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MILWAUKEE

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 495 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MILWAUKEE , a See also:

city and the See also:county-seat of Milwaukee county, See also:Wisconsin, U.S.A., the largest city of the See also:state, at the mouth of the Milwaukee See also:river on the W. See also:shore of See also:Lake See also:Michigan, about 85 m. N. of See also:Chicago. Pop. (1900), 285,315; (1910), 373,857. The Milwaukee river entering the city from the See also:north is joined about 1 m. from its mouth by the See also:Menominee flowing from the See also:west and a See also:short distance from the lake by the Kinnikinnic flowing from the See also:south. These See also:rivers are navigable for lake See also:traffic into the See also:heart of the city. Milwaukee See also:Bay, into which their combined See also:waters empty, is an inlet of Lake Michigan, about 6 m. across. By the construction of extensive piers and breakwaters a See also:fine See also:harbour of See also:refuge has been created; and its inner harbour is deep enough for the largest lake-steamers. From the shore of the lake the See also:land rises, rather abruptly in most places, to a height of from 75 to too ft. From a broad See also:plateau overlooking the lake the land slopes gradually westward to the river, again rising on the north, west and south to a height of 125 ft. or more. The rivers See also:separate the city into three distinctly marked divisions of varying See also:character known as the See also:east, west and south sides. The manufactories are largely on the " flats " along the rivers and on the south See also:side.

The extensive use as See also:

building material of cream-coloured See also:brick made in the vicinity gives the city its See also:nickname, " the Cream City." The city has many beautiful parks and squares, the most picturesque of which is See also:Juneau See also:Park, along the lake See also:bluff. It contains statues of Leif Ericsson and See also:Solomon Juneau. Other parks are Lake Park, also on the lake shore, at North Point, where stands the waterworks pumping station with its tall See also:tower; See also:Riverside and Kilbourn Parks, east and west respectively of the upper Milwaukee river, in the See also:northern See also:part of the city, Washing-ton Park on the west side, containing a See also:menagerie and a See also:herd of See also:deer; See also:Sherman Park on the west side, and Kosciusko, See also:Humboldt and See also:Mitchell Parks on the south side. See also:McKinley Park on the lake shore south of the city, and See also:Whitefish Bay 6 m. north of the city, are popular bathing resorts. In addition to the statues in Juneau Park there is a statue of Kosciusko in the park of that name; one of See also:Washington and a soldiers' See also:monument on See also:Grand See also:Avenue; a statue of See also:Henry Bergh in front of the city See also:hall; one of See also:Robert See also:Burns in the First See also:Ward Park, and, in Washington Park, a replica of See also:Ernst See also:Rietschel's See also:Schiller-See also:Goethe monument in See also:Jena, given to the city in 1908 by the Germans of Milwaukee. Of the several cemeteries, that of See also:Forest See also:Home, south-west of the city, is the largest and most beautiful. The city is well sewered, and has an excellent See also:water-See also:supply See also:system owned by the See also:municipality and representing an investment of more than $5,000,000. The water is obtained from Lake Michigan through an intake far out in the lake. Through a See also:tunnel z m. See also:long, constructed in 1888, water is pumped by means of one of the largest single pumps in the See also:world from the lake into the upper Milwaukee river, which is thus completely flushed by fresh water every twenty-four See also:hours. Milwaukee is one of the most healthful of the larger cities of the See also:United States. Its See also:average See also:annual See also:death-See also:rate for 1900–1904 was 13.6. The proximity of Lake Michigan cools the See also:atmosphere in summer and tempers the See also:cold in See also:winter.

As a result, the extremes of See also:

heat and cold are not as See also:great as those in most inland cities. The mean monthly temperatures vary between 20° in See also:January and 70° in See also:July, with extremes of zoo° and -25° The mean annual precipitation is 31.4 in. Suburbs.—Milwaukee proper occupies 221 sq. m., a small See also:area as compared with other cities near it in See also:population—See also:Detroit (36 sq. m.) and Washington, D.C. (69; sq. m.). As a result, the population has overflowed into several populous suburbs industrially a part of a greater " Milwaukee. Of these by far the most important are the township of Wauwatosa (pop., 1905, 11,132; 1910, 11,536), and the city of the same name, separated from the township in 1897 and having in 1910 a population of 3346; the city and township are on the Menominee river, immediately adjoining the city on the west. The first See also:settlement was made here in 1835. Wauwatosa has important manufactures, including machinery, brick, See also:lime, See also:beer, chemicals and wooden-See also:ware, and extensive See also:market gardens and nurseries and valuable See also:stone quarries. It has a See also:Carnegie library, and is the seat of an Evangelical Lutheran theological See also:seminary (1865), of Lutheran homes for the aged and See also:orphan, of the Milwaukee county See also:hospital for the insane, of the Milwaukee See also:sanatorium for See also:nervous diseases, and of the north-western See also:branch of the See also:national soldiers' home, which has grounds covering 385 acres and with See also:main building and See also:barracks affording quarters for over 2000 disabled veterans, and has a hospital, a See also:theatre, and a library of 15,000 volumes. Within the limits of Wauwatosa also are the State See also:Fair grounds. Other suburbs are West Allis pop., 1905, 2306; U. S. See also:census 1910, 6645), an incorporated rapidly growing manufacturing city on the west; Cudahy (pop., 1910, 3691), a manufacturing See also:village south of Milwaukee, largely devoted to See also:meat packing; South Milwaukee (pop.

1910, 6092), an incorporated city with several large manufactories, and North Milwaukee (pop., 1910, 1860), a village immediately adjoining the city on the north. Public Buildings, Institutions, &c.—The See also:

principal public building in the city is the Federal building (1895-1898), the See also:post See also:office, See also:custom-See also:house and See also:local headquarters for the United States courts. The public library and museum, on the north side of Grand Avenue,, inaddition to an excellent collection of natural See also:history, palaeontology, &c., contained in 1909 a library of about 190,000 volumes. The city hall on the east side is surmounted by a tall See also:clock-tower containing one of the largest bells in the world. The Layton See also:Art See also:Gallery contains one of the best collections of paintings west of the Alleghanies. The chamber of See also:commerce, and the See also:Pabst, Mitchell, North-Western See also:Life See also:Insurance, Germania See also:Sentinel and See also:Wells buildings, are among the principal business structures. In Milwaukee are St See also:John's See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:Cathedral and All See also:Saints See also:Protestant Episcopal Cathedral—the city is the see of a Roman Catholic See also:arch-bishopric (established in 1892) and of a Protestant Episcopal bishopric. Among other See also:church structures are See also:Plymouth Congregational, See also:Westminster Presbyterian, Church of Gesu (Roman Catholic) and Trinity Lutheran. The hotels include the Pfister on the east side and the Plankinton, the Republican and the Schlitz on the west side. Among the theatres are the See also:Davidson, Majestic, See also:Schubert, Bijou, See also:Alhambra and the Pabst See also:German. During the summer there are open-See also:air theatres in several private parks or " gardens." The social clubs include the Milwaukee, Deutscher-See also:Concordia, University and See also:Marquette clubs. The predominance of Germanic See also:influence in the city is evidenced by at least 75 musical clubs and numerous Turnverein See also:societies.

There are 12 hospitals (3 of them city institutions), 6 orphan asylums, 4 homes for the aged, a foundlings' home and a state See also:

industrial school for girls. . The educational institutions are numerous. Marquette University was established in 1906 by a See also:union of Marquette See also:College (1881), a Roman Catholic school of high See also:rank, and existing See also:schools of See also:medicine, See also:pharmacy, See also:dentistry and See also:law; in 1908 it added a See also:department of See also:engineering, and in that See also:year it had 81 instructors and 63o students: Milwaukee-Downer College (for girls), in the north-east part of the city was established in 1895 by a consolidation of Milwaukee College for girls, and Downer College, formerly at See also:Fox Lake. Other institutions are Concordia College (1881, Lutheran), a state normal school (1880), the Wisconsin College of physicians and surgeons (1893), the national German-See also:American teachers' seminary (normal), Milwaukee See also:academy (1864), Milwaukee University school, Milwaukee school of engineering (1904), Milwaukee Turnverein school of See also:physical culture, one of the largest schools of the sort in the United States, St John's Catholic See also:institute, Our See also:Lady of See also:Mercy academy (Roman Catholic), Wisconsin academy of See also:music, the Wisconsin school of art (art students' See also:league), a Catholic normal school, St See also:Rose's See also:manual training school, the industrial chemical institute (the only technical school for brewers in the United States) and several business and commercial schools. At St See also:Francis, adjoining the city on the south, is the seminary of St Francis of Saks (Roman Catholic), and St See also:Joseph's institute for See also:deaf mutes (Roman Catholic). The Milwaukee public school system comprises four high schools, a high school of trades, and in addition to the See also:ordinary grades, a See also:kindergarten department and See also:day schools for the See also:blind and deaf. Transportation.—Milwaukee is favourably situated commercially, with excellent facilities for See also:shipping both by lake and See also:rail afforded by four See also:trunk lines and a dozen lines of lake steamboats. It is served by the Chicago & North-Western, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St See also:Paul, the Minneapolis, St Paul & Sault Ste See also:Marie, the Grand Trunk, and the Pere Marquette See also:railways. The last-named connects with the main See also:line at See also:Ludington, Michigan, by means of a railway See also:ferry across Lake Michigan; the Grand Trunk has a railway ferry from Milwaukee to Grand Haven. The city's extensive See also:street railway system connects with interurban electric lines leading to See also:Waukesha, See also:Oconomowoc and See also:Watertown on the west, See also:Sheboygan and Fond du See also:Lac on the north, and Chicago and intermediate points along the lake shore on the south. See also:Trade and Commerce.—Commercially Milwaukee is one of the most important of the inland cities of the United States, although its trade it largely domestic. It is a distributing point for a considerable part of Wisconsin, and several states farther west, its wholesale business aggregating about $350,000,000 annually.

The See also:

country produce sold in Milwaukee averages about $75,000,000 a year in value. The See also:chief commodities of trade are See also:coal, See also:grain, See also:lumber, See also:flour and various products of the city's own manufactories. Milwaukee is an important grain shipping See also:port—in 1908 it shipped 28,618,519 bushels of grain and 3,752,033 barrels of flour, and its 25 See also:elevators have a capacity of over 12,500,000 bushels. It is one of the largest distributing centres in the country for coal, which is received by lake, and stored in enormous coal docks for trans-shipment by rail throughout the west and north-west. The city is a port of entry, and in 1908 its imports were valued at $3,080,437, and its exports at only $75,525. Manufactures.—In 1905 the See also:total value of Milwaukee's factory products was $138,881,545, 25.3 % more than in 1900. In the manufacture of See also:malt liquors and malt Milwaukee stands first among the cities of the United States and of the world. The total value of these products for 1905 was $29,909,248, of which $22,134,580 was the value of malt liquors and $3,774,668 was the value of malt. In 1905 Milwaukee manufactured 77.1% of the malt liquors manufactured in the state and 7.4% of the entire product of the United States. Other products exceeding $i,000,000 in value were: See also:leather ($14,074,397), Milwaukee being second in the manufacture of leather among the cities of the United States ; foundry and See also:machine See also:shop products ($I0,232,723); See also:iron and See also:steel ($7,010,793) ; flour and grist-See also:mill products ($6,320,428) ; slaughtering and meat-packing products ($5,958,515); men's clothing ($4,759,548); boots and shoes 42,929,405); See also:electrical machinery, apparatus and supplies ($2,257,229); chewing and smoking See also:tobacco ($1,966,930) and cigars and cigarettes ($1,540,019); See also:furniture ($1,767,290); trunks and valises ($1,623,310); See also:hosiery and knit goods ($1,535,176); See also:confectionery ($1,379,668); stoves and furnaces ($1,288,931); leather gloves and mittens ($1,207,633); structural iron See also:work ($1,037,217); wooden packing boxes ($1,024,750); and paints ($1,015,774). Among Milwaukee's largest industrial establishments are: the Pabst and the Schlitz breweries, on the west side of the city, the machine shops (35 acres) of the Allis-See also:Chalmers See also:Company at West Allis, employing about 5000 men and making engines of all kinds; and the plant of the See also:Illinois Steel Company, at Bay View on the south side, which covers 154 acres. The flour See also:mills of Milwaukee have a capacity of about 12,000 barrels a day.

Two of the city's tanneries are among the largest in See also:

America. In the Menominee river valley the See also:peculiar cream-coloured Milwaukee bricks are made. North of the city on the Milwaukee river are extensive See also:cement See also:works. See also:Newspapers.—The first newspaper in Milwaukee, the Advertiser, began publication in 1836. The first German newspaper was established in 1844. In '1909 there were eleven daily newspapers, as follows: Evening Wisconsin (1847; Republican), See also:Free See also:Press (1901; See also:Independent Republican),. See also:Journal (1882; Independent Democrat), See also:News (1886; Independent), and Sentinel (1837; Republican), the See also:oldest See also:paper in continuous publication, Daily Commercial See also:Letter (Commercial), Reporter (legal and commercial), Dziennik Milwaukki (See also:Polish), Kuryer Polski (1888; Republican; Polish), Germania Abendpost (1872; Independent; German) ; and Der See also:Herold (1854; Independent; German). Of more than a See also:hundred other publications See also:thirty-two, to monthly or quarterly and 22 weekly, were published in German. There are 5 Polish weekly publications, 3 Bohemian, i See also:Italian and one periodical for the blind. Population.—The population of Milwaukee in 1840 was only 1712. During the following See also:decade there was a steady flow of immigrants from the eastern states and from See also:Europe, with the result that in 1850, two years after the See also:admission of Wisconsin to the Union, the population was 20,061. The population at the succeeding decennial censuses was as follows: (1860), 45,246; (1870), 71,440; (1880), 115,587; (1890), 204,468; (1900), 285,315.

In 1905, according to the state census, the population was 312,948. The fact that out of a population of 285,315 in 1900, 88,991 were See also:

foreign-See also:born, and 235,889 were of foreign parentage, that 53,854 were born in See also:Germany, that 124,211 had both parents born in Germany, and that 26,834 additional had one or the other See also:parent born in Germany, stamps the character of Milwaukee's population. The See also:negro population in 190o was only 862. The proportion of illiterates is small. Of the male population, aged 10 years or more, only 3206 (2968 foreign-born whites; 194 native-born whites) were illiterate in 1900. See also:Government.—Milwaukee is governed under a city See also:charter of 1874, providing the See also:form of city government.most See also:common in America, a See also:mayor (elected biennially) and a single See also:board of aldermen. There are the usual administrative boards whose members are appointed by the mayor, some of them with the approval of the board of aldermen, though the board of school See also:directors is elected by See also:direct popular See also:vote. Two boards of See also:civil service commissioners, one for See also:fire and See also:police departments and one for all other departments, have supervision over the city's civil service. The assessed valuation of taxable See also:property, in the city, in See also:August 1906 was $205,585,127, of which $157,611,560 represented realty and $43,973,567 See also:personality. The valuation is about 6o % of the actual value. The tax rate for all purposes in that year was $2.26 per:$See also:Ioo. According to a See also:special See also:report of the census the cost of the city government of Milwaukee in 1906 was smaller per capita than that of any other city in the country with a population of over 300,000.

At the See also:

close of the year 1906 the total See also:debt was $8,835,049, and the funded debt was $8,106,500. History.—The first Europeans known to have visited the site of Milwaukee were See also:Father Jacques Marquette, the Jesuit missionary, and his See also:companion, See also:Louis See also:Joliet, who on their return in the autumn of 1673 to the See also:mission of St Francis See also:Xavier at De Pere from their trip down the See also:Mississippi, skirted the west shore of Lake Michigan in their canoes from Chicago northward. Milwaukee Bay is distinctly marked in the See also:map attributed to Marquette, the See also:original of which is now in the Jesuit College at See also:Montreal, See also:Canada; it was discovered in a See also:convent in Montreal by See also:Felix See also:Martin (1804-1886), of the Society of Jesus, and was copied by See also:Parkman. In 1679 La Salle and his party probably stopped here on their way south, and in the Jesuit Relations of that year the name Milwaukee first appears, as " Millioke. " This, and the various other spellings of the name, attempted to reproduce the See also:Indian name of the village here, which Kelton thinks was pronounced Minewagi and meant " there is a See also:good point " or " there is a point where huckleberries grow," in allusion to the fertile See also:soil. Doubtless the coureurs du bois who at this See also:time. began to frequent the Wisconsin forests, touched at the bay many times within the succeeding years as the See also:place was known to be a favourite See also:rendezvous of the Fox (or Outagamie) See also:Indians. In 1699-1700 Father St Cosme, a Recollet See also:friar, was here, finding bands of Mascoutens, Fox, See also:Winnebago and See also:Potawatomi. He called the river " Melwarik," " Melwarck " and " Meliwarik." For more than See also:half a See also:century no definite reference to the place can be found. In 176o its advantageous situation attracted the adventurous trader, See also:Alexander Henry, the first Englishman known to have visited the spot. Three years later (1763) there was a See also:French See also:fur-trading post here, but it is uncertain just when it was established or how long it was maintained. In 1795 Jacques Vieau, a Frenchman in the employ of the North-Western Fur Company, established a permanent post here, which seems to have continued, under his direction, with practically no interruption until 1820, when it was superseded by that of See also:Astor's American Fur Company. Vieau built a dwelling and a ware-house and conducted extensive trading operations.

In 1818 there joined the settlement a See also:

young Frenchman named See also:Laurent Solomon Juneau (1793-1856), who married one of Vieau's daughters and eventually bought out his business. Juneau and several others who arrived at about the same time built homes on the east side of the river near the See also:foot of the See also:present Wisconsin Street. Vieau's house and See also:store was at this time on the south side. Milwaukee was on the direct route of travel between Fort Dearborn (Chicago) and the flourishing settlement at See also:Green Bay, and at once after the See also:treaties between the United States and the Menominee in 1831 and 1833 for the extinguishing of the Indian titles, settlers began to come to the neighbourhood. A map of 1830 shows a small settlement on " Milwalky Bay "; and the treaty of the 8th of See also:February 1831 speaks of the " Milwauky or Manawauky River." See also:Morgan L. Martin (1805-1887) of Green Bay, a lawyer and See also:judge, and a delegate to See also:Congress in 1845-1847 from Wisconsin territory, explored the harbour facilities in 1833 and made a map of the place which he called " Milwaukie." He entered into an agreement later in the same year with Juneau and See also:Michael Dousman for its development. A saw-mill was built in 1834, and settlers began to arrive. The east side was platted in the summer of 1835, and very soon after-ward the plat of a settlement on the west side was also recorded, See also:Byron Kilbourn being the chief projector and proprietor of the latter. The See also:rival settlements, officially known as Milwaukee East Side and Milwaukee West Side, See also:bore the popular designations of " Juneautown " and " Kilbourntown." A third settlement, begun on the south side by See also:George H. See also:Walker and known as " Walker's Point," was subsequently platted independently. The rivalry between the east and west side towns was intense, the plats were so surveyed that the streets did not meet at the river, and there were See also:bitter quarrels over the building of See also:bridges. Milwaukee county was set off from See also:Brown county in 1834, and in 1836 the See also:establishment of townships was authorized.

Under this See also:

act the east and west sides were independently incorporated in February 1837. A realization that the continuation of independent and rival corporations retarded growth eventually led to a See also:compromise by which the two were united as two wards of the same village in 1839, the See also:autonomy of each being still recognized by an See also:odd arrangement whereby each maintained practically independent management of its finances and affairs. Walker's Point, the south side, was annexed as a third ward in 1845, and in 1846 the three wards were incorporated as the city of Milwaukee, of which Solomon Juneau was elected, first mayor. The influence of this See also:early rivalry may be seen in several provisions of the existing city charter. About 184o a strong See also:tide of See also:immigration from Germany set in, continuing steadily for a half-century. It was greatly accelerated by the German revolutionary movements of the See also:late 'forties, which added to the city's population a considerable See also:element of educated Germans of the upper class. From this time the See also:Teutonic character of the population was marked. The first newspaper, the Advertiser, began publication in 1836; the first See also:bank was established in 1837. In 1839 George See also:Smith and Alexander Mitchell established the Fire and Marine Insurance Company Bank. As " Mitchell's Bank " this institution was known for See also:forty years as one of the strongest banking houses west of the Alleghanies, its notes passing at See also:par during panics in which even the government issues were depreciated. Through it the Chicago Milwaukee & St Paul and other western railways were financed. Beer was first brewed in Milwaukee in 184o.

Milwaukee was connected with Chicago by See also:

telegraph in 1849, and by railway in 1856. Previous to this, however, in 1851, the first See also:train ran over.the Chicago Milwaukee & St Paul railway to Waukesha, and in 1857 through trains were run over the same road to the Mississippi at See also:Prairie du Chien. See J. S. See also:Buck, See also:Pioneer History of Milwaukee (4 vols., Milwaukee, 1876-1886); A. C. See also:Wheeler, See also:Chronicles of Milwaukee (Milwaukee, 1861); E. S. Mack, " The See also:Founding of Milwaukee " in Proceedings of the State See also:Historical Society for 1006 (See also:Madison, 1907) ; and L. M. Larson, Administrative History of Milwaukee (Madison, Wisconsin, 1908).

End of Article: MILWAUKEE

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