Milwaukee: The History of a City (1948), by Still, Bayrd
Inventory #: 01165
Price: $55.00

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Milwaukee: The History of a City (1948), by Still, Bayrd. State Historical Society of Wisconsin: Madison, Wisconsin, 1948. Edition: First edition. Hardcover, 8vo, 638 pages. Original red cloth cover; title and publisher in gilt on spine. Illustrated with 15 black and white plates. Includes Index. Chapters are well-footnoted with notes and bibliographic references.

Condition: Good Plus no jacket. Spine ends lightly bumped, corners have a tiny bit of wear; former owner's bookplate on inside front cover; page edges are darkened from age. These are basically the normal signs of age and light usage on an otherwise clean, tight book. The major flaw, and the only reason the book is not rated Very Good, is that the table of contents lists 16 plates and there are only 15 in the book. The plate which should be facing page 552 is not present. I see no signs that it was ever in the book, and perhaps this is an error in publishing. Nevertheless, it is listed and not present, so must detract from the value of this otherwise very nice copy.

Contents: A history of Milwaukee from the first settlers through 1940.

In PART I: THE VILLAGE, the author gives a few paragraphs to the true first residents, the American Indians, and to some early explorers in the 1700's, he quickly steps the story forward to the 1830's, which is when the land began to be purchased and settled in earnest. This early period, from about 1833 through 1845, covers the fur trade and townsite promotion, village politics (including the enmity between the communities on either side of the Milwaukee river) and internal improvements , commercial foundations, the social fabric of the village, and the beginnings of urban services.

In PART II, THE EXPANDING CITY: 1846-1870, Bayrd Still tackles the place of origin of the diverse nationalities that were making up the increasingly populous metropolis. Many were American Born in the eastern United States and increasingly, in Wisconsin itself, but many more came from Europe. By far, the biggest percentage of immigrants were from Germany, but they were followed by the Irish, Bohemians, British-Americans, Hollanders, Austrians, and Norwebians.This section also covers the period of the Civil War, and gives an idea of Milwaukeeans' views on slavery.

in PART III, THE EMERGING METROPOLIS 1870 TO 1910, the author continues to explore changing mix of native born American and Wisconsin residents and the immigrants, and how the cultures gradually begin to meld. This section also contains an interesting look at the socialist politicians (yes, here in America!) who ran the city for so many years.

PART IV, THE MATURE METROPOLIS 1910 TO 1940 covers the last 30 years, nearly up to the time the book was written, In this section, the author looks at trends, and makes heavy use of the 1940 census to illustrate the shift in jobs from such occupations as blacksmithing, and tailoring to automobile mechanics and manufacturing. He also highlights the increasing movement of women into the labor force, and reduction of school age children in the labor force. Among many other thigs, this period also covered World War I, which caused the heavily German population of the city significant angst and lead to the virtual elimination of German language education and cultural events.