Packers Heritage Trail

Packers Heritage Trail
Location	Green Bay, Wisconsin, U.S.
Established	November 2011
Designation	Heritage trail
Use	Walking/Biking/Trolley
Maintained by	Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame
Website	Official website

The Packers Heritage Trail is a self-guided walking and biking trail that traverses locations relating to the history of the Green Bay Packers. All but one of the 25 sites have bronze commemorative plaques that connect the history of the site and its association to the Green Bay Packers. Each plaque, which has individual sponsors, is either affixed to the side of the relevant building or placed on a pole in front of the site. The Trail is split into three sections: the City Walk, which includes 16 sites and the Packers Heritage Plaza generally in downtown Green Bay; the Packing Plant Spur, which includes 4 sites along Baird Creek; and the Lambeau - Lombardi Spur, which includes another 4 sites along the Fox River. The spurs were developed after the City Walk portion and originally did not include commemorative plaques, although these were eventually added except for at the site of Vince Lombardi's home.

The Packers Heritage Trail was developed by sportswriter Cliff Christl, who would go on to become the team historian of the Packers. The Trail opened in late 2011 and was originally led by the Packers Heritage Trail Foundation, Inc., which was formed by Christl and his wife Shirley. Two years later, the Heritage Trail Plaza was opened on the corner of Cherry St. and Washington St. in downtown Green Bay. In 2017, the Foundation was taken over by the Packers and is now part of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. The Packers offer combined tickets for touring Lambeau Field, entrance to the Packers Hall of Fame and trolley tours of the Packers Heritage Trail. That same year, Christl published a book covering the Trail titled Packers Heritage Trail: The Town, The Team, The Fans From Lambeau to Lombardi. The Packers Heritage Plaza, which was updated and renovated in 2022, provides a larger overview history of the Packers. However, the site of the plaza has been identified for future development, which would require its relocation to another site in downtown Green Bay.

The City Walk portion of the Trail includes various buildings with connections to the Packers. This includes two historic train depots that the Packers utilized for away games, multiple office buildings that either the Packers utilized or key figures worked at, cultural and religious sites, and past Packers stadiums. The entirety of downtown Green Bay is identified as one of the historic sites, with the commemorative plaque located on the CityDesk, the name of Green Bay's riverfront. The Packing Plant Spur follows Baird Creek, just outside of downtown Green Bay and includes the remains of the packing plants for the Indian Packing Company, the Riverside Ballroom, and other historic playing fields. As the name implies, the Lambeau - Lombardi Spur focuses on the history of two key Packers coaches: Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi. This spur is the only one that has sites with differences in their commemorative plaques: Lombardi's home has no plaque at all, while the plaque for Lambeau's gravesite is located a short distance from the cemetery along the Fox River trail.

Historic sites

Packers Heritage Trail historic sites

#	Image	Site	Address	Trail portion	Plaque location	Coordinates	Ref
—		Packers Heritage Plaza	Washington St. & Cherry St.	City Walk	—	44°30′55.3″N 88°0′54.7″W
1		Packers Neville Museum	210 Museum Place		Near parking lot	44°31′4.8″N 88°1′5.3″W
2		Downtown Green Bay	325 N. Washington St.		In back along CityDeck	44°31′1.9″N 88°0′54.4″W
3	—	Birthplace of the Packers	200 N. Adams St.		On Cherry St.	44°30′52.8″N 88°0′48.2″W
4		Hotel Northland	304 N. Adams St.		On Pine St.	44°30′56.8″N 88°0′47.2″W
5	—	Curly Lambeau's Office, Northern Building	305 E. Walnut St.		On Adams St.	44°30′50″N 88°0′52.3″W
6		Bellin Building	130 E. Walnut St.		On Walnut St.	44°30′51.4″N 88°0′59″W
7		Milwaukee Road Depot	400 S. Washington St.		On Washington St.	44°30′38″N 88°1′7.6″W
8	—	Packers Office Building	321 S. Washington St.		On Crooks St.	44°30′38.6″N 88°1′6″W
9	—	Elks Club	300 Crooks St.		On Adams St.	44°30′36″N 88°1′1.7″W
10		St. Willebrord Catholic Church	209 S. Adams St.		Corner of Adams St. & Doty St.	44°30′44.8″N 88°0′55.8″W
11		Brown County Courthouse	100 S. Jefferson St.		On Jefferson St.	44°30′44.7″N 88°0′51.1″W
12	—	Columbus Community Club	115 S. Jefferson St.		On Jefferson St.	44°30′46″N 88°0′48.1″W
13		Green Bay Press-Gazette	435 E. Walnut St.		On Walnut St.	44°30′46.9″N 88°0′44.1″W
14		Hagemeister Park	1415 E. Walnut St.		On Baird St.	44°30′26.4″N 87°59′40.5″W
15		City Stadium	400 S. Washington St.		On front gates	44°30′29.1″N 87°59′37.4″W
16	—	Curly Lambeau's Birthplace Home	615 N. Irwin Ave.		On Irwin Ave.	44°30′47″N 87°59′39.6″W
17		Chicago and North Western Depot	200 Dousman St.		Near entrance	44°31′9.7″N 88°1′5.5″W
18	—	Packers Practice Fields	N. Baird St.	Packing Plant Spur	North of City Stadium	44°30′33.8″N 87°59′35″W
19	—	Riverside Ballroom	1560 Main St.		Near entrance	44°30′16.9″N 87°59′13.2″W
20	—	Bellevue Park	1613 Main St.		On Janquet Lumber building	44°30′15.9″N 87°59′3.5″W
21	—	Indian and Acme Packing Plants	Main St. & Elizabeth St.		Start of Kress Trail	44°30′19.2″N 87°59′8.2″W
22	—	Curly Lambeau's Gravesite	2121 Riverside Dr.	Lambeau - Lombardi Spur	On Fox River Trail near Allouez Catholic Cemetery	44°29′3.5″N 88°1′52.8″W
23	—	Vince Lombardi's Home	667 Sunset Cir.		No plaque	44°27′56.3″N 88°3′0.3″W
24	—	Union Hotel	200 N. Broadway St.		Corner of Broadway St. & James St.	44°27′0.6″N 88°3′37.1″W
25	—	St. Norbert College	505 Third St.		On Third St.	44°26′34.9″N 88°4′7.1″W

References

Sources

• Christl, Cliff (2017). Packers Heritage Trail: The Town, The Team, The Fans From Lambeau to Lombardi. Stevens Point, Wisconsin: KCI Sports. ISBN 978-1940056586.

External links

• Packers Heritage Trail printable map