The General Ordinances of the City of Milwaukee with Amendments Thereto and an Appendix. Published by order of the Common Council., by No author stated
Inventory #: 01790
Price: $130.00

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The General Ordinances of the City of Milwaukee with Amendments Thereto and an Appendix. Published by order of the Common Council., by No author stated. Burdick, Armitage & Allen: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1888. Edition: First edition. Hardcover, 6.5 by 9.25 inches, 597 pages. Full leather with paper labels in red and black affixed to spine, gilt lettering on the labels. All edges gilt.

Condition: Good. Cover is scuffed and worn, with abrasions and small tears at spine ends and corners; gilt page edges are significantly darkened, especially on top and fore edge; front hinge just starting to show a paper split about 2 inches long; endpapers show tanning and foxing. Interior pages show some light tanning and very occasional foxing and smudges, but otherwise a sound, copy, with clean and supple pages.

Contents: Scarce and interesting original 1888 book detailing the general ordinances for the city of Milwaukee,Wisconsin in 1888. An extensive list of the kinds of information included follows, but from the local historian's point of view, some of the most valuable information may be in the appendix, covering changes to street names.

The book covers the ordinances relating to the beach or shore of Lake Michigan (examples: removal of sand and digging prohibited), bridges, buildings (thickness of walls, height of stories, chimneys, flues in party walls, location of furnaces, term "public hall"defined, and more), burials, city officers (including their monthly salaries - Mayor $166.66 per month, City Treasurer $333.33 per month, etc.), dock and wharf lines for the Milwaukee river, dogs (license fees etc.), limits of the various city wards, fires (driving over hose prohibited and penalty, box keys, false alarms and meddling with apparatus, lights in stables, ashes where kept, bonfires and fireworks etc.). The book provides the grades of each street in every ward and then provides the grades of certain alleys and width of sidewalks by ward. This is amazing detail, and provides an understanding for the way things were laid out and built in parts of the city that were established at the time the ordinances were in effect.

. The ordinances continue with harbor and rivers (including location of vessels in harbor, speed of steam vessels, passing through bridges, anchors not to drag, blowing of whistles, and selling merchandise from vessels at foot of streets), hay and wood (weights and measures), health ordinances (throwing filth or nauseous substances on streets, discharge of offensive liquids in streets), slaughter houses and garbage (selling unwholesome meat, garbage teams, who may collect garbage, standard of milk confiscation, cow stables how kept, penalty for doing scavenger work without a license etc.). More ordinances cover liquor license, gambling and selling to minors, markets (wagons how to stand, sale of fruits and berries, hours for selling etc.)

The Misdemeanor section provides fascinating reading. Offenses include cruelly beating an animal, bathing in the public waters, indecently exhibiting a stud horse or bull, being a vagrant, organ grinder, street musician, common prostitute or gambler, cutting ice in the river, driving sleigh without bells, ball playing in streets, leasing buildings for prostitution, carrying dangerous weapons, and many more.

Also included are ordinances concerning the police department (police may enter buildings to make arrests, powers of policemen, all persons must assist officer when called on, hackmen, runners and general duties of policemen etc.), pounds and animals, sewers, streets, alleys and sidewalks, obstruction of streets by railroad cars or engines, street railways (cars to be licensed, cars to be numbered, license to be posted in car, snow removed from track to be leveled, trades licenses, vehicles (vehicles kept for hire must be licensed, livery coaches included, omnibuses etc.)

The final sections of the book cover the Amendments to General Ordinances which include grade of streets and alleys and sidewalks and the Appendix. This final section covers ordinances for vacating acts, ordinance naming and changing names of streets and alleys (an important section for the local historian, that tells, for example, that the street formerly named South Division Street will now be called Pierce Street, new Teutonia Street and Hopkins road now Hopkins Street, Hill Street now renamed Fowler Street, Messengers Subdivision Ludington Street now 25th Street, Juneau Street now Corcoran Avenue etc.This section is very useful for researching old Milwaukee street names and changes in the names etc.

These ordinances continue with ordinances relating to Lake Shore Railway Co., Chicago Milwaukee and St.Paul Railway Co. (old track to be removed, obstructions, Florida Street, Wilcox St. etc.) Numbering streets and buildings, telegraph poles, Market Square Fifth Ward, Quentin's Park, Seventh Ward Park, canal and river improvements (Menomonee River Valley, the River and Lake Shore City Railway Company, Milwaukee City Railway Co. (extensive section on this railway.) The final ordinances covered in this book include Cream City Railroad Company, West Side Railway, Milwaukee Cable Railway Co., Whitefish Bay Railway Co., Badger Illuminating Co. and Milwaukee Gas Light Company, the annexation of Bay View, Keogh Election Law etc. Great sections of ordinances relating to these various Milwaukee railroads.

The book closes with an "Index to General Ordinances,Amendments and Appendix"giving page,section and chapter..