Kenosha Favorites

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Favorite thing: Besides the new Civil War Museum, Kenosha, Wisconsin, has several more wonderful museums to discover.

Kenosha Public Museum
5500 First Avenue, Kenosha, WI 53140
(262)653-4140
www.kenoshapublicmuseum.org

"This museum is dedicated to the preservation of our natural history and to provide educational exhibits that are both informative and interesting". This quote comes from a brochure that the museum distributes. It opened in 1937 [in what was once a post office building] and through the years their collection has grown considerably. They now have more than 65,000 items concerning biological science, geology, anthropology, and decorative arts. It is now located in a new 50,000 sq. ft. lakefront building that overlooks Lake Michigan. It's a part of the HarborPark development project. The architecture of the building symbolizes the "glacier which sliced through this region more than 15,000 years ago."

I was amazed when I walked inside and saw the 60 ft. atrium lobby and a massive wall of field stone. The second floor has special temporary and traveling exhibits as well as a view of Lake Michigan.

Open daily
free general admission

Sunday & Monday, 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm
Tuesday-Saturday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Fondest memory: Dinosaur Discovery Museum
5608 Tenth Avenue
Kenosha, WI 53140
(262)-653-4450
www.dinosaurdiscoverymuseum.org

This is a great museum for everyone but especially for children. They use recently excavated specimens which add to our understanding of diosaurs. You are able to see a real working paleontology lab. The Carthage Institute of Paleontology has an on-site lab which focuses on the science of unearthing dinosaurs. They concentrate on the link between dinosaurs and modern-day birds. Kids love the dramatic life-size dinosaur replica casts, bones, and fossils.

They also have a great Museum Gift Shop.

Hours:
Tuesday-Sunday 12-5 p.m.
Closed Monday

Kenosha History Center
220-51st Place, Kenosha
(262)-654-5770
www.kenoshahistorycenter.org

This museum is on Kenosha's harbor and features the Yesteryear Gallery, the Rambler [car] Legacy Gallery with changing Kenosha automobile exhibits. It is adjacent to Southport Light Station. There is a gift shop.
Open:
Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Sunday 12 noon- 4p.m.

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Favorite thing: There are two beautiful lighthouses in Kenosha that I loved seeing.

The first one that I saw is called Pierhead Lighhouse, and it is located at Simmons Island Public Beach and Lake Michigan. This lighthouse was built in 1906. It's a "typical LAKE MICHIGAN RED TOWER", this red conical steel lighthouse is 50 feet tall and is constructed of riveted steel plates. It has helical bars on the lantern panels. It was originally equipped with a "Fourth Order Fresnel lens", but it now has a rotating plastic airport beacon.

Its location on the end of the south breakwater at the entrance to the Pike River requires that you cross the bridge to Simmons Island on 50th Street and follow the road down to the beach. Visitors can walk out on the pier from the beach at Simmons Island, but you cannot go inside.

It's officially known as Kenosha's North Pierhead Lighthouse, but it is affectionately called "BIG RED". I read where it takes between $1,500 to $3,000 a year to keep Big Red in good condition.

Fondest memory: The Second Lighthouse is called SOUTHPORT LIGHT STATION. Kenosha was formerly called Southport. It is located on Simmons Island Park off 50th Street and Lighthouse Drive [4th Avenue]. This lighthouse was first built in 1848 as a gray brick tower, but it was totally re-built in 1866, and it is 55 feet tall.

There has been an extensive restoration of this Light Station and Lighthouse Keeper's Dwelling Museum that opens this summer [2008]. It will tell the story of Kenosha's harbor. Stories of Kenosha's Lighthouse Keepers will also be exhibited in the Museum with first-hand accounts of men and women who kept the lighthouse lamps burning.

Southport is made of Cream City brick brought from Milwaukee. The Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage was built in 1848. By 1913, Southport Ligh6house was dark. During the 1950s, the federal government had plans to demolish it, but Kenosha citizens united and saved this historic structure. So the city of Kenosha owned it, and in 1994, it was reopened. It no longer services the US Coast Guard for Kenosha, it still shines in the harbor.

Now, after restoration, it looks great and its Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage is open, and its rooms are being used to display Kenosha's maritime history. The structures are on the National Register as an historic site.

Favorite thing: Stay away from the new developed section of the city and head towards the older part of the city over by the lake.

Fondest memory: Meeting so many nice, friendly people and just relaxing. The lake is really beautiful - I had never imagined a lake so huge that you can't see to the other side...