Milwaukee

“ About ten o’clock they sailed into the harbor of Milwaukee, built on both sides of the Milwaukee River, on a high bluff overlooking the lake. Most of the town is built of the Milwaukee brick, which is of a light straw-color; and though this brick is a very fine building material, yet it harmonizes too much with the color of the sandy streets and sandy bluff to give a fine effect to the town. A stronger contrast would be better. There are some very fine buildings; a hotel of beautiful 211and elaborate design, and a custom-house of fine architecture, built of white stone. ”

“ Milwaukee and Madison may be taken to represent fairly the civilization of Wisconsin. Milwaukee, having a population of about 175,000, is a beautiful city, with some characteristics peculiar to itself, having the settled air of being much older than it is, a place accustomed to money and considerable elegance of living. The situation on the lake is fine, the high curving bluffs offering most attractive sites for residences, and the rolling country about having a quiet beauty. ”

“ He would assign me to an entirely unexplored and very promising field, the city of Milwaukee. I was to be allowed a commission of thirty-three per cent. on all subscriptions obtained. Being provided with a full equipment of subscription-books and circulars, I lost no time in starting for the scene of my future operations.
Milwaukee has always been an almost German city. In 1856, the preponderance of the German element was even greater than at present; in fact, its Americanization, which has in the meantime progressed very rapidly, had then hardly begun. ”

“ But if the place be successful,—if it promise success, it will be seen at once that there is life all through it. Omnibuses, or street cars working on rails run hither and thither. The shops that have been opened are well filled. The great hotels are thronged. The quays are crowded with vessels, and a general feeling of progress pervades the place. It is easy to perceive whether or no an American town is going ahead. The days of my visit to Milwaukee were days of civil war and national trouble, but in spite of civil war and national trouble Milwaukee looked healthy. ”

“ A few weeks in Milwaukee or any other town of its size will open your eyes. Milwaukee has grown incredibly since 1914, produced several hundreds of war-millionaires and has the aspects of a most thriving, prosperous city.
The people crave for good entertainment, good reading, a glimpse of art. There is an Art Institute heavily subsidized by the city. Its permanent exhibition{109} is not worth while talking of. Any third-rate dealer in New York can produce such masterpieces from his stockroom. ”

“ The general impression of Milwaukee is that it is a city of much wealth and a great deal of comfort, with a settled, almost conservative feeling, like an Eastern city, and charming, cultivated social life, with the grace and beauty that are common in American society anywhere. I think the men generally would be called well-looking, robust, of the quiet, assured manner of an old community. The women seen on the street and In the shops are of good physique and good color and average good looks, without anything startling in the way of beauty or elegance. ”

“ From Chicago I went to Wisconsin, and there I found an atmosphere eminently congenial. Milwaukee, with a population much smaller than that of Chicago, had received rather more than its proportional share of the German immigration of 1848. The city had possessed a strong German element before,—good-natured, quiet, law-abiding, order-loving, and industrious citizens, with persons of marked ability among them, who contributed much to the growth of the community and enjoyed themselves in their simple and cheery way. ”

“ One of our most frequent rendezvous was upon the lake shore, where, in a sweet secluded spot, far away from the throng which resorted there, a rough log for a seat, we were wont to sit for hours, listening to the music of the bands upon the excursion boats as they came and went with their scores of pleasure seekers, and the still more harmonious melody of the waves as they rose and fell at our feet in low, soft, musical murmurs.
Among the many attractions of Milwaukee is that of one of the several noble institutions erected by our Government and known as National Soldiers' Homes. ”

“ Upon the other hand, Milwaukee, being a heavy German settlement, did not lack in wrong-headed persons who retained their allegiance to a flag other than our own. These did the usual amount of talking—perhaps more than the usual amount. For them the Milwaukee Division of the American Protective League had the same remedy that has been found efficient in other [Pg 405] communities comprising a large foreign element or an element with foreign sympathies. ”

“ As an American writer says,—"The town, which has sprung up like Jonah's gourd, grew up partly on a sand-hill and partly in a mud-hole, one being cut down to fill the other up, because men found they could accumulate wealth there." Chicago, down south, had started in formidable competition, but Milwaukee was not to be beaten. It built its quays and store-houses, and projects its piers and jetties, harbour of refuge and docks. ”

“ The business quarter is near the Milwaukee River, while the largest and most beautiful residence sections lie to the west and east, and are characterized by handsomely shaded avenues and detached houses. The accessibility of popular health and pleasure resorts and the beauty of its suburbs add to the attractions of Milwaukee. ”

“ It would always be a city, of course, because it was the end of navigation, but Milwaukee would feed and stock the folks who were westward bound. So to Milwaukee went Philip Armour, resolved there to stake his fortune in trade. Opportunity offered and he joined with Fred B. Miles, on March First, Eighteen Hundred Fifty-nine, in the produce and commission business. Each man put in five hundred dollars. The business prospered. One of the great products in demand was smoked and pickled meats. At that time farmers salted and smoked hams and brought them to town, with furs, pelts and bags of wheat. ”

“ It is located four miles west of the city, and is accessible both by Elizabeth Street and Grand Avenue, two of the most delightful drives of Milwaukee.
Its eight hundred acres are beautifully enclosed and finely cultivated, being laid out by one of its former chaplains, according to the most artistic rules of landscape gardening; every coil and curve of avenue being a line of beauty, and its fifteen miles of drive startling the eye with its grouping of lake and garden, bridge and stream, fern-clad ravines and sunny heights. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Milwaukee is favorably located with reference to extensive resources of farm, mine, and forest. It enjoys the advantages of water transportation afforded by the Great Lakes, in addition to excellent railroad facilities. Among the railways that enter the city are the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul, the Chicago and Northwestern, the Wisconsin Central, and the Pere Marquette. The city has become important both as a collecting and a distributing centre, and is noted also for its manufacturing enterprises. Its wholesale trade exceeds $300,000,000 annually. ”

“ It is an immense brick edifice, located three miles from the city, in the midst of grounds four hundred and twenty-five acres in extent, more than half of which is under cultivation, and the remainder laid out as a park. The institution has a reading room, and a library of two thousand five hundred volumes, for the use and benefit of its patriot guests.
No one who visits Milwaukee can fail to be struck with the semi-foreign appearance of the city. ”

“ Its principal appointments were Sheboygan, Port Washington, Brothertown, Two Rivers and Manitowoc.
Having shipped his trunk to Manitowoc, his future home, Brother Frink left Chicago on horseback, Oct. 28th, 1837, for his field of labor. At Milwaukee, the necessary outfit was procured to penetrate the deep forests which lay beyond, including an axe, steele and punk, a tin cup, blankets and provisions. ”

“ There was a cold northeaster blowing, and it was spitting snow as I went back to the docks to see if I could get a boat for Milwaukee. A steamer in the offing was getting ready to go, and I hired a man with a skiff to put me and my carpetbag aboard. We went into Milwaukee in a howling blizzard, and I was glad to find a warm bar in the tavern nearest the dock; and a room in which to house up while I carried on my search. I now had found out that the stage lines and real-estate offices were the best places to go for traces of immigrants ”

“ The view from Milwaukee over Lake Michigan is very pleasing. One looks upon a vast expanse of water to which the eye finds no bounds, and therefore there are none of the common attributes of lake beauty; but the colour of the lake is bright, and within a walk of the city the traveller comes to the bluffs or low round-topped hills from which he can look down upon the shores. These bluffs form the beauty of Wisconsin and Minnesota, and relieve the eye after the flat level of Michigan. Round Detroit there is no rising ground, and therefore, perhaps, it is that Detroit is uninteresting. ”

“ But the genius and daring of the Anglo-Saxon race have changed all this. Civilization has impressed itself so deeply on our Northwestern territory, that were it, by any unfortunate contingency, destroyed or removed to-day, it would take longer time to obliterate its footprints than it has required to make them.
Among the cities of the West remarkable for rapid growth, Milwaukee, on the western bank of Lake Michigan, is especially prominent. ”

“ To run it a week would bankrupt the State of Wisconsin, It could go up to the stone quarry and tunnel a hole right through the hill. It was the biggest elephant that ever a city drew in a legalized lottery. Milwaukee will make money if she does not buy a stone crusher, not as long as it can buy stone in the rough, and have it crushed by tramps, at nothing a day. ”

“ One of them, about the largest in the country, and said to equal in its capacity any in Europe, has in one group seven enormous buildings, and is impressive by its extent and orderly management, as well as by the rivers of amber fluid which it pours out for this thirsty country. Milwaukee, with its large German element—two-thirds of the population, most of whom are freethinkers—has no Sunday except in a holiday sense; the theatres are all open, and the pleasure-gardens, which are extensive, are crowded with merrymakers in the season. ”

“ Before 1850 Milwaukee had come to be looked upon as a German city. "There," said one immigrant, "more German than English is spoken." It had its German churches, schools, clubs, societies, and recreational features, all of which constituted powerful attractions. It was the most important industrial center of the state, with a relatively large demand for the labor which with farm work was the poorer immigrant's sole means of getting a financial start. In addition, it was the commercial metropolis, and that the German was firmly tethered to his market has already become clear. ”

“ If all be an imposture, who can measure the depth of that depravity which trifles thus with the holiest affections, aspirations, and sorrows? Greeley in a late Tribune has a rich joke. He says: ‘Some brainless editor out in Milwaukee not long since published the fact that he had an interview with the Spirit of Captain West, of the steamer, who reported that the noble steamer struck an iceberg and [200] went to the bottom of the ocean with all on board.’ Milwaukee is a great place! ”

“ 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-Chalmers Company at West Allis, employing about 5000 men and making engines of all kinds; and the plant of the Illinois Steel Company, at Bay View on the south side, which covers 154 acres. The flour mills of Milwaukee have a capacity of about 12,000 barrels a day. Two of the city’s tanneries are among the largest in America. In the Menominee river valley the peculiar cream-coloured Milwaukee bricks are made. ”

“ Julius shook his head.
“I don’t know much about any places, except New York and Jersey,” he added.
“I live in the city of Milwaukee, in Wisconsin. It is quite a flourishing city.”
“Is it as big as New York?”
“Oh, no; we can’t show any cities in the West as big as New York. I doubt if we ever shall, though we’ve some large cities, that are growing fast. Do you think you are likely to come to Milwaukee?”
“I don’t know,” said Julius. “Mr. O’Connor could tell you.” ”

“ I begin new man, Milwaukee. When they say, 'Have a drink,' I shake head. I go 'way off. My boy he stay school. My wife she have nice shawl!" He leaned forward with eager gaze. "I try hard!" he said simply.
Milly's gaze was non-committal.
"Why do you want to drink, Mr. Bergman?" she asked. "Why is it so hard for you to stop? Is it the taste of it you want?"
His eyes sought the corners of the room for answer, and his hand turned the old felt hat. ”