The Making of Milwaukee - Chapter 5: Neighbors and Strangers

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00][Music] [Music] Milwaukee gave much to the Germans but they gave a lot back and one gift keeps on giving consider Milwaukee's ethnic festivals you can see most of your summer weekends down here on the Summerfest grounds attending parties that all the major groups and some of the minor ones throw for all the rest of us these showcases of culture and cuisine together draw more than a half million people every year why such celebration because the Germans made Milwaukee's safe for ethnicity the fact that a non-english speaking group was dominant here had a huge impact it made it okay to be something different other groups found an easier relatively speaking to resist the pressures of the melting pot [Music] the result many years later is that no city in America celebrates this diversity with quite as much spirit as Milwaukee for that every Milwaukee and can wish the Germans a hearty danke Schoen the Germans whenever Milwaukee's only ethnically take for instance the Irish their festival draws over one hundred thousand people a year making it the largest celebration of Irish music dance and culture in the world Irish Fest is a gathering of the clans who've made it in Milwaukee but their beginnings here were modest indeed Irish immigrants made up nearly fifteen percent of the city's population in 1850 their historical high point most were desperately poor and they were drawn to Milwaukee by the promise of work their primary neighborhood was the Third Ward a former wetland filled in largely with Irish brawn and covered with Irish houses as soon as the muck was dry whiskey fueled fights were so common that the Irish Ward was called the bloody third but there were steadying influences as well Milwaukee's first Catholic Church st. Peters was built by father Patrick O'Kelly in 1839 it still stands in the Crossroads Village at old world Wisconsin the immigrants also took an early and passionate interest in politics one son of the old sod Thomas Gilbert was village president in 1844 a Dublin born lawyer with the unlikely name of Hans Crocker became the first of several Irish mayor's in 1852 for a group starting at the bottom politics meant access to power and to patronage jobs British immigrants faced fewer struggles natives of England Scotland and Wales blended easily into the Yankee mainstream only their accents setting them apart most of the British did well in Milwaukee and some did extraordinarily well Alexander Mitchell was a Scotsman who became the wealthiest Wisconsinite of his time Mitchell began his career as a banker branched out into railroads founding the line that would rise to fame as the Milwaukee Road and then entered the insurance field Alexander Mitchell had so many businesses going that he needed a lavish building to house them all the headquarters of his empire completed in 1876 was one of the most beautiful office structures in America 19th century historian James buck strained for words to describe the Mitchell buildings splendor this magnificent structure the pride of Milwaukee as well as the whole Northwest was erected at a cost of nearly $400,000 and in architectural beauty and grace it stands as a monument of what the genius of man can accomplish when our limited means are at his command Mitchell's residence was just as sumptuous his family's grand mansion was the pride of Grand Avenue today's Wisconsin Avenue one of its features was a conservatory filled with fig trees banana plants 800 rose bushes and potted carnations that provided the tycoon with a fresh boutonniere every day of the year Michels showplace is still a vital part of Milwaukee's landscape as the Wisconsin Club the Mitchell imprint on the landscape seems indelible to parks streets and even the airport are named for the scottish-born financier and his descendents most immigrants had less grandiose expectations of life in America Scandinavians particularly Norwegians showed a definite fondness for the maritime trades they settled in the walkers point neighborhood where they build a succession of lutheran churches and walk to work on Milwaukee's waterfront immigrants from Holland showed their neighbors what a genuine Dutch windmill looked like checks carved out a pocket of their own on the German west side its focal point was a Catholic Church st. John to Nephilim whose rectory still stand the seeds of today's african-american community were sown even earlier permanent settlement began with the arrival of the Watson family Sulli watson was a former slave who had purchased his own freedom in Virginia Watson's man price was 500 dollars and it took him years to raise it working variously as a stonecutter white washer and blacksmith Sully and his wife Susanna came north to Milwaukee in 1850 joining their grown children and helping to plant a community by the 1860s there were more than a hundred blacks in Milwaukee including Ezekiel Gillespie a railway Porter who sued the state for the right to vote and won by 1869 the community was large enough to support a church and Saint Mark African Methodist Episcopal opened in the heart of old Kilbourne town st. mark now in a different location remains a cornerstone of the city's african-american community Milwaukee's German accent was unmistakable but what was brewing here in the 1800's was ethnic diversity the presence of so many groups made Milwaukee a city of Nations like few others in America but diversity did not always mean harmony conflict broke out early and often pity the Yankees for years they had been comfortably in charge of Milwaukee suddenly they were strangers in their own town the Yankees found a German practice of drinking beer on Sunday horrified the city's beer gardens they believed were playgrounds of the devil some were equally uncomfortable with Catholics in 1844 John mitre a Congregational clergyman preached a controversial sermon the pulp through his bishops and they threw his ghostly priesthood can control every Roman vote and use them to carry out his despotic purposes we see the great Roman torrents swelling in our own Farwest and threatening us with a desolating flood we must strengthen the levee against its rising waters milwaukee's catholics paid the Reverend no heed in 1853 they dedicated st. John's Cathedral on Courthouse Square st. John's was one of the city's most prominent buildings and it remains a towering symbol of the Catholic presence today individual ethnic groups came in for their share of abuse the Germans when caricature does compulsive beer-drinkers even the dog in this cartoon as his own Stein the Irish were dismissed as irresponsible drunkards african-americans were the targets of special violence in 1861 a third Ward mob lynched a black man who had killed one of their neighbors in a knife fight but Milwaukee was also the scene of some important abolitionist activities in 1854 an escaped slave named Joshua Glover was arrested in Racine beaten and carted off to jail in Milwaukee The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made Glover's capture possible and abolitionists were outraged one of their leaders was newspaper editor Sherman booth working his horse to a lather booth rally for nearly 5,000 walkins to an indignation meeting outside the jail in Cornell Square he stirred to action by fiery orator in the crowd picked up a timbre and produced a jailhouse door to splinters free at last Joshua Glover was whisked away to Waukesha an anti-slavery stronghold and then on to a new life in Canada the names of both Sherman Booth and Joshua Glover are immortalized in the local landscape the same tensions that produced a dramatic rescue led to a tragic shipwreck Wisconsin was at odds with the federal government over the Fugitive Slave Act Governor Alexander Randall a fire-breathing abolitionist foresaw a confrontation with federal forces and he asked the state's militia to stand behind him not every company agreed members of Milwaukee's Union guard the heavily Irish company led by captain Garrett Barre declared that they were sworn to uphold the laws of the nation governor Randel promptly disbanded the company and disarmed its members the Union Guard did not retire quietly in September 1860 the group boarded the lady elgin a celebrated lake steamer for an excursion to chicago their purpose was to raise funds for new arms on its return voyage in the darkness of early morning the elgin collided with a lumber scooter off Winnetka Illinois the ship went to the bottom 30 minutes nearly 300 passengers died [Music] the wreck of the lady Elgin was one of the worst disasters in Great Lakes history day after day the Irish Third Ward was filled with the sounds of morning [Music] in 1989 divers located the lady elgin on the floor of Lake Michigan the newly purchased rifles of the Union Guard were still intact a graphic reminder of a time when political tensions led to personal tragedy seven months after the Elgin went down the tensions tearing at American society finally tore it apart Milwaukee shared fully in the tragic commotion of the civil war as war sentiment reached a fever pitch blue-coated troops were a common sight in the city streets and squares a troop of Turner riflemen entered the army as sharpshooters Rufus King editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel was the first commander of the famed iron Brigade the iron Brigade was just one unit that served with distinction in that tragic conflict nearly 82,000 Wisconsin residents went to war and more than 12,000 one in seven did not return the northern victory came at a staggering cost Milwaukee's greatest gift to the boys and blue might have come after the war that was the establishment right here of a home and Hospital for disabled veterans and it was largely the work of local women disturbed by the number of soldiers limping home with no support and few prospects the women of Milwaukee organized a great fair in 1865 their effort netted $100,000 a small fortune in those days in 1866 responding to local generosity federal authorities awarded Milwaukee one of four national asylums for disabled soldiers the National soldiers home covered 400 acres just west of the city the complex soon became a major tourist attraction with its own theater chapel post office and even Swan ponds the southern border of the grounds was named national Avenue in honor of the National Hall [Music] today as part of the Veterans Administration Center the old soldiers home still serves our nation's military veterans the years from city hood through Civil War were a tumultuous time for Milwaukee [Music] the city became a world center of the grain trade and mushroom from ragtag frontier town to aspiring metropolis Milwaukee earned fame as the German Athens of America but it also saw an early measure of his modern diversity the Civil War tried Milwaukee as it tried the nation but the City Star continued to rise despite the struggles despite the tensions no one wanted to leave a German immigrant spoke for thousands of newcomers of every background in a letter home I thank the Lord that I am here and regret that I did not come sooner [Music] you [Music]