Convent Hill

If you look now at the old Convent Hill, much has changed since has changed since the demolition of the Park East Freeway stub. There is still plenty of open land although plans are beginning to develop to use the vacant fields. This area got its name from the large Convent for School Sisters of Notre Dame which encompassed the entire block between Milwaukee, Jefferson, Ogden, and Knapp Streets.

Before the Park East was a dream, the area was dominated by the Convent and workers houses for the Pfister & Vogel Tannery and other nearby industries like Schlitz Brewery. It was a nondescript working class neighborhood and traces of it can still be found around Jefferson, Jackson, and Pleasant Streets.

Demolition for the Park East was extensive and wiped away a large swath of land as well as these working class neighborhoods between Lyon and Ogden. The Convent was closed and torn down in the early 1960s and moved out to Elm Grove. Everything seen in these pictures from 1930 is long gone but the neighborhood continues to evolve and actually improve.

Milwaukee Public Schools leading to some other questions

One of my long term projects is on the Milwaukee Public schools.   This is going much slower than I thought, only because there is so much interesting material that diverts me away from where I am supposed to be working.

I have been given a copy of an image that is of unknown location, year, and significance, but thought that someone could give me some information on it.

The picture is attached and shows children and their teacher wearing cold weather coats, hats, and blankets on their laps.  In the background, there are two men just right of center in the photo.

It appears to me that the classroom does not have a wall in the back, but the print quality is pretty poor.

I am going to guess that the picture was taken in the 1890s or so.

Does anyone know anything about this photo?  I cannot find a copy of it on the Internet and because of the two men in the background who look like they are of some import, I do not think that this is the normal photo showing children undergoing horrible conditions to inspire the public to act, such as the famous Breaker Boy photos of children working in the coal industry or pictures of street orphans in NYC.

When I attended John Marshall High in Milwaukee, I vaguely recall our senior history class text stating that schools in the 1890s in some of the eastern coast region had enrollments of up to 10,000 or 12,000 students!  I don’t know if I am remembering that anywhere near being accurate, as Marshall’s enrollment when I was there was over 3,900 and it seemed pretty big.

The photo makes me wonder if this was taken at one of those schools where the numbers of children were rapidly increasing and this was the temporary solution to that, while walls were going to be added or a room was being built elsewhere.

Could anyone enlighten me on the photo, including a source for a better copy? I would also love to hear whether those gigantic schools did exist.

Thank you.

Paul

Milwaukee’s Arab History

Marquette professor Enaya Othman, has worked for several years to help create an organization here called the Arab Muslim Women Research and Resource Institute. The organization and her work was reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel back in December 2009.

One of the projects she and dedicated individuals has been working on for this institute is a history of Arab immigrants to Milwaukee. An article on the project’s website gives a brief history of Syrian and Palestinian immigration.

Further reading on Milwaukee’s Syrian colony can be found in the following article from the Milwaukee Journal of June 19, 1945.

Missing Milwaukee Walking Tour

Here’s a great opportunity to take a walk into the past of Missing Milwaukee. This walking tour will be hosted by myself and will provide a glimpse back at several downtown buildings which are no longer with us. These buildings were featured in the HMI book published last year as well as many others.

The tour will start at 5:30 on May 11th and is $15 for HMI members and $20 if you are not a member. For $10 extra you can get a copy of the book.

More details and tour registration can be found here.

Monday Milwaukee Mystery

Today we are back with the Monday Mysteries after some time spent doing much needed website maintenance.

This mystery photo has some clues as to the location in the picture. I will leave it to you to decipher. The building on which the sculpture is located lies in the area of downtown west of the river. I’ll wait to see if anyone can guess it before giving out more clues.

Remembering Richard Nickel

In the 1970’s the city of Chicago, like Milwaukee saw many buildings fall to the wrecking ball. In the spring of 1972 the Chicago Stock Exchange building was being demolished. This structure was a grand example of late 19th century architecture designed by the famous Chicago architects, Dunkmar Adler and Louis Sullivan. It was considered one of Sullivan’s best remaining works of architecture in the early 1970’s. It was an imaginative work that used the latest technology of the steel frame and merged it with the highest forms of decorative arts and terra-cotta.

One person interested in documenting and trying to save the Stock Exchange and other 19th century Chicago buildings was Richard Nickel. He was an architectural photographer and historian who was continuing a project to completely document all of Adler and Sullivan’s remaining work. This started in the early 1950’s after studying under Aaron Siskind at IIT Institute of Design in Chicago. The project continued after he completed his thesis in 1957 and grew with the demolition of the Garrick Theater in 1961. Nickel launched an all-out preservation effort to try and save the Garrick early in 1960 and even with a court battle by preservationists was unable to halt the building’s demise. Luckily he was able to salvage many terra-cotta and plaster ornamentation as well as completely documenting much of the building prior to its destruction.

The last battle that he fought was the effort to save the Chicago Stock Exchange. This crusade was fought for several years before it was found to be unwinnable. As with the Garrick, the only solution was to save as much of the building’s artwork as possible. Richard Nickel worked with the Art Institute as well as the Metropolitan Museum and Southern Illinois University to save various architectural artifacts for their collections. Through his effort, many artifacts were salvaged from the Stock Exchange building including an immense entrance arch which was placed outside the Art Institute in 1977. He continued on with his salvage work and documentation, often working alone whenever he had the opportunity. He sacrificed much to save a history that many didn’t think was worth saving and because of that we know much about Adler and Sullivan that would have otherwise been lost.

The last day anyone saw him alive was 40 years ago today. He was found in May 1972 in the rubble of the Stock Exchange as the last walls came down.

I recommend:
Art Institute of Chicago website
Digital Stock Exchange
They All Fall Down

Tutorial Time

So I finally put together a few guides for working with the new blog. Most everyone should now be able to log in and comment and quite a few of you can write your own posts. If things aren’t working, shoot me an email.

The About section should give you a basic run-down of where things are. For the adventurous ones you can write something down and be famous! The Posting Guide section will step you through that process.

If we have some new people that want to try their hand and help us out here at Oldmilwaukee.net then email me and we will get you set up.

Ciao.

Spanish Swindlers

The emails you get from Nigerian bureaucrats asking you to help them launder a couple million dollars for a cut of the pie are nothing new. These 419 scams have been going on long before email was around. A hundred years ago the Spaniards were adept at sending letters to hapless victims here in the US and were sometimes successful as this article suggests.

Milwaukee Sentinel, January 11, 1906

STOP SWINDLE BY SPANIARDS

Wisconsin People Being Victimized by Story of Heritage to Fortune

Information has been placed in the hands of officials of the state and postoffice departments here that persons in Wisconsin have been victims of Spanish adventurers who are operating the old scheme of getting money out of the gullible, who are informed that they are the heirs to fortunes left by Spanish branches of their families, of whose existence they never dreamed, and who in reality never existed. The Spanish fortune scheme has been operated in the United States for twenty-five years. This government has made the matter a subject of diplomatic exchanges with Spain on several occasions and Spain has gone to extremes to break up the gang responsible for these outrages perpetrated on American citizens. A number of cases of the kind arising in Wisconsin have been brought to the attention of the authorities here and members of the state delegation. Inspectors of the postoffice department have been put on the trail and already it is understood their work has been productive of results.

The game practiced upon a Wisconsin man of some prominence, whose name is withheld, shows how the scheme is operated. The man in question received a letter some months ago, presumably from a relative with a Spanish name, stating that he was on his deathbed, and that he desired to apprise his kinsman of the fact that he had considerable property in Spain. The letter went on to say that the dying man had a daughter in Madrid, a student in a convent there, and that the daughter and the Wisconsin man were the sole heirs. Later the gullible gentleman in Wisconsin learned of the death of the mythical kinsman and was told that all of the papers substantiating his claim, together with the will of deceased, were in a trunk in a hotel in London and that to secure their release and a settlement of the claim in the Spanish courts he would have to forward $600. The Badger lost no time. He was in a hurry to get the fortune. A few days later he awoke and, after telegraphic correspondence with Washington, learned that he had been “buncoed.” The wires were again set in motion and the registered letter carrying the real money of the Wisconsin man was intercepted, and the sender will receive it back as soon as the red tape of the department necessary in such cases is unraveled.

Newly Updated Blog

It took a lot of hairpulling but I think I have the blog set up the way I like it. This will change the way everyone interacts with the site but I think after all is said and done it will be a big improvement. The forums can still be found at the link to the right under “Side Streets”. These may be retired in the future to make everything simpler.

Stay tuned!

Any comments?

Milwaukee’s Architectural Beauty

From a Milwaukee Sentinel article on May 29, 1921:

RESIDENTIAL PART OF CITY FULL OF CHARM

Builders Have Demonstrated That Practicability Is no Bar to Aesthetics.

By Ruth Robert.

As a man is known by the company he keeps so is a city judged by the architecture of its public buildings. No one thing in the makeup of a community goes so far in determining whether it shall be listed among the beautiful places of the world or condemned as a dumping ground of smoke stacks and brick walls.

Architecture, it has been said, is the “mother of the arts.” If that is so then Milwaukee can justly be named one of her offspring — a City Beautiful — for here may be found scores of examples of good architecture which have earned fame, for the city and the architects who created them.

Milwaukee architects have not confined themselves to beaten paths. Examples of classical works vie with Gothic spires and early English, while noteworthy structures in Italian and French Renaissance and strictly modern ideas abound.

Architecture has not yet become a subject of popular interest, nevertheless, it offers itself as a fascinating pursuit not only to the professional but to the layman. Much might be found in the buildings of this city which would be of more than passing interest to the general public if they could readily discriminate between examples which architecturally are correct and those others which are, to say the least, commonplace. Unfortunately, however, in the study of architecture by the layman, the range of interest usually is limited and a truly critical faculty checked by either a lack of appreciation for the beautiful or the absence of a proper education.

Following the development of architecture through the years, one will detect a new element grafted on to the old, a new treatment or combination of old forms and styles dependent on the needs and fancies of the ever changing period. It is not the intention here to wander off into a history of architecture, but to introduce properly the reason for selecting a few of the many examples of good architecture in Milwaukee.

One of the most familiar buildings is the public library and museum to which Milwaukee may well point with pride. The design is Italian Renaissance, the Corinthian order being used. A noteworthy feature of the design is the perfectly balanced treatment of the front and the emphasis given to the main entrance by means of the free standing columns above with the second story walls recessed in the form of a loggia. There is a feeling of solidity in the rusticated first story which provided support for the lighter appearing superstructure, exemplifying the greatest element of architecture – Truth. An examination of the enrichment, details, etc., will reveal the architect’s painstaking study of the ornamentation. The Dome has been kept low in order to harmonize with the whole design of the front where the horizontal effect appears to dominate.

The Northwestern National Fire Insurance company’s building on the corner of Jackson and Wisconsin streets is one of the best examples of modern French Renaissance in the city. The design is reminiscent of that used for the Grand Palais of the Exposition Universelle, Paris. The arrangement of the columns in pairs is successful and mention might be made of the beautiful iron railings in front of the first story windows. Clean cut mouldings with heavy shadow lines add to the boldness of the design.

The Marshall & Ilsley bank, on East Water street, is a truthful adaptation of the Grecian Ionic style, employing much of the order of the Erechtheion at Athens. The large scale and the severity of the front seems to bespeak dignity, while the refinement of Grecian details is to be seen in the delicacy of the mouldings.

The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance building is an imposing classical design based on the Corinthian order, the scale of the order demanding an individual setting such as this building possesses. It would seem many architects agree that the corner pilasters should have been doubled or that the facades would be improved by heavier treatment of the corners. Apart from this and the somewhat ponderous attic portion above the main cornice, the design is excellent. Note may be made of the green terra cotta panels used on the front emphasizing the colonnade.

St. John’s cathedral, one of the older churches in the city, in character of design is expressive of the purpose for which the building is intended. The tower, rebuilt many years after the main body of the church, has been made the predominating feature of the entire design. The tower may be considered one of the real gems of architecture in the city. The beautiful outline and proportion and the delicate and refined motive employed in its design stamp it as a lasting example of the best in Renaissance architecture. The feeling is Italian with a semblance of some of the methods used by Wren in his London city churches. It suggests a Romanesque influence.

St. James’ church, Grand avenue, also of the old school, is of early English Gothic design, well proportioned with a well detailed main entrance. There is charm in the general outline of the front, and the tower is capped with a well bundled Broach spire.

Church of the Redeemer, Nineteenth street and Grand avenue, is one of the newer churches in the city. Though the building may appear severe to the layman, it shows what may be accomplished in the judicial use of comparatively inexpensive materials, the whole design depends entirely upon the correct disposition of simple masses and the use of plain surfaces devoid of unnecessary ornament. Vertical lines predominate, and the facade builds up gradually to a high peaked gable. The great arch of the front window, limited by buttress-like pylons, still further emphasizes the vertical lines of the front. The architect relied entirely on quiet dignity and simplicity rather than the overdressed ornamental design which many architects seem to imagine is synonymous with good church architecture.

The residence of Archbishop Messmer, 2000 Grand avenue, one of the older residences, is a fine example of German Renaissance (Hanseatic school). The front is well balanced, with fanciful gables providing an interesting outline. The main porch is beautifully detailed, elaborated consistently with this style. The private chapel to the east, though of a slightly different feeling, is good, excellent in detail and cleverly designed.

The Grant Fitch residence, 55 Prospect avenue, is one of the best domestic examples of colonial architecture to be seen here. It has an aura of aristocratic dignity, a very well proportioned portico and expresses a sympathetic handling of refined details.

The Gallun residence, 108 Prospect avenue, is a good example of English domestic architecture of the Tudor period. The plan of the house permits of an interesting arrangement of the elevation. The beautiful colors of the stonework and the ruggedness of the graded slate roof adds to the charm of its appearance. Leaded glass set in metal casements further enhances the English feeling of the design. It seems that a house of this magnitude would show off to better advantage on a larger piece of property than that on which it stands.

The University club has a good colonial facade except for the fact that the unfortunate location of the entrance destroys an otherwise pleasing, symmetrical and well balanced arrangement. Ionic columns have been used for the entrance which in itself is quite good, spoiled only by its location to one side of the main axis. Interest is added to the front by the balcony at the second story level.

In closing, a word might be said of the Gargoyle restaurant as it appeared before its present remodeling. It was then a beautiful example of the use of English domestic architecture as applied to small commercial buildings.

Though small, it attracted the eye because of its unique design, charming and quaint with such features as its grotesques, and exceptionally good oriel bay window. Its irregular treatment served only to emphasize the picturesque quality.