Cole's Watch Tower
One of Omro's most unusual structures is this seven-story brick-clad steel and reinforced concrete tower. The tower was built in 1935 by F. S. Cole, who bought the farm in order to raise silver fox for their fur. By 1935, the 500 foxes on Cole's farm represented a valuable, but very portable investment so Cole and his son Bruce built this tower to both to guard their foxes and to supervise them from a distance. The raising of silver fox was a major industry in the 1920s and 1930s, with the best pelts selling for more than $500 each. By the 1930s, more than half of all the fox pelts produced in the U.S. came from Wisconsin. -from Wikipedia
architectureroadside
