A $3.3 million USDA Rural Development Community Facilities grant helped restore historical giant that helped shape Wisconsin’s global agricultural significance  

It has taken dozens of people to complete the first phases of the project to restore the 75-foot-tall former Teweles & Brandeis grain elevator in Sturgeon Bay. A $3.3 million U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Community Facilities grant helped transform the historical giant into a glistening interpretive museum. Inside, its walls speak to how the granary helped shape Wisconsin’s global agricultural significance. With preparations underway for the granary to open to the public for the 2025 season on May 14, the small group of women that has been directly involved since the start of the restoration project remains as passionate as ever.   Th

"There aren’t a lot of groups that would stick their necks out to save a building, but this group of women has done so from the start,” Sturgeon Bay Historical Society Foundation (SBHSF) Interim Executive Director Nicole Matson said. She is referring to how the group sprang into action when they heard the building was slated for possible demolition. They were not discouraged. “I continue to be inspired by these women who took on a project that, at times, seemed like an upward battle,” Matson said.

Through their work together in the four years since the project started, Matson has learned something new every day from the women, many of whom graciously share their business and historical experience. They have taught her about working with non-profit and government organizations, and more. 

“Above all else,” she said, “the greatest lesson has been that every voice matters and what you have to say is important.”

Matson continues to be inspired by the women who have shared their passion, which has been essential to the project.  

“Saving historic structures, more often than not, takes perseverance and passion,” said Sturgeon Bay Historical Society Foundation Treasurer Kelly Catarozoli. 

This is particularly true, she believes, regarding agricultural buildings, which aren’t always readily appreciated at first glance.  

“Because agricultural buildings are seen as mostly utilitarian structures, a connection to the stories they hold is required, and also seeing the beauty in their design and ingenuity.” 

Driving by, you might have dismissed the lonely-looking 124-year-old grain elevator as an unimportant structure, which stood out as the tallest building nestled along the south shore of Sturgeon Bay, a stone’s throw from the sites of two 19th Century shipwrecks. 

“People were so used to looking at the granary, that they didn’t see the beauty in its simplicity,” said SBHSF founder Christie Weber.

Today, however, the restoration project has raised public awareness and established the building as a gathering place and education center where the vibrant agricultural history of Sturgeon Bay, Door County, and the state of Wisconsin can be told.   

Inside, is a captivating space of towering rafters that once held up the weight of thousands of pounds of grain. Other crops, too, like peas, headed to Cuba, were stored and passed through these massive walls. 

“You start out thinking ‘that’s a cool old building,” then you start paying attention and you start learning about the building. Then you start finding things out like the building was invented in Buffalo, New York, and there are only two like it remaining in the Great Lakes region,” said former SBHSF president Laurel Hauser.

There is a similar granary in Cleveland, Ohio. The Door County Granary, which was listed in the National Registry of Historic Places in 2017, is the only interpretive granary of its kind that remains.  

“I have a big passion for what historic buildings bring to our current culture, they are the witnesses to our past,” said SBHSF Vice President Beth Renstrom. 

Catarozoli recognized this the first time she entered the granary building 10 years ago. She was immediately called to task.  

“From that point on, I absolutely knew this was a place that could not be lost and forgotten,” she said. “Our grain elevator is an iconic silhouette showcasing the beauty of simplicity on the outside, yet inside it is like a timber cathedral.” 

Alterations completed so far include new openings for accessible ingress and egress; mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection systems; new openings for daylight and ventilation; internal stairs and an elevator; and minor landscape modifications to provide compliant accessible pathways. A piping system has been installed beneath the foundation to vent methane from the soil, which is intended to help reduce its impact on both the site and the building. A new addition to the building includes prep kitchen space, public restrooms, and a stair tower.

The next phase in the project will be restoring the second level. The goal will be to make the upper space accessible for people to experience it.  

The Door County Granary will open to the public for the summer season on May 14, 2025, 10 a.m. There will be free docent-guided tours and free interpretive programs. 

“I cannot wait to get people through the doors and for them to see the grandeur of what this building was,” said SBHSF board member Kelly Avenson. “The granary helped moved Sturgeon Bay forward. I remember walking through it for the first time, and I cried. I am very excited to share this with the public.”   

As they continue in the next phase of the project, this group will always pull together to find a way.  

“We haven’t always agreed, and we have faced a lot of obstacles, but we listen to each other, and we always look for a way,” Renstrom said.  

For more information about the Door County Granary restoration project and free public programs, visit www.DoorCountyGranary.org or www.SturgeonBayHistoricalSociety.org/granary.