A record of original bits of Milwaukee's Germanic architectural flavor

The Meinecke Building on E. Wells Street (across from the Pabst Theater) was built 1891/1892 as pictured, but lost its original Germanic decorative features. This may have been done with repairs and renovation due to a fire: the building gained a full 6th floor and a more standard and sedate Classical style (according to local historian Y. Marti).

featuring Milwaukee's prominent & well known 99%!

A lovely photo and biography of Louis Manz, long-time mailman to Milwaukee's South Side, on the occasion of his 81st birthday.

Family researchers sometimes tell me that there must be something in the local German press about their ancestor so-and-so because they were prominent or well known. Could be, you'll have to look.

In any case, that was certainly true of Louis Manz, as he would've been a prominent feature of the neighborhood AND well-known to the people on his mail route.

30 years war ... in the Town of Granville?

Wedding events and anniversaries, notable birthdays and other events are all found in the German papers, but not usually with such humor as this clipping about the 30th wedding anniversary party for Mr. & Mrs. Henry Flach.

On the 28th of February Mr. and Mrs. H. Flach of Granville, Wis., celebrated the most light-hearted "Thirty Years' War" that you could think of: namely, the 30th anniversary of the day on which the said pair joined together in this exceedingly happy marriage. ...

These clippings frequently include guests lists and it's another way to step back and take a look at a snapshot of our ancestors' lives (and in this case, the party antics of lil' Albert Flach).

There are at least two published versions of this clipping - the Germania version (the Brumder's Lutheran rag) leaves the humor out of the telling of the event.

Both clippings are indexed in "Milwaukee's German Newspapers; an index of death notices and related items" (1844-1950) / an ongoing, independent project created, compiled and edited by Gary R. Rebholz, for another 30 years ...

Castles of the 99%; long-gone home on Walnut Street

This classic early 20th C. flat located at 504-506 Walnut Street was advertised by the builder in the local German language papers. The home is gone now, but was located in the old German ghetto adjacent to the north edge of Milwaukee's current downtown. If the home survived through 1929 the address would've become 506-508 W. Walnut Street.There are many homes like this one that remain today although most have lost or changed some of their features like porch railings. Some research to determine the name of the builder could verify whether the builder's model is the same.

'Bierseidel Pavillion' in Milwaukee? - if you build it, they will come!

After the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, a competition was held in Milwaukee for the design of an attraction to draw tourists (or beer drinkers) to Milwaukee. A prize of $100 was awarded for this three story beer stein which incorporates a feature some Milwaukeeans will recognize!

A wide variety of artful beer advertising from the 1850s on ...

 

Here's a wonderful example of a Milwaukee beer advertisement from the German language newspapers. The wide range of advertisements could fill more than a couple of panels on my display of Milwaukee's German newspapers.

(If you must drink beer and conduct research at the same time, please do so both responsibly and ethically.)

Castles of the 99%; house images found in Milwaukee's historic newspapers ...

 

Milwaukee's East Side, 1898

Milwaukee's historic German language newspapers have many real estate advertisements that include images like this architect's rendering of an East Side address from 1898.
This  advert. for the house and side lot includes the old version of the address so I dug up the current address at the library. This home became someone's 'castle' in about 1898 and it's still here in 2023, with changes.

I have a growing list of citations for adverts. and featured addresses with architectural renderings or photos from the German papers.

Milwaukee's East Side, 2014