BlockFrom the record
One of 85 National Register listings published here for Winnebago County · listed in 1978 · category: Building · built in 1935.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Cole Watch Tower
Built in 1935. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building, 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
- Address. W of Omro on WI 21, Omro, 54963
- When was it listed? June 1978
- Category. building
- Town. Omro town
- When was it built? 1935
- National Register reference number. 78000148 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Fires near this property
8 since 2012Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 8 fires within 5 miles of Cole Watch Tower between 2012 and 2020, burning about 59 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/undetermined | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 July 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 29 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 13 May 2019 | Smoking | 10 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 203 |
| 26 April 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 202 |
| 22 April 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 157 |
| 18 April 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 150 |
| 23 March 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 85 |
| 18 March 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 134 |
| 18 March 2018 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 133 |
Mines and quarries near this property
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Cole Watch Tower: 2 past producers, 1 unknown, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allen Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Johnson Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Kalata Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Peters Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this property
22 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Omro, the town this property stands in, in 22 storm reports between 1995 and 2022: 14 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 1 funnel cloud, 1 heavy rain. The reports record 2 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Omro | 2 hurt, $4,500,000 | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Omro | $10,400,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Omro | $1,000 | no account filed |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Omro | - | Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines in Omro. The time of this report is an estimate based on radar data. |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Omro | - | Thunderstorm winds downed trees, power lines, and snapped power poles in Omro. The time of this report is an estimate based on radar data. |
| July 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Omro | - | Thunderstorm winds downed numerous trees and power lines in Omro. The time of this event is an estimate based on radar data. |
| July 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Omro | - | Thunderstorm winds destroyed a barn and flipped a semi west northwest of Omro. The time of this event is an estimate based on radar data. |
| July 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Omro | - | Thunderstorm winds snapped and uprooted numerous trees between Omro and Waukau. The time of this event is an estimate based on radar data. |
| July 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Omro | - | A thunderstorm wind gust of 72 mph was measured in Omro. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Omro | - | Thunderstorm winds downed trees in Omro. The time of this event is an estimate based on radar data. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Omro | - | Thunderstorm winds downed several trees in Omro and blew sheet metal off a score board at Omro High School. The time of this event is an estimate based on radar data. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Omro | - | Thunderstorm winds downed trees and wires between Omro and Winneconne. |
| July 2010 | Heavy Rain | Omro | - | Several periods of heavy rain across southern Winnebago County caused street flooding in Omro and Oshkosh. Streets in Omro were flooded, and a foot of water flowed across State Highway 21 and Industrial Road and nearly 2 feet of water flowed across 20th Avenue in the Westhaven area of Oshkosh. |
| July 2010 | Flash Flood | Omro | - | Very heavy rainfall in a short amount of time resulted in a foot of moving water across Highway 21 near Industrial Road. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Omro | - | Thunderstorm winds gusted to 60 mph and uprooted trees around Omro. |
| July 2008 | Hail | Omro | - | no account filed |
| October 2004 | Hail | Omro | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Funnel Cloud | Omro | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Hail | Omro | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Omro | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Omro | - | no account filed |
| May 1995 | Hail | Omro | - | no account filed |
Map coverage status
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Listed places nearby
5 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Omro Downtown Historic District | 1.9 miles | 1996 | |
 | Omro Village Hall and Engine House | 2.0 miles | 1997 |
 | Omro High School, Annex and Webster Manual Training School | 2.0 miles | 1985 |
 | Eureka Lock and Lock Tender's House | 5.7 miles | 1976 |
| Augustin Grignon Hotel | 7.3 miles | 1975 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 78000148 in Record Group 79. |
| Winnebago County | All 85 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- 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.