BlockBefore

Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin

7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Sturgeon Bay City. It lies in ZIP code area 54235. The Survey maps it on the Sturgeon Bay West quadrangle. 9,646 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 600 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Sturgeon Bay within Door County

On record in Sturgeon Bay

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 12 of 14 shown

Every listing in Door County

Population over time

2 figures

Sturgeon Bay grew from 9,144 to 9,646 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
20109,144
20209,646+502 (+5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 7 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

8,908 words on this township

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

Sturgeon Bay seems to have been a center for human intercourse long before white men came here and began to do business. The remains of several Indian villages have been discovered in or near Sturgeon Bay which show that it had a large population hundreds of years ago. One of these villages was located on the property of the "Cove" summer resort about three hundred feet south of the boat landing. Another was across the bay at Circle Ridge on block 5. A great many fine relics have been unearthed here. Another village site has been found on block 8 of Wagener's second addition to Sturgeon Bay, just north of the city. Two large village sites are also found at Little Harbor.

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

The Indians presumably found this a convenient place of habitation because of its proximity to the waters of both Lake Michigan and Green Bay. When the first settlers came they found a well trodden path leading from the head of Sturgeon Bay to Lake Michigan, just north of the present canal, over which the Indians had portaged their canoes for centuries.

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

One of the first white men known to have visited Sturgeon Bay was the great missionary and explorer, Father Sines Marquette. On the 25th of October, 1674, a solitary canoe left the majestic waters of the Fox River at a point then known as St. Francis Xavier Mission, at the head of Green Bay. A black-gown with two companions manned the canoe. This priest was Father Marquette, on his last visit to the Illinois Indians, a visit from which he never returned. On the 27th of October he landed at a point where there was an Indian village (probably Cirele Ridge) and remained there three days instructing and ministering to the Indians. Proceeding on their journey they carried their canoes across the portage to Lake Michigan, surveying, as it were, the ship canal of two centuries later.

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 Sturgeon Bay City - it names this place 40 more 40 times.

Fires near this place

14 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 14 fires within 5 miles of Sturgeon Bay between 2018 and 2020, burning about 7 acres in total. None started naturally. None 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined7
Debris and open burning4
Smoking3

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
5 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources134
8 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources580
18 June 2020Smokingunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources623
16 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources610
17 May 2018Debris and open burning1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources497
30 April 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources440
30 April 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources439
29 April 2018Smoking1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources71

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Door County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 15 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Sturgeon Bay: 6 producers, 5 past producers, 3 unknowns, 1 plant. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Limestone, Dimension, Stone. 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
Adamski Fisher Limestone QuarryLimestone, DimensionPast Producer
Eliason QuarryStoneUnknown
Elliason QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Jutting Point Limestone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Kiehnau QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
The Reef Limestone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Walker Road QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Bissen QuarrySand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
County PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Door Pit SouthSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Door County

Storms near this place

54 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sturgeon Bay in 54 storm reports between 1994 and 2023: 32 thunderstorm wind, 14 hail, 3 lightning, 3 funnel cloud. The reports record 5 injuries. 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
June 1998Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay3 hurt, $150,000no account filed
August 2003LightningSturgeon Bay1 hurtno account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay1 hurtno account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay$150,000no account filed
September 1994Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay$25,000no account filed
July 2011LightningSturgeon Bay$10,000Lightning struck a tree, followed the copper in the underground gas propane line to a house, and ignited the wooden support holding up a pipe in the basement.
August 1996Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay$5,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay$2,000no account filed
May 1996Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay$2,000no account filed
July 2023HailSturgeon Bay-Penny size hail fell in Sturgeon Bay.
July 2023HailSturgeon Bay-Half dollar size hail fell near Sturgeon Bay. The time of this report is an estimate based on radar data.
August 2023HailSturgeon Bay-Penny size hail fell near Sturgeon Bay.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-Thunderstorm winds downed trees just north of Sturgeon Bay.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines near Sturgeon Bay. The time of this report is an estimate based on radar data.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines in Sturgeon Bay, and across Door County. The time of this event is an estimate based on radar data.
April 2020HailSturgeon Bay-Golf ball size hail fell in Sturgeon Bay.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-Thunderstorm winds downed trees in Sturgeon Bay. The time of this report is an estimate based on radar data.
August 2018Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines in Sturgeon Bay. The time of this report was estimated based on radar data.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-Thunderstorm winds caused widespread tree damage across Door County.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines in Sturgeon Bay, Baileys Harbor, Fish Creek and Sister Bay. The time of this report was estimated for Sturgeon Bay based on radar data.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-Thunderstorm winds downed trees just north of Sturgeon Bay, on Reynolds Road, and just south of Sturgeon Bay, near Clay Banks.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-Law enforcement reported trees and power lines were blown down in the city of Sturgeon Bay and across much of southern Door County.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-Tree uprooted and landed on wires.
June 2007HailSturgeon Bay-Golf ball size hail.
June 2007HailSturgeon Bay-Ping pong ball size hail covered the ground.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-Straight-line winds from thunderstorms knocked down several trees in central Door County.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-Trees and branches down.
June 2007HailSturgeon Bay-no account filed
June 2007HailSturgeon Bay-no account filed
October 2006HailSturgeon Bay-no account filed
September 2005Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-no account filed
July 2003Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-no account filed
May 2002HailSturgeon Bay-no account filed
July 2002HailSturgeon Bay-no account filed
September 2001Funnel CloudSturgeon Bay-no account filed
August 2001Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-no account filed
August 2001HailSturgeon Bay-no account filed
August 2001Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-no account filed
July 2000HailSturgeon Bay-no account filed
June 2000Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-no account filed
September 2000Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-no account filed
September 1999Funnel CloudSturgeon Bay-no account filed
September 1999Funnel CloudSturgeon Bay-no account filed
August 1999WaterspoutSturgeon Bay-no account filed
September 1999WaterspoutSturgeon Bay-no account filed
June 1999Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-no account filed
June 1999Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-no account filed
June 1998HailSturgeon Bay-no account filed
June 1998LightningSturgeon Bay-no account filed
August 1995Thunderstorm WindSturgeon Bay-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
Stevens Hill0.6 miles8
Idlewild4.6 miles7
Salona6.2 miles8
Institute6.3 miles7
Vignes7.5 miles8
Valmy7.9 miles7
Maplewood8.1 miles8
Carlsville8.4 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 Sturgeon BayAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1023559The 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 1575000. 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.