When Boston Store Was Big
It's the end of an era for a downtown department store whose history dates to 1897.
Apr 18th, 2018
The World’s Largest Shipper of Wheat
Two steamers, the Milwaukee and the Detroit, probably shipping wheat, 1867.
Oct 19th, 2016
Sailing Vessels and Steamers, 1860s
Marine commerce thrived by then, but lost ships and passengers were not uncommon.
Oct 4th, 2016
Milwaukee & Rock River Canal, 1870
Near what is now Cherry St., and the fabulous Notre Dame convent atop the hill.
Sep 7th, 2016
Milwaukee’s Canal, Mid 1860s
The canal was one mile long, but never grew as the company went bankrupt.
Aug 24th, 2016
Milwaukee River Dam, 1850s
The dam was built to help create the proposed canal connecting city to the Mississippi.
Aug 15th, 2016
The Fabulous Peirce & Whaling Hardware
Circa 1873, a celebrated company located on what is now Plankinton and Michigan.
Aug 2nd, 2016
The Largest Hardware Store in America
John Nazro's huge hardware store was in a building still located at 2nd and Seeboth.
Jul 19th, 2016
Independent Milwaukee Brewery, c. 1901
Its best-known beer, Braumeister, lasted into the 1990s.
Jul 12th, 2016
Welcome Park in Whitefish Bay
Guido Pfister created the park and beer garden at the streetcar stop in Whitefish Bay.
Jul 5th, 2016
Pabst Brewery’s Grand Resort, 1890
Located in Whitefish Bay, it was served by rail and steamboat from downtown Milwaukee.
Jun 21st, 2016
The Future Whitefish Bay, 1870s
The Lake Avenue Turnpike linked Milwaukee to area that soon saw summer resorts arise.
Jun 14th, 2016
Schlitz Garden’s Observation Tower, 1880s
Beer garden on 8th and Brown offered many thrills, with stunning views of Lake Michigan.
Jun 7th, 2016
Outdoor Beer Garden, 1880s
Early beer garden on near South Side was privately run and served Blatz.
May 31st, 2016
The Old City, About 1858
Rare engraving by famed lithographer Louis Kurz, who also did famous Chicago views.
May 24th, 2016
Gramm-Bernstein Delivery Truck, c. 1916
This is just in front of the bank building that would become the County Historical Society.
May 17th, 2016
Smoked Fish Delivery Truck, 1915
M.C. Fischer & Sons had already made the transition from horses to auto.
May 11th, 2016
Schuster’s Delivery Wagon, 1908
Schusters had department stores for 80 years in Milwaukee and made deliveries to homes.
May 4th, 2016
Florist’s Horse-Drawn Wagon, 1910
Into the 1920s, horse-drawn wagons were still widely used for commercial transport.
Apr 26th, 2016
Horse-Drawn Milk Delivery Truck, 1908.
Products came from downtown-based Gridley Dairy, the state's top butter manufacturer.
Apr 19th, 2016
Jones Island Fishing Village, 1898
The settlement by Polish "Kashubes" even had a main street and a small beach.
Apr 13th, 2016
Cream City Brick Making Gets Mechanized
Workers using a new Barnhart Steam Shovel in Menomonee Valley, about 1883.
Apr 7th, 2016
Cream City Brick Factory, 1885
For decades the arduous work was done by hand -- with the help of lots of horses.
Mar 29th, 2016
Cream City Brick Workers, 1885
Milwaukee was the world's largest producer of bricks, and it was hard and skilled work.
Mar 22nd, 2016
Boston Store, Mid-1920s
The newest and last surviving downtown department stores was at its peak then.
Mar 15th, 2016
Gimbels Department Store, 1925
It was part of the largest department store in the nation, and soon, in the world.
Mar 8th, 2016
Wells Building, 1915
Built in 1902 by Daniel Wells, building still stands, but stripped of roofline ornamentation.
Mar 1st, 2016
Pfister Hotel, About 1910
Pfister and Milwaukee Club buildings still survive. Both have famous designers.
Feb 23rd, 2016
Pabst Building, 1890s
City's first skyscraper, 14-floors high, built by Frederick Pabst, lasted until 1981.
Feb 9th, 2016
Ludington Building, 1885
On the northwest corner of Wisconsin and Water, center of a booming downtown.
Feb 3rd, 2016
Bankers Row, 1860s
Two of Milwaukee's oldest surviving buildings were banks at Water and Michigan.
Jan 26th, 2016
Iron Block Building, About 1867
Influenced by the North Italian Renaissance Revival, its cast-iron architecture is rare.
Jan 20th, 2016
Inside the Grain Exchange, 1880
The trading room was one of the "most lavishly decorated" public spaces in the region.
Jan 12th, 2016
Van Cott Block Building, Late 1860s
It had many businesses and is now where the high-rise First Financial Centre is located.
Jan 5th, 2016
Spencerian Business College, Late 1860s
Located in the four-story Library Block, one of the city's tallest structures.
Dec 29th, 2015
Menomonee Hotel, Late 1860s
One of earliest hotels, near what is now Plankinton and Wisconsin, was modest indeed.
Dec 22nd, 2015
Milwaukee and Wisconsin Streets, Late 1860s
These buildings still stand today, except (at left) the original steeple of St. John's Cathedral.
Dec 15th, 2015
Broadway in Late 1860s
Then called Main St. and just south of Wisconsin, it boasted the Newhall House Hotel.
Dec 1st, 2015
Wisconsin Ave. and Northwestern Mutual, 1870s
The company's new headquarters was proof of the city's increasingly cosmopolitan style.
Nov 25th, 2015
South Side of Wisconsin Ave., 1868
Then called Wisconsin St., it was a hot spot for photography studios.
Nov 17th, 2015
Wisconsin and Broadway, 1867
The well-dressed people in the photo had to stand rigidly in place, so the photo wouldn't be ruined.
Nov 10th, 2015
Love Nest of A Beer Baroness
Huge 1889 mansion is where Pabst owner continued her affair with her daughter's husband.
Nov 3rd, 2015
The Mansion Where Scandal Brewed
The wife of the Pabst Brewery's co-owner had a scandalous affair in this fine Italianate mansion.
Oct 27th, 2015
Philip Best Brewery’s Moorish-Style Facility
The old bottling plant still stands today. By 1885 the future Pabst Brewing moved to Downtown.
Oct 20th, 2015
Philip Best & Co. Brewery, 1880
Already the world's largest brewer, the company would soon be renamed the Pabst Brewing Co.
Oct 13th, 2015
Last Days of Melms Brewery, 1869
It would be taken over by the Pabst Brewery, soon to become a manufacturing colossus.
Oct 6th, 2015
The First Beer Baron
1860s photo features the Menomonee Brewery and owner Charles Melms' Italianate home.
Sep 29th, 2015
Loading Coal, 1885
These appear to be dock workers along the river. Coal was vital to the city's commerce and lifestyle.
Sep 8th, 2015
Public Museum Exhibits, 1880s
The museum would move 12 years later, saving it from the exposition building's disastrous fire of 1905.
Sep 1st, 2015
Panorama of Milwaukee, 1885
The new Industrial Exposition Building gave a great vantage point for those photographing the city.
Aug 25th, 2015
Milwaukee Industrial Exposition Building, 1880s
Touted as the "finest in the country," the exposition hall on 5th and Kilbourn held a wide range of events.
Aug 18th, 2015
German Market, Early 1880s
The market hall on E. Juneau was popular from at least 1870 to about 1920.
Aug 4th, 2015
City Hall, 1880
The remodeled market hall became City Hall in 1861, but the Milwaukee Sentinel derided the result.
Jul 28th, 2015
Elias Friend Residence, 1879
The wealthy clothing manufacturer built this elegant home on Cass and Mason.
Jul 21st, 2015
Fire Fighters in Dress Suits, 1880
A classic photo of workmen at Firehouse No. 1, looking like dudes about town.
Jul 14th, 2015
Broadway North of Wisconsin, 1879
Another classic H.H.Bennett photo captures Milwaukee just after the advent of telephones and telephone lines.
Jul 7th, 2015
Water Street in 1880
Looking south from Wisconsin, this was a prime business district dominated by Victorian buildings from the 1850s.
Jun 30th, 2015
Wisconsin Avenue Bridge, About 1880
The wooden bridge would be replaced by a new iron one two years later. It is turned to allow boats to pass on the Milwaukee River.
Jun 23rd, 2015
J.C. Iverson & Co. About 1879
Located on Water St. south of Mason St. the company sold classic stereoviews of Milwaukee by H. H. Bennett.
Jun 16th, 2015
Increase Lapham On The Case
Milwaukee's pioneer scientist was with famed photographer H.H. Bennett inspecting rock formations in the Dells in 1869.
Jun 8th, 2015
Downtown Milwaukee, 1871
Remarkably, many of these buildings still stand today on Wisconsin Avenue.
Jun 3rd, 2015
View of Milwaukee,1856
This engraving offers remarkable detail about the quickly growing city just ten years after its incorporation.
May 26th, 2015
Lakefront, Late 1920s
Before the War Memorial -- and before trees and vegetation -- the lakefront was a flat plain.
May 19th, 2015
Solomon Juneau Statue, Late 1880s
At the time it dominated the view, before changes in Juneau Park and on the lakefront.
May 5th, 2015
Leif Erikson at the Lakefront, About 1910
Not long after Solomon Juneau's statue was erected, a knockoff of a Boston-made sculpture of Leif Erikson was erected in the lakefront park.
Apr 28th, 2015
The Lake Bluff of Yesteryear
This late 1880s photo shows the dramatic views afforded by the winding paths of Juneau Park.
Apr 20th, 2015
Lakefront Looking North, 1880s
Oh, what a view Juneau Park offered back then.
Apr 14th, 2015
When the Lakefront Was At Its Ugliest?
In the 1870s, the lakefront mostly served as a rail line, with a ramshackle railroad depot.
Apr 7th, 2015
The Lakefront, About 1866
Prior to the settlers arrival, the lakefront wasn't a gorgeous green space, but an often-grassless bunch of eroded bluffs.
Mar 31st, 2015
The Lakefront in 1911
This scene from a century ago, with paths winding down to the lake, may have been when this area was at its peak.
Mar 25th, 2015
Milwaukee Journal, About 1917
Then located on fourth street near Wisconsin Ave., the crusading newspaper had no shortage of delivery vehicles.
Mar 19th, 2015
Badger Cab Co., 1926
By the 1920s horses were largely gone and motorized taxicabs were fighting each other for customers.
Mar 11th, 2015
Milwaukee Fire Department, 1912
A fleet of GM Cartercars at the downtown Engine House One, located on Broadway since 1872.
Mar 3rd, 2015
Chapman’s Biggest Department Store
The third Chapman's store was built in 1885 and would remain in business nearly a century.
Feb 24th, 2015
Inside T.A. Chapman’s, 1873
Chapman's, the city's first department store for upscale buyers, was the last word in elegance for Milwaukee.
Feb 17th, 2015
Chapman’s Second Store, 1870s
Located on E. Wisconsin and Milwaukee St., it was the city's premier department store, easily withstanding the Panic of 1873.
Feb 3rd, 2015
T. A. Chapman Late 1860s
Long before Gimbel's and Boston Store, T.A. Chapman was the city's department store. This is its first location.
Jan 28th, 2015
Wolcott & Gregg Sewing Machine Store
Located on E. Wisconsin near what is now the Iron Block building, the store offered an item that was greatly desired.
Jan 14th, 2015
The Wheeler & Wilson Emporium, 1870s
The company manufactured sewing machines, and this was the interior of its Downtown store.
Jan 6th, 2015
The Great Storm of 1871
The city got buried in snow in 1871 and a well-known photographer was there to record it.
Dec 30th, 2014
Courthouse Square Fountain, Late 1880s
Created by Casper Hennecke, it became the subject of a popular Milwaukee postcard.
Dec 23rd, 2014
East Town and Second Courthouse, 1875
The modest skyline at the time was also dominated by St. John's Cathedral, before its first tower was replaced.
Dec 17th, 2014
Jefferson Street, 1873
The dirt street where the new courthouse was located was mostly residential or empty. That would change quickly.
Dec 9th, 2014
County Courthouse, Early 1870s
It was built by architect Leonard Schmidtner, who also built St. Stanislaus church. His courthouse would stand for 66 years.
Dec 4th, 2014
Building the Second Courthouse, 1870s
The courthouse was built in 1872 where Cathedral Square now stands, but only after sticky legal situation was finessed.
Nov 26th, 2014
Market Square, Late 1860s
The intersection of Water and Mason streets was once Market Square, the civic and commercial heart of the city.
Nov 19th, 2014
Alexander Mitchell’s Belvedere, 1880s
Considered the finest structure of its kind in America, it still stands today at the Wisconsin Club.
Nov 12th, 2014
Mitchell Mansion’s Classic Fountain, 1880
Photos of Alexander Mitchell's mansion and its classic fountain, 1880, and as the place looks today.
Nov 4th, 2014
Mitchell Building, Around 1880
The headquarters for what became the Marine Bank, built by Alexander Mitchell, survives today almost exactly as originally built.
Oct 29th, 2014
The Lush Landscaping of Alexander Mitchell’s Conservatory, 1880s
The famed photographer H. H. Bennett captured the splendor of the Mitchell mansion.
Oct 22nd, 2014
Alexander Mitchell’s Conservatory, Mid-1870s
The fabulously wealthy business man created an unusual, two-story conservatory within his home.
Oct 15th, 2014
Exterior of Alexander Mitchell’s Mansion, Mid-1870s
What would soon be known as Grand Avenue became a row of millionaires' mansions.
Oct 7th, 2014
Alexander Mitchell’s Mansion, 1872
With his great wealth, he built a lovely home still standing today on 9th and Wisconsin, now the Wisconsin Club.
Oct 2nd, 2014
Plankinton Arcade, 1925
The Plankinton Arcade sits on the site of the former Plankinton House Hotel.
Sep 26th, 2014
Inside the Plankinton House Hotel, 1908
Two historic views of the Plankinton House Hotel's impressive interior.
Sep 17th, 2014
Plankinton House Hotel, 1889
The Plankinton House hotel once sat on prime real estate.
Sep 9th, 2014
Plankinton House Hotel, 1886
Milwaukee had become a boom town, where Adam Gimbel would relocate his dry goods business.
Sep 3rd, 2014
Plankinton House Hotel, 1867
Its owners would expand it over the decades to make sure it remained Milwaukee's finest hotel, but this is the original structure.
Aug 27th, 2014
The Plankinton House Hotel, 1869
It succeeded the American House hotel, which burned to the ground in 1861.
Aug 19th, 2014
Northwestern Mutual Insurance, 1886
A fire burned the Newhall House hotel to the ground, but a local company would build a new home on the site.
Aug 13th, 2014
Newhall House, 1883, After the Fire
The fire killed 71 people but circus star Tom Thumb survived. The catastrophe became a sobering lesson for the city.
Aug 5th, 2014
Newhall House, Late 1860s
It was the largest and finest hotel in the West, a sign that Milwaukee was becoming a significant city.
Jul 29th, 2014
Soldiers Home Fair’s Pavilion
The centerpiece of fair that raised lots of money for the cause.
Jul 23rd, 2014
The Mysterious Oracle at the Soldiers Home Fair
The 15-day festival held in 1865 offered all the wonders and curiosities of the day.
Jul 8th, 2014
Soldiers Home Raffle, 1865
All kinds of donated goods were contributed and sold to provide aid for Wisconsin's returning veterans.
Jul 1st, 2014
Inside the Soldiers Home Fair, 1865
The two-week fair was a major event for a young city with just 55,000 residents.
Jun 24th, 2014
Soldiers Home Fair, 1865
Milwaukee joined a national movement to care for Civil War veterans, and this event helped raise money for the cause.
Jun 17th, 2014
Wisconsin St. and Milwaukee St., 1880
Nearly empty in the 1860s, Milwaukee St. was booming by 1880.
Jun 10th, 2014
Corner of Wisconsin and Milwaukee, 1867-68
These three buildings had just been constructed and still stand today -- some of the oldest downtown buildings.
Jun 3rd, 2014
Wisconsin Ave. at Milwaukee St., 1862
Back then, much of the city's main street was used for residential homes.
May 27th, 2014
Sherman’s Photographic Gallery, 1867
His stereoviews captured early Milwaukee and his studio was located near Wisconsin Ave. on what later became Broadway.
May 20th, 2014
Postcard of Milwaukee, 1900
One of the earliest postcards done of the city shows Downtown along the river.
May 13th, 2014
Century Hall, 1915
It later became a bar and East Side cultural icon, but Century Hall was originally a place to go bowling.
May 6th, 2014
Stone Quarry in Menomonee Valley, 1880s
Wisconsin was a leading state for quarries. This one was where Miller Park is now located.
Apr 29th, 2014
Western Menomonee Valley,1880s
Before the viaducts arrived, this part of the valley was semi-pastoral, with many stone quarries. Part 3 of series.
Apr 22nd, 2014
Menomonee Valley Rail Industry
By the early 1880s, railroads and the rail industry were well-established in the valley. Part 2 of a series.
Apr 16th, 2014
Menomonee Valley, Early 1880s
Developed well after the Milwaukee River, the Menomonee was still a good place to walk through nature.
Apr 8th, 2014
Cafe and Pool Hall, 1915
The South Side cafe and restaurant stood where La Perla is now located.
Apr 1st, 2014
Spring Street Bridge, 1867
The street also known as Wisconsin Ave. exemplified the conflict between dueling developers on each side of the river.
Mar 25th, 2014
Interior of Academy of Music, 1876
Advertised as the best opera house west of New York, it was indeed an elegant hall.
Mar 18th, 2014
Academy of Music, 1860s
Built where the new Marriott Hotel now stands, it was the city's most prestigious opera house.
Mar 11th, 2014
Rail Car Barn at Brady Street, 1870s
Rail cars were pulled by horses and this barn stood at Brady and Farwell, in what is now Walgreen's parking lot.
Mar 4th, 2014
Rock River Canal, 1860s
The area which is now the Beerline, looking toward the Humboldt Ave. bridge, was once a canal.
Feb 25th, 2014
Saengerfest and City Hall, 1868
The earlier City Hall was a converted market hall, here decorated for an annual German music festival.
Feb 18th, 2014
Iversen’s Store on Water and Mason Streets
A "stereoview" by famed photographer H.H. Bennett captures Water Street in the 1870s or 1880s.
Feb 11th, 2014
Prentiss Block, Late 1860s
This building, which still stands on the corner of Mason St. and Water St., may be Downtown's oldest commercial building.
Feb 4th, 2014
Mason Street at Lakefront, 1868
Before the days of Prospect Avenue mansions, the lakefront sported modest frame houses on an eroding, sandy bluff.
Jan 28th, 2014
Water Street 1858
It’s a very early photo of Milwaukee, but the Iron Block building still survives from that era.
Jan 21st, 2014
Commission Row 1910
Our new column will capture scenes of the old city, like this bustling strip of wholesale grocers.
Jan 15th, 2014
