Bi Centennial Tower

I love climbing the stairs to see the gorgeous views of Lake Erie! There is also an elevator if you dont want to take the stairs. But for my money $ 4, is a steal for the views you get to experience. Also at the top there are little posts with history snippets so you can read about the area while taking in the sights. The Tower is a great landmark in Erie and a great meeting place. I grew up hanging out by here with friends and this last trip home to visit my mom, I took my boyfriend to the top. You can see Perry Monument and the Bay on one side and on the other you see downtown Erie and the docks. Its amazing to see how much the city is changing and right now with construction of new hotels on the docks you can watch it change before your eyes. This is a great place to visit with families and friends and to make it even better, grab a cone or a Smiths Hot Dog and sit and enjoy the lake.

You will get gorgeous views of the lake from the top of this tourist attraction in downtown Erie. Definitely something to do once but never again. It’s $ 4 per person to get up here and you typically would only spend about 5 minutes. You can get just as great of a view from the skybridge at the Sheraton hotel next door.

So it cost $ 4 each to go to the top, IMO very much a rip-​off but anyways… it does afford fantastic views of Lake Erie and Presque Isle and makes a great photo op as well. You can see all the way down State Street as well. If you haven’t done it once, you should, however, once is enough for me (and I think most people in general). There is parking available right next to the tower but it’s pretty crowded it seems most of the time.

This is a neat little spot. There’s people fishing and walking around and enjoying the lovely view. There was even a wedding while I was there. They were taking pictures and getting on a boat. This was my first time and firsts stop in Erie. There are restaurants around the area and some little shops. There is a concession area at the bottom of the tower. Parking wasn’t to bad. My only real complaint is that there was garbage laying around which was sad.

Located at the end of State Street in the area most commonly known as Dobbins Landing is a wharf jutting out into Presque Isle Bay with a 187 foot high tower. It costs three dollars to go up. It was a $ 1.6 million dollar project sold to Erie to commemorate Erie’s 200^th birthday and as an inviting tourist attraction. The only thing you seeming really get to see that you can’t see from the wharf itself are views of downtown Éire, which to be rather blunt about, isn’t much to see. It’s a pretty big deal for a rust belt city in economic decline, but compared to other tourist attraction towers, rather pitiful.
The area of Dobbins Landing, however, is really very nice with some good restaurants and pleasant surroundings.

So it’s 3 bucks to go up to the top. It’s worth doing once if you’ve never been. The view is okay, but nothing spectacular. It is Erie so you can’t expect too much.

I believe its the highest point in the city, I don’t know if its higher than Saint Peters but it would come close. Also you can’t go into the tower of Saint Peters either. From here you can see all of the Bay and a fair part of the bay front. Was it worth the money we paid, sure because my kids loved it. Would I pay to do it again, I don’t think so as its one of those things that you don’t really need to do again. Was it a good idea to put this in Erie? Yes, I do believe it was because it gives you a scope of just how Erie has grown up over the last 20 years. I think it will be a landmark for the next 100 years and after that it won’t be the tallest I’m sure.
I would love to have the seats if there was a battle of the bay with old ships shooting back and fourth but you can’t have everything.

Maybe this just doesn’t excite me because it’s here where I live. It’s nice to go up and have a look around, but here’s a hint: if you can save the trip up to the top of the tower for the first Monday of the month, it’s free.

Bicentennial tower is a 187 foot observation tower, located in downtown Erie, across from Presqu’Isle State Park. You can see thw whole city of Erie from up top, it costs 3 dollars per person to get it, theres an elevator ride to the top, where there are plaques and markers that tell you about the city’s past. We watched a Coast Guard ship dock and let people off. It was pretty fun. theres a souvenir shop, clothing, an art gallery, etc. There was some parking close by, we came and got a good spot, then like 15 minutes later they were all filled up!!!