Photos
Content referencing Alexander Mitchell
See the 2024 Mayor’s Design Awards Winners
20 projects big and small are named best of the best in Milwaukee design
May 17th, 2024 by Jeramey Jannene
Wisconsin Club Worth $5.1 Million
Fascinating history and an elaborate interior that would put the grandest riverboat to shame.
Mar 17th, 2024 by Michael Horne
Woman’s Club of Wisconsin Is Nation’s Oldest
With quite a history. But how did it get that tax exemption?
Jan 29th, 2024 by Michael Horne
MPS Celebrates 5 Asphalt-To-Green Space Transformations
Leaders hold green ribbon cutting at Riley Dual Language Montessori School.
Oct 11th, 2023 by Jeramey Jannene
Kilbourntown Tour Offers Tons of History
A downtown walk with gargoyles, statues, monuments and more.
Oct 8th, 2023 by Cari Taylor-Carlson
Mitchell Street Is A Diverse Mix of Cultures
The one-time ‘Polish Grand Avenue’ has many stories to tell.
Nov 3rd, 2021 by Cari Taylor-Carlson
Inside Milwaukee’s Newest Event Venue
Former St. James Episcopal Church, built on Wisconsin Ave. in 1868, becomes unique space.
Sep 14th, 2020 by Jeramey Jannene
Mix Masterpiece Distills History
Vacant and isolated, 1874 store to become Central Standard Craft Distillery tasting room.
Jan 20th, 2020 by Michael Horne
Spencer Tracy Lived on Logan Avenue
Future Hollywood star grew up on street created in 1880s, named after Civil War general.
Jan 14th, 2019 by Carl Baehr
Developer Blair Williams’ Federal-Style Manse
Lovely $583,000 East Side home built by architect Armand Koch in 1915 for Ogden family.
Aug 28th, 2018 by Michael Horne
How Forest Home Became An Avenue
First an Indian trail, then Janesville Plank Rd., then came a cemetery for 28 mayors.
Jul 24th, 2018 by Carl Baehr
Mitchell Street, Town’s Most Popular Name?
Mitchell Park, Boulevard, airport, etc., all named after one family.
Jun 22nd, 2018 by Carl Baehr
A Gentleman’s Club for 134 Years
Downtown's Milwaukee Club, founded 1884, is the oldest and most exclusive bar in town.
Mar 23rd, 2018 by Michael Horne
Apartments Planned At St. James Church
Seven-floor apartment complex just off Wisconsin Ave. would also save church.
Nov 13th, 2017 by Jeramey Jannene
Inside the Mackie Flats
See how Jeffers and Continuum gave new life to a Milwaukee icon.
Sep 26th, 2017 by Jeramey Jannene
Dan Kohl Race Could Be Historic
If he beat incumbent Glenn Grothman, would equal precedent last set in 1892.
Aug 7th, 2017 by Dr. Eric Ostermeier
Milwaukee’s Most Schizophrenic Developer?
Joshua Jeffers is spending millions to redevelop the Mackie Building and famed Grain Exchange.
Jan 7th, 2017 by Jeramey Jannene
10 Reasons To Save The Domes
Their impact on city culture and image is immense.
Feb 24th, 2016 by Virginia Small
Pfister Hotel, About 1910
Pfister and Milwaukee Club buildings still survive. Both have famous designers.
Feb 23rd, 2016 by Jeff Beutner
The Curious History of Franklin Place
Who is it really named after? And why the statue of a Scottish poet in a German city?
Feb 19th, 2016 by Carl Baehr
Bankers Row, 1860s
Two of Milwaukee's oldest surviving buildings were banks at Water and Michigan.
Jan 26th, 2016 by Jeff Beutner
Inside the Grain Exchange, 1880
The trading room was one of the "most lavishly decorated" public spaces in the region.
Jan 12th, 2016 by Jeff Beutner
Michigan Street Had a Mob Riot
And a dispute involving the streetcar, which ultimately won the day.
Jan 8th, 2016 by Carl Baehr
Water Street in 1880
Looking south from Wisconsin, this was a prime business district dominated by Victorian buildings from the 1850s.
Jun 30th, 2015 by Jeff Beutner
View of Milwaukee,1856
This engraving offers remarkable detail about the quickly growing city just ten years after its incorporation.
May 26th, 2015 by Jeff Beutner
In Defense of Historic Tax Credits
National Trust for Historic Preservation's leader comes to town, where her speech to a crowd filled with notables dramatized the need for state to maintain the current credits.
Mar 23rd, 2015 by Michael Horne
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 by Jeff Beutner
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 by Jeff Beutner
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 by Jeff Beutner
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 by Jeff Beutner
Inside the Mackie Building
Our photos take you inside the 1879 structure, the former Grain Exchange, and one of the city's most historic and beautiful buildings.
Oct 21st, 2014 by Dave Reid
Alexander Mitchell’s Conservatory, Mid-1870s
The fabulously wealthy business man created an unusual, two-story conservatory within his home.
Oct 15th, 2014 by Jeff Beutner
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 by Jeff Beutner
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 by Jeff Beutner
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 by Jeff Beutner
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 by Jeff Beutner
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 by Jeff Beutner
From Afro-Cuban to Aztec, bachata, Hmong, rock and salsa, MPS student performance highlights diverse cultures
15 MPS schools participating in Friday Marcus Center 'Cantos de las Americas' event
May 1st, 2013 by Milwaukee Public Schools
Ronald Reagan
I remember when Ronald Reagan was considered too far-right to become President. The fact that he did become the chief executive shows how much America has changed since then, a change brought forth, in part, by Reagan himself. Although I never voted for the guy, and to this day I am amazed at the adulation he received in his lifetime, I respected his humility and good humor. I thought his wife was frightening, yet I admire her lifelong dedication to the man she married. Nancy Reagan has made it easy to forget that Ronald Reagan was the first divorced president. I remember going to Jimmy Carter‘s inaugural where a five dollar ticket could get you into the “people’s” inaugural ball. By the time Reagan got into office there was absolutely no attempt at a “people’s” ball, just a few parties for the ultra-wealthy. I was in Washington for Reagan’s second inauguration when all public events – like the parade – were cancelled due to single-digit weather. The expensive, indoors events went on as scheduled. Still, Reagan had an undeniable appeal to the common people. I remember the Reagan years for the now-forgotten Savings and Loan scandals. (Forgotten now that the common people have paid off the debts.) I remember the Reagan years for the government’s failure to act against AIDS, even when, as Hollywoodites, the Reagan’s social life was swarming with gays. I remember the Reagan years for the introduction of evangelical Christianity as an active partner in the government, and this from a guy who rarely went to church. I remember the Reagan years for Ollie North. I also remember that no matter what, people loved Ronald Reagan. Mostly, though, I remember the Reagan presidency as the first eight years of the Bush administrations. How I miss the Reagan years. Montana Until last week I had only vague memories of Montana, which I had first and only seen as a teenager on a family motor trip. While others rhapsodized of the Purple Mountains’ Majesty, I kept my eyes to the manmade world before me and found it deficient. The buildings seemed haphazardly-constructed and landscaping was an unknown art. The bleached bones scattered across the plain could well have been those of architects. That’s the way I remembered it, and Montana still has a patched-together look. The residents in this sparsely-populated state seem as oblivious to urban planning as they are to the coastal tides. That’s the way they want it in Montana, and no outsider is going to tell them any different. Now get off my land! In the urban center of Billings, the state’s largest city, you get the feeling of being in a community on the rebound. The city is laid out on a grid along the railroad tracks that gave the place its raison d’etre. The station was built before the town lots were sold, and the city was named after the president of the railroad, just as Mitchell South Dakota was named after our own […]
Jun 8th, 2004 by Michael Horne
