbor Town - it names this place 24 more 24 times.

Fires near this place

8 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 8 fires within 5 miles of Baileys Harbor between 1998 and 2020, burning about 91 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Arson/incendiarism1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
4 July 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources27
23 June 1998Debris and open burning88 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 May 2019Debris and open burning1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources61
15 May 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources20
15 May 2018Debris and open burning1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources15
25 April 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources13
25 April 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources12
4 February 2019Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources44

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Door County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Baileys Harbor: 3 producers, 1 past producer. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Door County QuarriesStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Becker PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Josephs PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Walter Fischer Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Door County

Storms near this place

11 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Baileys Harbor in 11 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 7 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2025Thunderstorm WindBaileys Harbor-Thunderstorm winds produced widespread tree damage across Cana Island. This tree damage temporarily stranded campers on the island as the roads were inaccessible due to trees blocking the roads. The time of this report is an estimate based on radar data.
May 2022HailBaileys Harbor-Nickel size hail fell in Baileys Harbor.
May 2022HailBaileys Harbor-Penny size hail fell northeast of Baileys Harbor.
May 2018HailBaileys Harbor-A thunderstorm dropped quarter size hail in Baileys Harbor.
August 2013Thunderstorm WindBaileys Harbor-Thunderstorm winds knocked down power lines and tree branches near Baileys Harbor.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindBaileys Harbor-Thunderstorm winds downed a tree and power pole near County highway E and Maple Road, knocking out power to much of Baileys Harbor.
June 2008HailBaileys Harbor-no account filed
September 1998Thunderstorm WindBaileys Harbor-no account filed
September 1998HailBaileys Harbor-no account filed
August 1998HailBaileys Harbor-no account filed
March 1998HailBaileys Harbor-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Door County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
North Bay6.0 miles8
Ephraim6.7 miles8
Jacksonport6.8 miles7
Fish Creek7.8 miles8
Sister Bay8.4 miles8
Egg Harbor9.2 miles8
Rowleys Bay11.7 miles8
Whitefish Bay12.0 miles7

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Baileys HarborAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q577811The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1581147. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.