The Milwaukee Story: The Making of an American City, by Austin, H. Russell
Inventory #: 01518
Price: $10.00

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The Milwaukee Story: The Making of an American City, by Austin, H. Russell. Milwaukee Journal: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1946. Edition: No additional printings stated. Softcover, 7.5 by 10 inches, 228 pages. Pictorial wraps with French folds; side stitched with flat staples. Illustrated with black and white photographs and half-tone reproductions of wood engravings and other older illustrations. Includes bibliography and index.

Condition: Good Plus. Covers lightly soiled, worn at spine ends and corners, with a 1/4 closed tear on the bottom back cover. The half-title page has a verticle crease and a small amount of chipping along lower margin. Pages are otherwise clean, unmarked, and secure in their binding.

Contents: Published in honor of Milwaukee's centenial (the city charter was established in 1846), this collection of essays first appeared in The Milwaukee Journal Green Sheet. (Long-time residents will recall the daily supplement -- printed on its special green paper -- with fondness. It contained not only the daily ration of comic strips, horoscopes, and advice columns, but also articles like this series, that did not require the hurried preparation of regular news stories.That's an aside from a Milwaukee native who thought they colored it green so kids could find the comics faster.) This book, by the way, is on quite normally colored paper!

The contents include all of the standard Milwaukee lore: the Bridge Wars, the Newhall house and Third Ward fires, the rollicking and corrupt era of Mayor Rose, and the first Socialist government of a major American city. It offers brief glimpses of the movers and shakers that built the city and contributed so many street names. And it includes many more human and engaging stories, and tales of scandles long forgotten, that aren't such common knowledge, For example, in 1877, fifteen Milwaukeeans procured for themselves the latest "toy", called the telephone. Of course, they could only call each othe (there was no long distance service), but it caught on nonetheless, and the Milwaukee telephone exchange was founded in 1879.