Walking tour of downtown Marinette

• STEPHENSON ISLAND PARK. Until the last logging drive in 1917, Menominee River drives ended on this island. Here lumber companies sorted and sawed logs that had been floated from as far away as Michigamme and Iron River. Now the island is a park with a picnic area, boat launch, and bandstand where free outdoor concerts are held in summer from mid June through early August, on Tuesdays at 7 p.m.
  
• MARINETTE COUNTY LOGGING MUSEUM. The logging era is commemorated by the museum of the Marinette County Historical Society (715-732-0831), which can arrange for group tours out-of-season. Its centerpiece is a miniature logging camp meticulously constructed by Marinette woodsman and riverman John Mayer. He put over 5,000 hours into creating a small version of one of C. A. Goodman's lumber camps, down to tiny tools. There are other photos and artifacts about logging, like models of lumber schooners. A map with photos of Menominee River sawmills shows just how busy the river mouth was.
      Another display deals with Queen Marinette, the astute metîs (French and Indian) trader whose influence was far-ranging from the 1830s into the 1850s. There's beautiful beadwork made by area Indians, and a dugout canoe.
      Outside the museum is a skid of real logs, drawn by fiberglass horses. Winter was when loggers moved logs from the woods to skidways and rivers on sleds like these, to be floated down the Menominee River to the booms right here. Employees of the boom company would identify each lumber company's logs from the logmarks on the ends, and maneuver them into each company's corral-like enclosure.
      The museum is also a repository of all sorts of items connected with the city one way or another. These include a huge lithograph of the Confederates' notorious Andersonville Prison in the Civil War; murals from the Hotel Marinette; a tramp art desk made of cigar boxes; and a topless Rudi Gernrich swimsuit from the 1960s made right here in the Marinette Knitting Mills.
      Pick up a free walking tour of historic Marinette. The historical society publishes and sells a variety of gifts and local history books, including the very readable Menominee River Memories.
      Marinette parks foreman Gary Kmiechk hopes that some day the park and historical society can raise enough money to put into operation the 1889 J. I. Case sawmill he found browsing the Harry's Engine web site. It had been used by a Wisconsin logging company not too far away. He'd love to be the one to demonstrate it. Its engine is a beautiful thing with red daisies hand painted on it. Park at the Stephenson Public Library lot on Riverside opposite the Best Western and take the footbridge to the island. Museum is open from Mem. Day thru Labor Day. Limited schedule in 2005, while the Interstate Bridge is being rebuilt. Tues., Wed. and Thurs. 10-4 Central Time. Call for group tours at other times and off season. $2/adult. Wheelchair-accessible.
  
• WISCONSIN TRAVEL INFORMATION CENTER. For more info about Marinette County, stop in here when it's open. However, it may be closed for the 2005 season due to reconstruction of the Interstate Bridge. Meanwhile, local tourism information may be obtained from the Marinette Area Chamber of Commerce at 601 Marinette Avenue/U.S. 41, six blocks southwest of the river. Marinette County, larger than Rhode Island, has many county parks developed around waterfalls. Often their shelters and bridges were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s to put young men to work and develop the area's tourism potential. On Riverside next to the Stephenson Public Library. Turn right after you cross the Interstate Bridge; it's right there. 715-732-4333. Open April through October, daily from 9 to 5, except in summer from 8 to 4. Wheelchair-accessible.
  
• STEPHENSON PUBLIC LIBRARY. Those who look inside this Neoclassical library, built and donated in 1903 by Ike Stephenson, one of the powerful lumber clan, can see the rotunda's stained-glass skylight and other period touches. Now that the entrance is at ground level in the rear, these nifty architectural details are hidden away in upstairs meeting rooms, reached through the upstairs stacks. The history and genealogy room, open during library hours, can give interested users an idea of the city's early fur-trading history and lumber boom days. Ask at the desk to get in. On Riverside at U.S. 41, to the right off the Interstate Bridge and across from the Best Western. Enter through newer wing in rear. (715) 732-7570. Regular hours Mon-Fri 9:30 a.m.-9 p.m., Sat to 5. From Mem. to Labor Day, shorter hours: Mon-Fri 9-6, Thurs to 8, Sat 10-5. Wheelchair-accessible.
  
• DUNLAP SQUARE is the heart of downtown, at Hall and Dunlap just south of the Interstate Bridge. Three-story brick buildings from around 1900 have especially fine details. They make the square a striking urban ensemble. The block-long 1904 Lauerman Building at 1713 Dunlap, once home to the extensive Lauerman Department Store, has big upper-story windows – an innovation of the Chicago School of forward-looking architecture. Today a rehab project has successfully mixed retail with subsidized and market-rate apartments.
      A newly opened coffee house, JAVA JR.'S , offers coffee drinks, sandwiches and pastries baked on the premises, and fruit smoothies made from scratch. Panini sandwiches grilled on two sides, salads, and sandwiches are other menu items. Owner Bill Beaudin plans to have Friday-night karaoke for alcohol-free fun for young people. Hours are weekdays 7:30 to 5:30, Saturday 9-2.
      On the Lauerman Building's ground floor SIMPLY CHARMING (715-732-9300) effectively displays antique furniture and reproductions, often French, and eclectic accessories in room settings for every room of the house, including kitchens. There's also reproduction costume jewelry and vintage clothing and hats. It's open from 10 to 4:30 Monday through Saturday. Smaller antiques including clocks, paintings, crystal, serving dishes, silver tableware, and jewelry, are at owner Jaki Yoap's second store across the street, the DUNLAP SQUARE GALLERIES (715-732-6530). It's open Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 10 to 4. Don't miss the fabulous stained glass windows facing Hall Avenue that go back to the building's original use as a historic turn-of-the-century saloon with spectacular décor. In downtown Marinette on the southeast corner of Dunlap and Hall/ U.S. 41 – the first intersection beyond the foot of the Interstate Bridge.
  
• RIVERSIDE AVENUE homes. 1919 Riverside & 1931 Riverside were wedding gifts of super-rich lumber baron Isaac Stephenson to two daughters. More large homes are around the corner on State, a block west of Hattie. Between Hall and Hattie, two blocks west of the bridge.
  
• MAIN STREET HOUSES. A few 19th century mansions remain on this mixed-use street. The most colorfully restored of the grand homes is the Queen Anne lumberman's house at 1393 Main, occupied by the M&M Victorian Inn restaurant and bed and breakfast. (715-732-9531).
  

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