Historical Highlights of Green Bay Wisconsin Driving Tour
Description
This tour is a work in progress.
Lambeau Field is located in the heart of Green Bay, Wisconsin and is home to the Green Bay Packers National League Football team. Lambeau Field hosted its first game on September 29, 1957, when it was known as City Stadium. Lambeau received its current name eight years later when team owners named the stadium to honor Curly Lambeau, the founder of the team and its first head coach. Lambeau Field has a rich history of players and Super Bowl Championships and is one of the oldest NFL stadiums still in use today, second only to Soldier Field in Chicago.
The legendary Lambeau Field in Greenbay, Wisconsin is where you'll find the 14-foot statue of the great Vince Lombardi. The well-known coach of the Green Bay Packers is one of the most successful and remembered coaches in NFL history. He was the head coach and general manager of the Green Bay Packers from 1959 to 1967. His list of accomplishments go way past championships and Superbowl victories. He was an innovator in his field that was not only respected by his peers, but football enthusiasts around the world.
The Chicago and North Western Railway Passenger Depot, now Titletown Brewing Company, was built in 1899. Designed by architect Charles Frost, the depot served as an important passenger railway station for decades until service ended in 1971. Several famous people passed through its doors including Buddy Holly, Nat King Cole, and presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. A statue of former Packers wide receiver Donald Driver, previously the Receiver Statue, stands outside of the building.
The Neville Public Museum is a museum located in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The current building was constructed in 1983. The museum specializes in the natural history and human culture (encompassing art, history, and science) of northeast Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of the state of Michigan. It contains over one million historical artifacts, archaeological objects, photographs and film. It is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Currently, it offers a variety of educational programing including and international film series and natural history lectures.
The construction of Gren Bay's Fox Theatre began in 1929 at a period when ornate downtown movie palaces were a feature in every American city. The theater opened on Valentine's Day in 1930, a few months after the stock market crashed and the early phases of the Great Depression could be felt. By 1933, the original company faced bankruptcy and merged with Twentieth Century to become 20th Century Fox. Meanwhile, Warner Brothers Studios purchased the Fox Theatre and changed the name to the Bay Theatre. Like many movie palaces, the Bay Theatre struggled in the postwar period but the building was preserved thanks to local residents and the Robert T. and Betty Rose Meyer Foundation. Today, the theater operates as the Meyer Theatre.
When Hotel Northland opened on March 21, 1924, it was the largest hotel in Wisconsin. The opening of the hotel was celebrated by residents of Green Bay and city boosters as a symbol that theirs was a growing hub of commerce and industry. The luxury hotel would become a centerpiece of the city as it welcomed guests who came to the city owing to its importance in transportation, timber, meatpacking, and other businesses. A few years before the hotel opened, the city also founded its Green Bay Packers football team. The hotel has hosted NFL meetings, many visiting teams, and official functions for the Packers. Thanks to a substantial historic tax credit, the hotel was restored and remodeled and now operates as a member of Marriott's Autograph Collection.
The Green Bay YMCA dates back to 1897, and this historic building opened in 1924. The building has functioned as a social center since it opened, first as a Christian-tied organization that sought to provide men with moral lessons and promote physical fitness and then as a non-faith-based center that served all types of genders and beliefs. The YMCA has always offered its members and guests access to such amenities as indoor gymnasiums, swimming pools, and classes. The building is also an exemplary Tudor Revival structure that now survives as one of the city's most noticeable landmarks.
Brown County Courthouse has served Green Bay and the county since it opened in 1911. Besides the awe-inspiring architecture, the building contains an abundance of artwork that depict Green Bay's early history, including European settlers interacting with Native Americans and early military battles near the region. The artwork serves as a reminder that the building's arrival may have occurred in the twentieth century, but the development of Green Bay into a commercial and political hub dates backs several centuries.
The Milwaukee Road Passenger Depot in Green Bay, Wisconsin opened to passengers in 1898 on a branch line operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (locally known as The Milwaukee Road). The depot and branch line served residential neighborhoods and the Green Bay central business district both in terms of passengers and materials, helping it grow. While two other depots competed with the Milwaukee Road, it was the only one that operated on the east bank of the Fox River.
Home to the Brown County Historical Society and their local history museum, this historic home was the location where Morgan L. Martin drafted much of what would become the Wisconsin state constitution in 1848. This was Martin's home and was later acquired by the historical society that operates a small museum on site. In addition to his influence in framing the state constitution, Martin held numerous elected and appointed roles fulfilling local, territory, county state, and federal duties. After marrying his wife in 1837, he built the Hazelwood house and the couple lived in the home together until Morgan Martin's death in 1887.
Heritage Hill State Park is a 48 acre outdoor museum located on the east bank of the Fox River in Allouez, Wisconsin near Green Bay. It contains over 30 buildings comprising historic structures, including log cabins dating to the fur trade era and buildings from Fort Howard, one of many forts built after the War of 1812 to help defend what was then part of the western frontier of the country. The mission of the museum is to preserve historic buildings and the artifacts within them and to interpret the history of north eastern Wisconsin. The museum has over six thousand artifacts, most of which are on display in the buildings, and they include paintings, furnishings, clothing, books, and artwork. A notable artifact is a hand painted wood screen dating back to the 1600s. Some of the artifacts are currently on loan from the Brown County Historical Society, the Wisconsin Historical Society, and the Green Bay-De Pere Antiquarians. The Park contains numerous buildings listed on National Register of Historic Places.
The Union Hotel is the oldest and continuously operated hotel in the De Pere, Green Bay area. The current version of the building was constructed in 1922. The architectural style is late Victorian and the style of the bar, lobby, dining booths is art-deco dating back to the 1930s. The hotel's architect is unknown. It has three stories, the bottom of which contains a restaurant and the the upper floors are hotel rooms. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.
This tour is a work in progress.