Newport Pier
Gallery
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Newport Pier site plan
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Historic photograph of Newport
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Historic photograph of Newport store and post office
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Newport Pier complex layout, overlaid on modern aerial image
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Historic photograph of Newport Pier
 
Details
Attraction
Location
Body of Water: Lake Michigan
Trail Name: Green Bay/Door County
Year Built: 1881
Nearest Address: 381 Newport Park Rd, Ellison Bay, WI 54210
Nearest City: Ellison Bay
County: Door
Zip Code: 54210
Latitude: N 45° 14.219970'
Longitude: W -86‎° 59.033278'
Attraction
Features
Open to public?: Yes
Mooring buoy?: No
Mooring buoy in place?: No
Snorkelable?: Yes
Dive guide?: No
Trails sign?: No
National Register?: No
Attraction
Description
Newport is located on a bay in the northeast corner of the Door County peninsula very close to Rowley’s Bay. The site is currently within the boundaries of Newport State Park. Newport was founded in 1881 by Danish immigrant Hans Johnson who had formerly worked as a foreman for Osborne & Company at Rowley’s Bay. He saved his earnings to purchase a 320-acre farm and 200 acres on the lakeshore where he built a pier and a general store. The pier at Newport was supported by an array of stone cribs. Johnson used his pier to ship out lumber and cordwood and allowed other parties to ship from his pier.

The pier was highly exposed to wind and waves. Within its first year of operation, the scows Forest and R. H. Becker and part of the pier came ashore during a November 1881 gale. Forest stuck so hard that it was given up as a loss until the tug Gregory pulled it off in 1882. Storms in 1882 also sent the schooner E. M. Portch into the pier, causing the loss of two cribs. The pier was repaired in 1885. In 1891, fellow Dane Peter Knudson joined Johnson in the operation of Newport. The community began to thrive and included a sawmill, barber, carpenter, two hotels/boarding houses, a creamery, a wagon shop, and even a newspaper. At its height, Newport had a population of over 300. Johnson was made justice of the peace.

In the spring of 1898, Johnson ran for and won the position of Town Assessor. But by that fall, portions of Johnson’s holdings were being sold at auction in order to satisfy court judgments. Johnson was the only member of the Town Board of Newport not to be re-elected. Accounts reported that Johnson succumbed to alcoholism due to his grief over the death of his wife. By 1904, the timber of the region had been exhausted and the people of Newport moved on in search of better opportunities. By the end of the year, only 40 residents remained. Knudson remained optimistic and in possession of the complex and hundreds of acres surrounding it. Hearing a rumor that a railroad might be routed up to Newport, Knudson plotted out a paper town capable of housing over 700 families. Promoters worked to get the railway built, but the outbreak of World War I stopped any hope of a railroad north. Knudson sold his property four years later to Ferdinand Hotz, who purchased the land in order to preserve the countryside. Hotz, who became the largest landowner in Door County, allowed the complex to return to nature. The property was sold to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in 1967 and became a state park, which it remains today. Many stone and timber cribs remain at the site only slightly offshore.
 
Map
 
Nearby
Attractions (7)
Bohemia Town / Duck Bay
Gills Rock Maritime Museum
Newport Maritime Trails Marker
Newport Pier
Newport State Park
S. A. Rogers Main Pier at Rowley’s Bay
Torstenson’s Pier / Hedgehog Harbor
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