A new Courthouse was proposed in Manitowoc in 1853 at the cost of $10,000 (about $425,000 in the modern era). Manitowoc citizens were outraged by this cost and the paper ran an article stating “Chicago is a place of some 40,000 people and yet it is satisfied with an ordinary, cheap building as courthouse. Milwaukee has a courthouse which can be built for $2,000. And yet Manitowoc County, with some 1,800 souls must feel need to have the most expensive courthouse in the state. We at the Herald feel this is a most high-handed outrage!”

Opposition was overcome and the project began with a tax levy of 1.8% going towards the creation of the new building at the corner of Washington St and S 8th St. A construction issue arose and the project stalled, then completed in 1857 with a new contractor for a cost of $8,000.

After a need for expansion in 1905, the building was then moved one block to the south, next to the county jail, across from the present First German Evangelical Lutheran School on South 8th Street. This building was then demolished in favor of a new jail in its location.

The current Manitowoc County Courthouse was built in that same year, 1905. This one was even bigger and more extravagant than the first, with a cost of $233,00 (about $8.6 million in the modern era).

This park serves as a memorial to the past use of the same land parcel in April of 1861, where volunteer soldiers practiced marching and drills for the Union effort at the start of the American Civil War. Present day, you will find a historical marker with more information and a Civil War cannon with a plaque honoring Manitowoc’s Civil War Veterans.

Construction for Manitowoc’s first lighthouse started in 1837 as a brick tower was erected on the hill directly to the west of Maritime Dr. across from the Manitowoc Marina. The tower was 30 ft tall, but had a focal plane of 63 ft due to its position on the hill. Parallel piers were added to the Manitowoc harbor in 1867, and by 1873 a Fresnel lens with a fixed red light was added within a lighthouse structure at the eastern point of north pier, where the current lighthouse is now. In 1918, the structure was replaced with the present-day steel lighthouse. The basement was used a boat house, the first story was a power room, and the second story was fitted with a shower and bathroom.

The current owner of the lighthouse is Phil Carlucci, who purchased the building by auction in 2010 after the Coast Guard deemed the lighthouse as “excess.” Present day, visitors can stroll the pier and pass by nature preserves and a dog park on their way out to the lighthouse.

The lighthouse doors remain closed unless tours are going on, but spectators may go right up the lighthouse and even up the stairs to the other side of the building to see the best view of Lake Michigan.

The Sputnik Crash Site is one of Manitowoc’s biggest claims to fame. On September 6, 1962, a 20 lbs. chunk of Russian Korabl-Sputnik 1 fell out of orbit and crashed landed in the middle of one of Manitowoc’s busiest streets, right outside of the Rahr-West Art Museum, which functioned as a community center at the time. Space junk wasn’t common in this time period, and this crash is one of the first recorded instances of space litter crashing into Earth’s surface. A few other bits and pieces landed on nearby buildings.

This historic place is marked with a metal ring in the middle of the road just north of the N 8th Street and Park Street intersection with a plaque on the sidewalk, information marker on the Rahr-West’s lawn, and year-round exhibit with a replica just inside the free-admission museum. A festival to celebrate this crazy occurrence is held annually on the Saturday after Labor Day, named Sputnikfest.

The last and largest coal-fired steam engine car ferry built in the United States with her decommissioned sister-ship, the Spartan, is the S.S. Bader. The ship, named after Wisconsin’s mascot, was originally designed to haul train cars across Lake Michigan, starting service in 1953. Manitowoc was well-accustomed to car ferries before this, servicing a total of 14 railroad car ferries during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. The Badger is still operational as a car ferry today, transporting up to 600 people and about 150 vehicles between Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and Ludington, Michigan, on a route recognized as part of US Highway 10. The car ferry transitioned to being more passenger-centric when it was purchased by Lake Michigan Carferry Service in 1992 after the demand for rail transport declined. Present day, the Badger runs daily from mid-May through mid-October. Passengers can enjoy food and beverages, entertainment, a gift shop, movie room, arcade, and mini museum onboard during the 4-hour crossing.

The 410-ft S.S. Badger can be seen in the harbor daily from 11:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. from mid-May to October. The Wisconsin State Historical Marker 369 about Manitowoc's car ferries can be seen at the southeast corner of the ticket office building.

Manitowoc’s population soared in the mid-20th century as the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company was contracted by the Navy to turn out 28 war-ready submarines, despite not having built a single underwater vessel before. The word around the country was that Manitowoc’s shipyards were some of the best, and can take on this monumental challenge, with special consideration for how to move the finished submarines to the United States’ east coast through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. Manitowoc shared the blueprints with other shipyards, including the Electric Boat Company in Connecticut, which fabricated the USS Cobia, now docked outside the Wisconsin Maritime Museum for tours and overnight reservations.

The offical historic landmark plaque labeled "Manitowoc Submarines" can be found to the west of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, at the top of the staircase that leads down to the riverwalk where the USS Cobia can be viewed. Inside tours of the submarine are included with general admission of the museum.