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Description

Sturgeon Bay’s old wooden sidewalks were replaced by concrete shortly after 1900. F. B. Palmer, with partner Mr. Rothe, did many of them and placed his brass plaque on the concrete. The stones at the corners were incised with the street names at that intersection. Some business people also marked their business location or home with their own names. By 1943, the city had grown, especially during the World War II years when Sturgeon Bay was a hub of shipbuilding for the war effort. As the city expanded, street names had been added haphazardly and it was very confusing. Many buildings did not even have house numbers. After a year of discussion, it was decided to change the street names to a consistent alphabetical and numerical format and to use poles with street names on the corners. The old names, however, remained in the concrete until future sidewalk work would cause concrete to be replaced. Now, more are disappearing each year as the utilities do work underneath. The museum staff decided to document as many as possible using photographs while this evidence of the past remains. Since many original historic homes from the early 1900's still stand near the marked corners, some research was done on those too to complete the picture.