Property Record
DE PERE LOCK AND DAM
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | |
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| Other Name: | DE PERE DAM |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 1857 |
| Location (Address): | DE PERE LOCK AND DAM |
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| County: | Brown |
| City: | De Pere |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
| Range: | |
| Direction: | |
| Section: | |
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| Year Built: | 1928 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1988 |
| Historic Use: | dam/lock |
| Architectural Style: | NA (unknown or not a building) |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Concrete |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | De Pere Lock and Dam Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 12/7/1993 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 4/10/1992 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: | Waterway Resources of the Lower Fox River |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation-Public History. Photo code #2: FCS 3/29. 6 Bays-14 Gates-6 Bays. Related buildings: Locks. This dam is a concrete structure with an overall length of 981.6 feet. Completed in 1930, it is located at the south end of the short canal segment associated with the site (1). The dam creates the pool that floods the canal in which the De Pere lock is located. It is generally oriented on an SSW/NNE axis. Anchored to the river's rock bottom, the dam consists of three sections. The eastern section, which is 296.5 feet, and the western section, which is 334.6 feet, are concrete spillways. The spillways are twenty-one feet wide, and fix the maximum level of the pool the dam creates at 586.66 feet above sea level (it maintains about a nine foot head). The middle portion of the dam is 355 feet, and contains fourteen concrete sluiceways, each of which contains a thirteen by twetny foot, steel Tainter gate. The gates are operated by a "crab", a small electrically operated mechanism that moves from gate to gate on a track. The "crab" contains a wench, to which the chain on each end of the gate is attached. As the wench is activated, the chain is taken in or let out, and the height of the gate is adjusted accordingly. A steel catwalk, which facilitates inspections and maintenence, extends the legnth of the dam. Placed atop the dam is a single story front gabled shed that was errected to shelter the electric "crab". Spanning the abutments adjacent to the eastern most Tainter gate, the lift house is reached by a metal catwalk that then passes it and continues the entire length of the dam. It is clad with drop siding, roofed with asphalt shingles, and has walls bounded with pilaster strips. The single window in each side wall and the panelled door at the right of the lockside endwall have simple surrounds. A pair of heavy wooden doors in the opposite endwall swing out to allow passage of the "crab" to whatever gate must be adjusted. ;This small building has a remarkably heavy frame. The side wall sills are the bottom chord of a triangular, internal truss, above and below which the studs are pieced. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Wisconsin Magazine of History, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Vol. 81, #3, Spring 1998. Piers dated. (1) Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, 1930: Extract - Report Upon the Improvement of Rivers and Harbors in the Milwaukee, Wis., District (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1930), 1451. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |