Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
east-siders considered actually going to war with the west side, and at one point even bur-
ied a cannon pointed across the waters at Kilbourntown. (Attentive visitors can still discern
traces of the Bridge War on a walk of the downtown streets and bridges, as the bridges are
at an odd angle when they span the river.)
Immigrants
The first of three massive waves of German immigrants occurred in 1836. By the 1880s,
35 percent of Milwaukee would be German-born, making up 70 percent of Milwaukee's
total immigrant population and contributing to its status as the most ethnically rich area in
the country. (It was even dubbed the German Athens.) The ethnic mosaic continues to this
day and includes Poles, Serbs, Italians, Irish, African Americans, Dutch, Scandinavians,
Bohemians, and Latinos; in the 2000 census, more than 50 ethnic groups were represented.
Milwaukee had the country's first Polish-language newspaper, and the German publishing
industry here rivaled any in the homeland.
American Made
The Civil War provided Milwaukee's biggest economic boon. Milwaukee's deepwater har-
bor provided both an outlet for goods and an inlet for immigrant labor. More than 3,300
tanneries, meatpacking plants, and machine and ironworks became industrial stalwarts,
and through the 1870s Milwaukee remained the wheat-milling and transport capital of the
world. Nowadays—though Milwaukee has shed a bit of its rough exterior—nearly 20 per-
cent ofthe population is still employed in manufacturing (the highest average ofany city in
the United States), and the city has retained the moniker “machine shop of America.”
Socialist Central
Immigrant labor gave Milwaukee its trademark socialistic overtones. Workers, many of
them enlightened freethinkers from Germany fleeing oppression, organized the first trade
and labor unions and played a direct role in the establishment of the country's first unem-
ploymentcompensationact.In1888,Milwaukeevotedinthefirstsocialisteverelectedina
majorcity.SocialistmayorDanHoanoncesaid,afterrefusingtoinvitethekingofBelgium
to the city, “I stand for the common man; to hell with kings.” Socialists were later elected
to a few county posts, and Milwaukee eventually sent the first socialist to the House of Re-
presentatives. Milwaukee labor unions were among the initial and most vociferous propon-
ents of workplace reform; by the mid-1880s, up to 15,000 workers at a time would stage
demonstrations,andin1886militiagroupsfiredoncrowdsintheeasternEuropeanenclave
of Bay View, killing five immigrant laborers.
