Historical Figures

Solomon Juneau (1793 – 1856)

Photo credit: Milwaukee Public Library

• 1793: Born Solomon Juneau in Repentigny, Montreal, Canada
• 1808 Became voyageur and headed west with trading company
• 1818: Met Jacques Vieau, became his clerk and took up residence with Vieau family
• 1818: Settled “Juneautown” in area east of Milwaukee River
• 1820: Married Josette Juneau, Jacques Vieau’s daughter
• 1825: Juneau and wife, Josette set up trading post on what is now N. Water and E. Wisconsin Ave. The Juneau’s were very successful and developed good relationships with the Native Americans
• 1831: Became an American citizen
• Juneau built the first store and first tavern
• 1835: Became Milwaukee’s first postmaster
• 1837: Became the first village president
• 1837: Launched the Milwaukee Sentinel newspaper, which would become the oldest continuously operating business in Wisconsin
• 1846: Became first mayor of Milwaukee; one of the three founders of the city of Milwaukee
• 1848: Left Milwaukee and founded the settlement of Theresa
• 1856: Died and is buried at Calvary Cemetery

Byron Kilbourn (1801 – 1870)

Photo credit: Milwaukee Public Library

• 1801: Born in Granby, Connecticut
• 1803: Moved to Ohio with family and worked in father’s store
• 1823: Appointed as an Ohio state surveyor; active in surveying canal routes in Ohio
• 1835: Purchased land on the west bank of Milwaukee River, calling it “Kilbourntown”
• 1836: Launched the Milwaukee Advertiser newspaper
• 1836: Built Milwaukee’s first bridge; built at an angle since he refused to line up his street grid with his competitor to the east, Solomon Juneau
• 1846: Considered one of the three founders of the city of Milwaukee
• 1847: Organized the Milwaukee & Waukesha Railroad Co., later known as the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad. Was president of the railroad until 1852 when he was forced to resign because of alleged fraud and mismanagement
• 1848 and 1854: Twice elected mayor of Milwaukee
• 1852: Organized the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad, a rival railroad to the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad
• 1858: Due to a land-grant scandal involving bribing state politicians, Kilbourn lost the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad. Though he avoided prison time, he lost his reputation
• 1868: Left Milwaukee for Jacksonville, Florida
• 1870: Died in Jacksonville, Florida
• 1998: Re-interned at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee

George Walker (1811 – 1866)

Photo credit: Wisconsin Historical Society

• 1811: Born in Lynchburg, Virginia
• 1825: Moved with his family to Illinois
• 1834: Arrived in Milwaukee
• 1835: Founded Walker’s Point on south side of Milwaukee River; established a trading post
• 1846: Considered one of the three founders of the city of Milwaukee
• 1851 and 1853: Served as Milwaukee mayor
• Also served as city’s supervisor, register of the land office and alderman
• 1859: Builder of Milwaukee’s first street car line
• 1866: Died in Milwaukee; buried at Forest Home Cemetery

Alexander Mitchell (1817 – 1887)

Photo credit: Milwaukee Public Library

• 1817: Born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland
• 1839: Came to the United States
• Founder of Marine Bank of Wisconsin
• 1864-1887: Served as president of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad
• Served in the 42nd & 43rd U.S. Congress
• 1877: Nominated for governor of Wisconsin, but declined
• Considered the wealthiest person in Wisconsin for his generation
• Mitchell’s home is now the Wisconsin Club on Wisconsin Avenue
• Descendants include: son, John L. Mitchell, politician; grandson, Billy Mitchell, regarded as the father of the US Air Force and after which the Milwaukee County airport is named
• 1887: Died and is buried at Forest Home Cemetery

Edward Phelps Allis (1824 – 1889)

Photo credit: Milwaukee County Historical Society

• 1824: Born in Cazenovia, New York
• 1845: Graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York
• 1846: Moved to Milwaukee; joined William Allen in leather business
• 1861: Purchased the Reliance Iron Works
• 1863: Changed name of Reliance Iron Works to Edward P. Allis and Company
• 1867: Moved the company to Walker’s Point, near First and Florida Streets, where he turned out flour-milling equipment, small steam engines and heating plants
• E.P. Allis considered a pure exemplar of entrepreneurial spirit
• 1871: Bid on pipes and pumps for Milwaukee’s municipal waterworks; won the bid and provided equipment that exceeded the city’s expectations; the company had never manufactured pipes or pumps previously
• Wife, Margaret Watson Allis involved in philanthropic activities
• 1889: Edward P. Allis and Company employed nearly 1500 men
• 1889: Died and is buried at Forest Home Cemetery
• 1901: After his death, his heirs formed the Allis-Chalmers Company

Frederick Layton (1827-1919)

Photo credit: Milwaukee County Historical Society

• 1827: Born in Little Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire, England
• 1843: Came to Racine County, Wisconsin with his parents
• 1845: Moved to Milwaukee where his father started a meat market under the name of J. & F. Layton
• 1852: Founded with partner John Plankinton, the Layton & Plankinton Packing Company; with a $3,000 loan from Marshall & Ilsley Bank, they built their slaughter and packing houses in the Menomonee Valley
• 1863: Founded the Layton & Company packing company with his father and George Dickens as partners; retired from company in 1900 and the company was incorporated
• 1865: Incorporated the Milwaukee City Railway Company
• 1890-1911: Director of Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company
• 1888: Founded the Layton Art Gallery
• 1908: Founded the Layton Home for Invalids
• 1919: Died and is buried at Forest Home Cemetery

John Plankinton (1820 – 1891)

Photo credit: Milwaukee County Historical Society

• 1820: Born in New Castle County, Delaware
• 1844: Moved to Milwaukee; worked in a mercantile business
• 1849: Began working in meat packing industry
• 1852: Formed partnership with Frederick Layton; launched the Layton and Plankinton Packing Company
• 1861: Layton withdrew from company, but Plankinton continued alone
• 1863: Plankinton was joined by Philip D. Armour to form Plankinton, Armour and Company
• 1884: Plankinton, Armour and Company dissolved; reorganized the company as John Plankinton and Co, with partner, Patrick Cudahy
• 1888: Retired from company and it was re-formed as Cudahy Brothers
• 1891: Died and is buried at Forest Home Cemetery

Captain Frederick Pabst (1836 – 1904)

Photo credit: Milwaukee County Historical Society

• 1836: Born in Thuringia, Germany
• 1848: Came to Milwaukee
• 1848: Worked as a cook and later became captain and part owner of one of the Great Lakes ships of the Goodrich Lines
• 1862: Met brewer, Phillip Best; married Best’s daughter, Maria; invested in Best Brewery
• When Phillip Best retired, Pabst assumed the role of manager of the company with Emil Schandein; the brewery became one of the largest in the country
• 1873: Became president of the Best Brewery
• 1889: Name of company changed to Pabst Brewing Company
• 1890: Established the Das Neue Deutsche Stadt-Theater (The New German City Theater), which burned in 1895
• 1895: Re-built the Pabst Theater on the site of the Das Neue Deutshce Stadt-Theater; architect of the theater was Otto Strack
• 1904: Died and is buried at Forest Home Cemetery

Joseph Schlitz (1831 – 1875)

Photo credit: Milwaukee County Historical Society

• 1831: Born in Mainz, Germany
• 1855: Came to Milwaukee; worked in brewery owned by August Krug
• 1856: Krug died and Schlitz took over control of brewery
• 1858: Married Krug’s widow, Anna Maria
• 1874: Reorganized and renamed the brewery Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company
• 1875: Schlitz was lost at sea while returning from a visit to Germany; control of company passed to Uihlein family; memorialized at Forest Home Cemetery

Frederick Miller (1824 – 1888)

Photo credit: Miller Brewing Company

• 1824: Born in Riedlingen, Württemberg, Germany
• Educated in Germany and France
• Learned brewing business in Germany
• Operated the Royal Brewery in Sigmaringen, Hohenzollern, a former province in Germany
• 1854: Came to Milwaukee
• 1855: Purchased the Plank Road Brewery
• 1888: Reorganized the company as Frederick Miller Brewing Company
• 1888: Died and buried at Calvary Cemetery

Franz Falk (1824 – 1882)

Photo credit: Falk Corporation

• 1824: Born in Miltenburg, Bavaria, province in Germany
• 1848: Became a master brewer at the age of 24
• 1848: Came to Milwaukee, via Cincinnati; worked in various breweries
• 1856: Established a Bavarian brewery in Wauwatosa with Frederick Goes; brewery called Bavaria Brewery
• 1866: Falk became sole owner and changed the name to the Franz Falk Brewing Co; the brewery was successful

Herman Falk (son of Franz Falk)

Photo credit: Falk Corporation

• Born in Milwaukee
• Educated at the German-English Academy in Milwaukee and the Allen Military Academy in Chicago
• 1888: Worked in his father’s brewery
• 1888: Bavaria Brewery merged with Jung & Borchert brewery
• 1889: Fire destroyed the brewery
• 1892: Rebuilt the brewery, but soon sold out to Captain Frederick Pabst of Pabst Brewing Co.
• 1892: Changed his career from brewer to industrialist, specializing in wagons
• 1894: Opened a general purpose machine shop
• 1895: Established the Falk Manufacturing Company, with the cast-welding process his specialty and providing supplies for street railways
• 1899: Renamed the company Falk Company to show their expansion of product line to include gears
• 1914: Provided the gears for the opening and closing of the lock gates of the Panama Canal

Victor Berger (1860 – 1929)

Photo credit: Milwaukee County Historical Society

• 1860: Born in Nieder-Rehbach, Austria-Hungary
• Attended public and private schools in Budapest and Vienna
• 1878: Came to United States
• 1881: Came to Milwaukee; taught German
• 1880s: Became interested in social reform and became a socialist
• 1893: Became editor of the Wisconsin Vorwaerts, a Milwaukee German-language daily newspaper
• 1895: Converted Eugene Debs to the socialist cause
• 1897: With Debs, formed the Social Democracy Party; became the Socialist Party in 1901; later Debs ran for president as the party’s official candidate
• 1911-13: Served in US Congress as first Socialist representative
• 1911-1929: Editor of the Milwaukee Leader, an English-language daily socialist paper which he launched
• Vehemently against the US to enter World War I
• 1918: Indicted for violations of the Espionage Act passed nine months earlier; indictments based on a series of anti-war editorials he had written in the summer of 1917
• 1918: Elected to Congress weeks before convicted of sedition
• 1919: Congress refuses to seat Berger
• 1919: Milwaukee citizens elect Berger, again, by an even more convincing margin
• When Congress refused to seat Berger again, the Fifth District went without a representative for an entire term
• 1921: Berger’s conviction voided on January 31
• 1922: Elected to Congress again, without incident; served continuously until 1928
• 1929: Killed in a street car accident; buried at Forest Home Cemetery

Meta Schlichting Berger (1873 – 1944), wife of Victor Berger

• 1873: Born in Milwaukee
• Attended Milwaukee Normal School
• 1897: Married Victor Berger
• 1909-1939: Member of Milwaukee School Board
• 1917-1919: Member of the State Board of Education
• 1928-1934: University regent
• Believed in women’s right to vote and was a pacifist
• Succeeded her husband’s seat on the executive committee of the Socialist party but disagreements over Soviet Russia, united-front activities, and war policy led to a rupture in 1936, and her resignation in 1940

Emil Seidel (1864 – 1947)

Photo credit: Milwaukee County Historical Society

• 1864: Born in Ashland, Pennsylvania; family moved to Wisconsin when he was a child
• Returned to Germany to train as a woodcarver and became a socialist
• 1904: Elected to Milwaukee Common Council along with eight other socialists
• 1910-1912: First Socialist mayor of Milwaukee and first Socialist mayor of a major city in the US; employed poet, Carl Sandburg as his assistant
• His socialist administration established the first public works department, the first fire and police commission and a city park system
• His administration installed strict regulations upon bars and closed brothels and sporting parlors (casinos of the day)
• 1912: Defeated by Gerhard Bading for mayor
• 1912: Ran on the Eugene Debs Socialist ticket as US vice presidential candidate; had respectable showing, but lost election
• 1916-1920 and 1932-36: Served two terms as alderman in Milwaukee

Daniel Hoan (1881 – 1961)

Photo credit: Milwaukee County Historical Society

• 1881: Born in Waukesha, Wisconsin
• 1910: Became Milwaukee’s city attorney; remained city attorney until 1916
• 1916: Elected as second Socialist mayor of Milwaukee; Seidel was first Socialist mayor
• 1916-1940: Hoan remained mayor for 24 years, the longest continuous Socialist administration in US history
• Hoan’s administration brought progressive change to Milwaukee including the country’s first public housing project (Garden Homes) municipal ownership of the stone quarry, street lighting, sewage disposal and water purification, as well as providing public markets, city harbor improvements and purging graft from Milwaukee politics
• 1936: Appeared on the cover of Time magazine; Milwaukee is cited as the best governed city for many of the years Hoan is mayor
• 1940: Defeated by Carl Zeidler
• 1944 and 1946: Unsuccessfully ran for governor
• 1948: Unsuccessfully ran for mayor; defeated by Carl Zeidler’s brother, Frank P. Zeidler who was also a Socialist
• 1961: Died and is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery
• Bridge at Milwaukee’s lakefront linking downtown with Bay View is named in his honor

Frank Zeidler (1912 – 2006)

Photo credit: Milwaukee County Historical Society

• 1948-1960: Served three terms as Milwaukee’s mayor
• During Zeidler’s administration, Milwaukee nearly doubled its size through municipal annexation
• Zeidler was an intellectual with high moral standards and a passion for learning
• 1973: Re-formed the Socialist Party USA; served as National Chair
• 1976: Presidential nominee of the Socialist party; won 6,038 votes in the 10 states where he appeared on the ballot
• 2005: Zeidler’s political memoir, A Liberal in City Government, was published
• 2006: Died at the age of 93 and is buried at Forest Home Cemetery

Vel Phillips (1924 - )

Photo credit: Milwaukee Public Library

• 1924: Born in Milwaukee
• Attended North Division High School
• Won a national oratory scholarship from the Black Elks
• Attended Howard University in Washington, D.C.
• 1951: first African American woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin Madison law school
• 1956: First African-American and first woman to be elected to Milwaukee Common Council
• 1962: Introduced the city’s first open-housing ordinance; defeated each year until the federal Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968
• 1967: Joined Father James Groppi in non-violent freedom marches demonstrating for open and equal housing; these marches were met with hostile and violent reactions from the mostly-white, south side counter-demonstrators who staged their own demonstrations; violent riot broke out in July of 1967
• 1971: Became the first African American judge in Milwaukee County and the first African-American woman to serve in Wisconsin’s judiciary
• 1978: First woman and first African American elected to a statewide constitutional office as Secretary of State of Wisconsin
• 2002: Awarded a distinguished professor chair at the Marquette University School of Law
• Actively involved with America’s Black Holocaust Museum and NAACP (National Association for Colored People) and is also on the board of Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Community Shares, and the Haggerty Museum

Mathilde Anneke (1817 – 1884)

Photo credit: Milwaukee County Historical Society

• 1817: Born in Lerchenhausen, Westphalia as Mathilde Franziska Giesler
• First marriage ended in divorce and enlightened her to the injustice of laws pertaining to women, which led her to fight for women’s rights
• 1847: Married Fritz Anneke and settled in Cologne; founded a daily paper for the working class; Fritz Anneke was imprisoned for his political expressions, but Mathilde continued to publish the paper on her own until it was shut down by authorities
• 1848: Founded the first German feminist newspaper, Frauen-Zeitung
• 1848: The couple joined the “Forty-Eighters,” a group of free-thinking intellectuals who led uprisings against the royal forces; many were forced to flee Germany in 1849 and the pair settled in Milwaukee, which was the destination for many of the fleeing “Forty-Eighters”
• 1852: Mathilde Anneke launched a monthly newspaper in Milwaukee, called Die Frauen Zeitung (“Woman’s Times”); Die Frauen Zeitung was the first feminist newspaper in the US; Anneke hired German-speaking women to set type, a move that sparked the formation of an all-male union to keep typographer’s trade safe for men and the union killed her newspaper after only seven months
• Anneke remained an influential writer, speaker, teacher and suffragist and created a school for girls in Milwaukee
• 1884: Died and is buried at Forest Home Cemetery

Wilbur Halyard (?-1963)

Photo credit: Wisconsin Black Historical Society

• Born in South Carolina
• Directed the Milwaukee branch of the NAACP (National Association for Colored People); became president of NAACP in 1929
• 1925: Co-founder with wife, Ardie of Columbia Savings and Loan Association, Milwaukee’s only African American owned bank
• 1958-59: NAACP Wisconsin State Conference treasurer and on the board of directors

Ardie Clark Halyard (1896-1989)

Photo credit: Wisconsin Black Historical Society

• 1896: Born in Covington, Georgia
• Graduated from Atlanta University
• Married Wilbur Halyard in 1920
• Co-founder of Columbia Savings and Loan Association; served as secretary-treasurer for 46 years
• Spent 20 years at Goodwill Industries in Milwaukee as employment secretary and personnel director
• 1947: Helped establish the NAACP Youth Council
• 1951: President of the Milwaukee branch of the NAACP; first woman to serve in that capacity
• Instrumental in organizing the Wisconsin State Conference of the NAACP; served as the Conference’s first president as well as treasurer
• Traveled the state to recruit young people into the NAACP
• Served over eight years on the Wisconsin State Board of Vocational, Technical and Adult Education
• A former member of the Wisconsin Governor's Commission on the Status of Women
• 1983: Was part of the Black Women's Oral History Project at Radcliffe College and her picture was displayed in the College's "Women of Courage" Exhibition
• 1983: Public Service Recognition Award from the United Negro College Fund
• Fought tirelessly against racial discrimination and was an active leader of many community groups

Lizzie Black Kander (1858 - 1940)

Photo credit: Milwaukee County Historical Society

• 1858: Born in Milwaukee
• 1900: Established and was president of Milwaukee’s first social settlement, known as The Settlement, which offered training in vocational and domestic skills, as well as classes in English and Hebrew, history and music; also offered a mothers' class, athletic and cultural clubs for children, a lending library, a savings bank, a gymnasium and public baths
• Believed that food was powerful means of religious and cultural expression and used culinary reform to aid in the assimilation of immigrant girls and to introduce immigrant women to American consumer culture
• 1901: Author of the recipe collection, “The Settlement Cook Book: The Way to a Man’s Heart”; it was an immediate success and has sold over two million copies
• 1907-1919: Board of School Directors of Milwaukee
• The Settlement has changed location several times and is now the Jewish Community Center in a building five times larger than the original space
• 1940: Died and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery near Forest Home Cemetery

Sources:

Wisconsin Historical Society

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Library Archives

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business

Vel Phillips Foundation

Falk Corporation

Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project, Michigan State University

The Making of Milwaukee by John Gurda