Milwaukee Then and Now: A Book Review

EXPLORE THE
HISTORY &
GENEALOGY OF
MILWAUKEE

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The Making of
Milwaukee
(Wisconsin)

NEWER BOOK

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Cream City
Chronicles: Stories
of Milwaukee's Past

READ a review of
Cream City
Chronicles

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Milwaukee Streets:
The Stories Behind
Their Names

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History Just Ahead: A Guide to Wisconsin's Historical Markers

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Kidding Around
Milwaukee

The 144-page book contains many paired pages showing photos of Milwaukee then and now.
As you start of the paging through the book, you will rejoice to see Milwaukee's 1896 City Hall -- with its Flemish-German Renaissance Revival features -- still going strong. In fact, some interior restoration has been done and its bell honoring city founder Solomon Juneau is apparently ringing again.

The famous Pabst Theater too is still functioning as a cultural center today, more than 100 years old. In fact, it sees some 200 performances a year.

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German-American Urban Culture:
Writers & Theaters
in Early Milwaukee

The handsome Mitchell Building constructed in 1876 for Alexander Mitchell's many thriving businesses is still in use. [As an aside, his home, the Mitchell Mansion, is today the Wisconsin Club downtown.]

The buildings once home to the Schlitz Brewery have been given new or adaptive use. And a Neoclassical Revival bank building is today the home of the Milwaukee County Historical Society.

Buildings such as these keep alive Milwaukee's heritage and special character. Author Sandra Ackerman provides wonderful historic photos of specific city locations, plus modern images with a basic historical facts in each caption. Milwaukee Then and Now comes clear!

The book also reveals the remarkable structures that have been lost, either to fire or urban renewal. For example, the ornate Pabst Building -- on the corner where Solomon Juneau had a log cabin and trading post -- was razed in 1981 to make way for a 35-story skyscraper. Also gone are a number of mansions as well as the Industrial Exposition Building that, with towers and turrets, indeed looked like a palace. Lost to a fire, it was replaced by the Milwaukee Auditorium, now the Milwaukee Theater.

While buildings and city locations are the obvious focus of the book, this volume is also a narrative of Milwaukee's industries, especially the breweries and Harley-Davidson, started in a small wood shack which is pictured. There are government buildings, train stations, residences, European-style churches, parks, cemeteries, and the waterfront, now with the world-famous Santiago Calatrava addition to the art museum. And, of course, there is also Milwaukee County Stadium, today replaced by Miller Park, home of the MIlwaukee Brewers.

Avid fans of Milwaukee and its history will find Milwaukee Then and Now to be a grand visual tour, but leaving them wanting more. But then that is likely the goal of the book, to whet the appetite.

Sandra Ackerman was an ideal choice to create this volume of history in photographs. She is the former executive director of the preservation organization Historic Milwaukee, a postion she assumed in 1995. Tours of historic areas of the city are offered by the organization, and she played a key role in creating them.. She continues as a member of the Milwaukee Historic Planning Commision.

Click here to order Sandra Ackerman's Milwaukee Then and Now.

Click here to order John Gurda's Cream City Chronicles.

Milwaukee Buildings: A Sampling   [ Top ]

Milwaukee Architecture 1837 to Today: a wealth of photographs from early residences such as the Benjamin Church House and early churches to the Milwaukee Art Museum's world-famous Calatrava addition
Famous Buildings of Milwaukee: from the 1988 MIlwaukee Center to the 1895 Flemish Renaissance-style Milwaukee City Hall and more about City Hall

Registered Historic Places in Milwaukee County, including the Kilbourntown House or Benjamin Church House, a Greek Revival residence now a museum

Milwaukee Architectural Sites from
the Pabst Mansion to the 1844 Benjamin Church House, the latter in Greek Revivial style

Historic Milwaukee and its tour programs and history presentations give many a look at Milwaukee heritage

Historic Third Ward describes the notable buildings there and their modern uses

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Santiago Calatrava:
Milwaukee Art Museum,
Quadracci Pavilion

Index to Finding
Family for Free
Articles

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In Search of Your German Roots. The Complete Guide
to Tracing Ancestors in Germanic Areas
of Europe

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MILWAUKEE
BOOKS

Vintage
Milwaukee
Postcards

The German
Immigrant Press
in Milwaukee

Immigrant
Milwaukee
1836-1860:
Accommodation
and Community
in a Frontier City

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Erving, Burdick &
Co's Milwaukee city directory, for
1857 & 1858

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South Milwaukee (Images of America)

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German Culture in Nineteenth-Century America: Reception, Adaptation and Transformation

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Swiss in
Wisconsin

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Genealogist's Guide
to Discovering Your Germanic Ancestors

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Tracking Down
Your Ancestors

Historic Photos of Milwaukee     [ Top ]

Milwaukee historic scenes from the Milwaukee Public Library collection include:
· Grand Avenue swinging bridge in 1880s,
    now Wisconsin Avenue downtown
· City Market on the East Side with stalls for
    merchants in 1885,
· Newspaper Row: home to numerous
   papers andthe Press Club, 1885
· Gimbel's Department Story in 1897
· Ice Skaters filled the Milwaukee River, here
    in January 1897
· Milwaukee Auditorium in 1909, interior
    scene. A key leader in its development was
    publisher William George Bruce
· Beer bottling was mechanized, Pabst, 1915
· Milwaukee City Hall as seen in 1923

Historic Milwaukee Photos from the Journal Sentinal Online with five archive pages:
· Archive 1: with one of Old City Hall
· Archive 2: Schlitz Palm Garden and more
· Archive 3: one of 4th & Chestnut, 1860s
· Archive 4: includes one of a three-masted
   schooner on the Milwaukee River, 1885
· Archive 5: photos of early stores

Historic Milwaukee Postcards: search the Bliffert Postcard Collection or browse its 400 cards including this sample:
· Val Blatz Brewing Co.
· Cathedral Square
· City Hall in the 1867 and 1909 versions
· City Hall in the 1900-1907 era
· Deutscher Club, 1905, now Wisconsin Club
· Germania Building
· Grand Avenue, east from 11th, 1914
· Juneau Monument, Juneau Park

Astor Hotel - its history

Milwaukee Neighborhoods   [ Top ]

Picturing Milwaukee Neighborhoods: illustrated essay on the city's historic development and ethnic roots

Map of Milwaukee Neighborhoods with links to photos

Eastside and Westside Milwaukee maps, indexed with historic and major buildings

Historic Irish Third Ward with maps

Historic Milwaukee: tours of cultural areas of the city, with 12 photos of historic buildings from mansions to breweries to sacred places

Historic Milwaukee Religious Buildings: from 1847, including German, Polish and Irish Catholic, German Lutheran, African Methodist Episcopal churches and Jewish synagogues

Historic Milwaukee Churches: a sampling of edifaces from as early as 1853

Free Congregation Church: founded in 1847 to continue abolition efforts, served by famous abolition minister Rev. Love. Later renamed.

Milwaukee Neighborhoods Today: the distinctive parts of town and and more on the city's neighborhoods

Milwaukee Downtown View from Bayview south of downtown

City waterways are the Milwaukee River that flows from the north, Menomonee River from the west and Kinnickinnic River from the south. They flow into Lake Michigan.

Milwaukee's Harbor is integral to its history and commerce. A key force in its development was William George Bruce, the eldest son of Augustus Bruce and Apollonia Becker Bruce.

Milwaukee Genealogy   [ Top ]

Links to the Past for Milwaukee: a major source for genealogy and history with a wealth of resources such as early census indexes and the 1848-1849 City Directory

Milwaukee Genealogical Society

Milwaukee County Historical Society and the building that houses the MCHS and details on the county's area historical societies

Milwaukee history and genealogy resources

Famous people with burials at Milwaukee's renowned Forest Home Cemetery

Other Genealogy Resources   [ Top ]

Family Research Tips & Tools including an index to our growing series of Finding Family for Free segments, reviewing remarkable resources that help you discover your ancestors

Genealogy Resources: links to many of the most helpful online resources for family history research, many available free, and including a section on getting started in genealogy

Relative Musings: our blog on genealogy and family history research, including the growing number of Finding Family for Free entries.

Genealogy Products    [ Top ]

Visit our Genealogy Shop for family history and genealogy books, software and other products today. Check out the sections for German genealogy, Irish genealogy and much more.
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Silver Screens: Pictorial History of Milwaukee's Movie Theaters

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Germans in
Wisconsin

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City Smart:
Milwaukee

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Illuminating
the Particular: Photographs of
Milwaukee's Polish
South Side

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Shorewood Wisconsin (Images of America)

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Finding Your German Ancestors : A
Beginner's Guide

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The Family Tree
Problem Solver:
Proven Methods
for Scaling the
Inevitable Brick Wall

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First Steps in Genealogy:
A Beginner's Guide
to Researching Your
Family History

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Rand McNally
2006 Milwaukee

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HISTORIC BOOK:
many biographies
History of
Milwaukee
City and County
(Volume III)

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Cultural Map of Wisconsin:
A Cartographic
Portrait of the State

Maps of Milwaukee [ Top ]

Territorial Milwaukee Map: showing original Juneautown, Kilbourntown, Walker's Point

Harry Baird's Plan for Milwaukee east of the Milwaukee River showing street names, some never used, and his 1835 Map

1878 Map of Milwaukee: click for a larger image and then zoom in to specific areas of the city in detail - has important buildings from city hall to schools to breweries.

Version of 1878 Map with sketches of city founders and the court house.

Milwaukee 1904 Map: with many old street names shown

Milwaukee County 1906 Map: topographic map showing extent of development

Collection of Milwaukee Maps: 12 maps from 1883 to 2000. Choose "view descriptive record" for medium-sized version and text

Map of Milwaukee Neighborhoods from 1885 to 1998 with links to photos

Milwaukee Green Map: interactive map to click for specific sites. Shows parks, cemeteries.

Milwaukee River Basin Map: showing the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnikinnic Rivers that come together at Milwaukee as well as the neighboring counties

Milwaukee Map - Downtown: detailed road map and major public buildings, rivers

Milwaukee County Map: map puts city in context of the county, and Lake Michigan to the east and neighboring counties Racine [south], Waukesha [west] and Ozaukee [north]
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Irish in Wisconsin
(People of Wisconsin)

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The Milwaukee
Neighborhood Map
(Maps & Atlases)

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Milwaukee Bike
Map and Southeast
Wisconsin

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on ANY topic

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Cream City
Chronicles: Stories
of Milwaukee's Past

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