3120 Riverside Ave | Property Record | Wisconsin Historical Society

Property Record

3120 Riverside Ave

Architecture and History Inventory
3120 Riverside Ave | Property Record | Wisconsin Historical Society
NAMES
Historic Name:Marinette & Menominee Paper Co Park Mill Power Channel Lock
Other Name:Park Mill Dam
Contributing:
Reference Number:228006
PROPERTY LOCATION
Location (Address):3120 Riverside Ave
County:Marinette
City:Marinette
Township/Village:
Unincorporated Community:
Town:
Range:
Direction:
Section:
Quarter Section:
Quarter/Quarter Section:
PROPERTY FEATURES
Year Built:1944
Additions:
Survey Date:20142015
Historic Use:lock
Architectural Style:NA (unknown or not a building)
Structural System:Reinforced Concrete
Wall Material:Concrete
Architect: Meyer, C.R. & Sons
Other Buildings On Site:Y
Demolished?:No
Demolished Date:
NATIONAL AND STATE REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
National/State Register Listing Name:Not listed
National Register Listing Date:
State Register Listing Date:
NOTES
Additional Information:This property consists of a c.1920 office building [23086], a 1920 concrete dam [228005], and a 1944 concrete power channel lock [228006].

The Marinette and Menominee Paper Company Park Mill power channel lock was constructed in 1944. The lock crosses
the power channel from a narrow island in the Menominee River to the south (Wisconsin) bank of the river. It was
designed in 1944 by C.R. Meyer and Sons Co. to replace a 1920 timber lift gate. The lock is 90 feet long, and consists of five steel tainter gates (each 16 feet high and 16 feet wide). A four-foot walkway with a steel pipe rail, and rail tracks for the hoist mechanism, run along the top of the lock. The power channel is 2,400 feet long.


The property is notable as the remains of the Marinette and Menominee Paper Company which
was established in Marinette in 1881. The company's first paper mill was located west of Hattie Street, along Riverside
Avenue. The company moved to its existing location in 1920 and continued to operate as such through two changes in
ownership (including the Continental Paper Company and the current owner, the Scott Paper Company). Although the
property continues to function as a paper plant today, most of the historic elements of the complex are no longer extant,
including all of the buildings that housed the original paper production machinery and equipment. Only the 1920 office,
dam, and power channel lock remain; the remainder of the existing complex was constructed in the 1970s and 1980s.
Although the Marinette and Menominee Paper Company was a significant contributor to the city's economy and industrial
history, the loss of the historic buildings that housed the physical operations of the facility render it an incomplete
representative of this history.

No evidence was found to suggest that the dam or power channel lock represents any notable engineering innovations or unique capacities. The dam and lock were both previously surveyed in 2014.
Bibliographic References:U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District. “Menominee River Third (Upper) Marinette Dam, Inventory No. 73.” Report Prepared for the State of Wisconsin, September 1979.
RECORD LOCATION
Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin

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