Old Milwaukee

We often forget that Milwaukee is an old city. This photograph, taken in 1885, shows some beautiful Victorian homes along W. Wells St. near 24th St. The sidewalks were wooden in those days, and no automobiles would be seen for quite a few years. You can make out the hitching posts for the horses. The trees were small, the street unpaved. If you look closely, in the foreground you can make out horse car tracks for the West Side Street Railway. Electric streetcar service didn't begin on this part of Wells St. until April 1890. This area now is undergoing massive renewal for an expanded Marquette campus.

Herman Weiss operated his meat market virtually in the shadow of Milwaukee's Exposition Building (seen in background). The store's awning reads "C. Weiss" because the market was in his mother Caroline's name. Gloria Wetzel of Cedarburg tells us that her grandfather's store was at 502 Wells, on what is now the northwest corner of 5th and Wells. Gloria's mother, now Mrs. Alma Wetzel, was born in the living quarters above the market in 1893 and might be the child in the baby buggy here. Herman Weiss is the man on the left. He operated the store there until 1895, then moved to the 2500 block of State St. until 1910. The ornate brick and glass Exposition Building was completed in 1881 on the site of what is now the Milwaukee Auditorium. The building burned June 4, 1905, but it transformed Milwaukee into a convention city before then - 21 industrial expositions were held there over the years, as well as many musical events, charity balls and international bazaars. Photo and information courtesy of Alma and Gloria Wetzel and the Milwaukee Public Library.

On April 25, 1931, parents Luigi and Gaetana Marchese (at left end of the line) had a double reason to celebrate. It was the wedding day for both their son and daughter. After the double ceremony, Anna Marchese and Frank Lupo and their wedding attendants posed for this photograph with Carl Marchese and Marie Malloy and their wedding party in front of Madonna di Pompeii Church. Smiling guests and well-wishers lined the sidewalk. Although the church at 419 N. Jackson St. (also called "The Little Pink Church") often appears in the background of photographs, it was the focal point of the Third Ward Italian community. It began as a storefront mission church. Later a fund drive was held for a building and the brick church that resulted was dedicated in 1905. Numerous festas, with processions that wound through the streets of the Third Ward, began at its door. Gradually the area fell into decline and the buildings were torn down. The church was razed in 1967 for freeway construction. Today a stone tablet marks the spot where so many Milwaukeeans of Italian background celebrated religious occasions. Photograph courtesy of Lilly Lupo Stelmazewski; information from the Milwaukee Public Library local history collection.

The time: Shortly after the turn of the century. The place: Harwood av. looking south to State st. in Wauwatosa. The streets were unpaved and residents made their daily rounds in horse drawn wagons and carriages, on bicycles or on foot. The "village" was built in the hollow of a hill with the Menomonee river flowing through its center under the Harwood av. bridge. The electric car line which provided Wauwatosans with streetcar service to Milwaukee had only recently been established, largely through the efforts of Emerson Hoyt, the city's first mayor and one of its leading citizens for many years. The buildings pictured were constructed after 1895. On a July morning that year a great fire started in a bakery near the center of town. Volunteer firemen equipped with 50 feet of hose and a hand pump were unable to stop the blaze, even with the help of a bucket brigade organized by the townspeople. The fire spread rapidly until by nightfall the business district was a smoldering ruin. In place of the former wooden structures, the city’s merchants erected the fine brick buildings seen in the photograph. (Picture, courtesy of Russell Porter, 1701 S. 91st st., and information from the local history collection of the Milwaukee public library.)

A close look at this late 1800s picture of the intersection of E. Water and Cedar Sts. (later N. Water and W. Kilbourn) enables you to pick out some interesting details. The Herman Toser Co., a wholesaler of wines and liquors, was located at the corner, and one of its street level windows advertised its "sample room," while the other told German speaking passersby of its weinstube (meaning wine cellar). The Mi-Flora Cigar Factory sign included mention of its "all clear Havana," and the sweet shop advertised its fresh home-made candies, including "chocolates, bon-bons, etc." and "ice cream soda - 5 & 10c." The C.N. Caspar Co. - Book Emporium was next door, where, according to its sign, books were "bought, sold & exchanged." The sign identifying Reinhard's Buffet wasn't as big as the one advertising one of its liquid refreshments, Blatz beer. Quin's Athletic Goods and J.C. Iversen & Co., makers of looking glasses, picture frames, hardware, mantels, tile work, etc., were also on that block. The horse and carriage involved in a delivery here were from the American Express Co. (Photograph courtesy of First Wisconsin National Bank and information from the Milwaukee Public Library local history collection.)

The land for the park which was in time to become Milwaukee's Washington park zoo was purchased in 1891 and given the name West park. It offered an excellent view of the city which at that time was developing around it. Its chief attraction, according to a report written in 1895, was its "grand, old forest, some 15 acres in extent, composed of the only maples and other old trees 100 feet high that were spared by the ax for a great distance around the city." An artificial lake provided excellent boating in the summer and splendid skating in the winter. In 1897 a bandstand and concert grove were provided. These new facilities so enhanced band concerts in the public eye that such stands were erected in other city parks. Such widely known bands as Christopher Bach's, Clauder's and Dunker's, as well as musical organizations of the city's industrial firms, the Harvester and Overland bands, for example, performed several times a week. At the time that this picture was taken in the late 1890's, the park was still known as West park; it received its new and more familiar name in 1900. Although part of the area is still maintained as a park, the rest has been taken over by the expressway. (Picture courtesy of C. J. Nelson, 2949 S. 94th st., and information from the local history collection of the Milwaukee public library.)

The home-building business thrived as Milwaukee expanded in the early 1900s and the land west of W. Washington Blvd. and N. 60th St. was subdivided to provide new homes. The fields had belonged to the Pabst Brewing Co., which had used them for farming hops. The Kamm family moved into their new home at what is now 6426 Upper Parkway North in December 1919. They were the second family to become residents of the area still known today as the Washington Highlands. The Highlands became a fashionable section of Wauwatosa, valued today by residents and passersby alike for its beautifully landscaped homes, shady streets and countless trees. But in 1919, the sun beat down on fields, weeds, a few saplings and this newly constructed home. Photograph and information from the Milwaukee Public Library local history collection.

During World War II, a shipyard sprang up overnight in Milwaukee along the banks of the Kinnickinnic River. Local builder Ben Froemming, despite a lack of any shipbuilding experience, won a contract from the government in December 1941 to build four seagoing tugs at a cost of $1.2 million each. Before the war was over, the Froemming Brothers Shipyard, located at 1901 S. 1st St., built 26 ships at a rate of almost one a month. Here people gathered to see the Claiborne launched on Sept. 23, 1944. At the peak of its activity, the yard employed 2,400 people who worked around the clock. Froemming's untimely death in 1945 cut short plans to convert the yard to peacetime construction. In his memory, the last ship, built in October 1945, was christened the Ben Froemming.

Carriage and wagon building and repairing was a booming business for many years in Milwaukee. Until the automobile, almost every family had one of these hand made carriers. This was the C. Abresh Carriage and Wagon Works at Poplar and 4th sts. Outside the shop were carriages of the Badger Pump factory, located next door, and the J. Obermann Co., which bottled lager beer. Also seen are fancier non-commercial coaches. Besides building and rebuilding carriages, Abresh's later spelled (Abresch) did horseshoeing. While many carriage shops folded with the coming of the automobile, Abresh switched to automotive repairs and repainting. The business survives as Abresch Auto Body Ltd., 1500 N. 4th st. (Picture and information from the Milwaukee public library's local history collection.)

This photo of Wisconsin Ave. between 3rd and 4th Sts., taken in January 1951, shows work beginning on the $500,000 renovation of the city's "Magnificent Mile" from the Milwaukee River to 11th St. The avenue from 11th to 27th Sts., immodestly called the "Miracle Mile," had been rebuilt in 1947, in time for the Wisconsin State Centennial of 1948. Although causing great inconvenience until completed for a grand reopening in September 1951, the second phase of reconstruction was long overdue, and according to a Journal editorial, "will help us look like a big city." Fifty-year-old streetcar tracks were ripped up, all underground utilities were replaced and the sidewalk and the street were repaved. The project was difficult. On Jan.10, crews discovered 19 inches more concrete than they had expected, built up from paving jobs in 1895, 1914 and 1927. Digging out several feet of pavement embedded with streetcar tracks proved only one of several challenges. The Magnificent Mile later suffered from competition from freeways, which lured shoppers away to suburban malls. A writer observed in 1971 that a "garish hardness" was spreading downhill from 9th St. to the river on the once magnificent mile. But projects of the '80s, such as Grand Avenue, did much to bring the Downtown back.

If it wasn't for the roof line of the Central Library in the background, it would be hard to know just what street the photographer was on when he snapped this picture back around 1916. The crew working on the street light in the 700 block of Grand (now W. Wisconsin) Ave. might be planning to stop at the Queen City Lunch, which, judging from the sign inside the steamy window, was featuring oysters that day. But the clientele wasn't exclusively male - a small note on the window read "Ladies Invited." Streetcars stopped right in front of the New York Shoe Shine Parlor, where ladies and gents could get a shoe shine for 5 cents. The shop also sold Helmar and Oasis brand cigarets. The Gensch-Smith Co. on the left sold player pianos and rolls, as well as "talking machines" and records. (Photograph and information from the Milwaukee Public Library local history collection.)

These students in a shoe bottoming class were bent over their work when the photographer came around the Milwaukee Vocational School in 1946. Signs and posters on the walls reminded them of the fine points about both feet and shoe construction. Vocational school training began to develop rapidly in Milwaukee in 1912, after passage of the first state compulsory continuation school attendance law in 1911. The law required that children between the ages of 14 and 16, who were working under permit, attend school for five hours a week. Vocational training expanded even more with the demand for skilled workers during and after World War I. The original six story red brick Vocational School building (now part of Milwaukee Area Technical College) was built at a cost of almost $4 million in 1926. At the time this picture was taken, the school offered more than 50 courses in 10 divisions, had a staff of 300 teachers and instructed an annual average of 35,000 students. Photograph and information provided by the Milwaukee Public Library local history collection.

When the Chicago and North Western Railway Depot stood on Wisconsin St. overlooking the lake, the nearby Juneau Hotel at 229 Wisconsin welcomed visitors to Milwaukee. The structure was built at the turn of the century as an apartment house, but in 1910, after the area lost its residential character, Eugene Trimberger bought the building and turned it into a hotel. Trimberger also established a restaurant at the site in 1919; it was called Eugene's, and became known for its seafood. This photo shows the hotel in the early 1920s. In 1948 Trimberger sold his interests, and the hotel was remodeled. In 1964 it was razed to make room for a new building that is part of Juneau Square. Photograph and information from the Milwaukee Public Library local history collection.

Villard Avenue was one of the main arteries when North Milwaukee was a village and then a city. This photo, taken not too long after North Milwaukee was annexed to Milwaukee in 1929, shows a street lined with stores for every need, a bustling shopping area. A popular place to spend leisure time was the Ritz Theatre (190 Villard), and on the day the photo was taken it featured "Song of Kentucky," billed as an "All Talking" show. Although the names and looks of the stores have changed since then, the street still is busy and the theater is still there, but it is known now as the Villa (3610 W. Villard.) Photo courtesy of Harriet Willus, information from the Milwaukee Public Library local history collection.

Although it was still a dirt street, Villard Ave. was already a main thoroughfare through North Milwaukee, lined with shops and a tavern or two. Villard ran from 27th St. west to Fond du Lac Ave., but North Milwaukee stretched only as far as 42nd St. when this photo was taken about 1908. The community of North Milwaukee, now a part of Milwaukee, was five miles north of the city at that time and located within the Town of Granville. When the Wisconsin Central and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railways were built, North Milwaukee began to expand. At the time of this photo, the community boasted a population of 1,236. Photo courtesy of Ruth Ruege, information provided by the Milwaukee Public Library local history collection.

These examples of Victorian architecture were once the private residences of leading Milwaukee citizens on Highland blvd. between N. 29th and N. 30th sts. The house third from left was built in 1892 for malt tycoon Aldoph Zinn. It featured a round turret, tudor style gable, huge stone chimneys which served the 10 fireplaces that heated the house, and porte cochere or covered carriage entrance. Zinn built the limestone mansion a few years before his malting company, later known as Milwaukee Malt and Grain Co., became the largest in the country. The Zinn home was between that of H. J. Kieckhefer, president of Enterprise Box and Lumber Co., at right, and Charles Manegold, jr., president of Manegold Milling Co., and in the same neighborhood as the Gustav Pabsts, the Frederick Millers, and the Frederick Usingers. When the neighborhood's days of glory passed, the Zinn home was chopped up into a 25 unit rooming house and later razed, as were others in the area to make way for an apartment building. (Picture and information from the local history collection of the Milwaukee public library.)

Henry M. Van Ells started his career as a pharmacist at the Hassinger and Van Ells Drug Store on Forest Home Ave. in 1892. Later that decade, he moved to Mitchell St., and from there to National Ave. in 1902. In 1904, Van Ells established his pharmacy, the Van Ells Drug Co., at the busy intersection of 27th, Center and Fond du Lac, in a Dutch Gothic structure whose ornamentation was reminiscent of the old Pabst Building and City Hall. He remained in business there until 1920. Note the boy leapfrogging over the fire hydrant at Van Ells' front door. Other children on the sidewalk seem more intent on the passing streetcar, while the adults are watching the photographer across the street. A dental office now occupies the building, which is at 2654 W. Fond du Lac Ave. Photo and information courtesy of J. Eaton Gruettner.