A Short History of Milwaukee, by Bruce, William George
Inventory #: 01913
Price: $50.00

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A Short History of Milwaukee, by Bruce, William George. Bruce Publishing: Milwaukee, 1936. Edition: First Edition. Hardcover, 5.5 by 7.75 inches, 249 pages. Red cloth with black lettering on cover and spine. Illustrated with black and white photographs. Includes Appendix 1, a Chronological Record of the major events in Milwaukee history and Appendix 2 a list of distinguised visitors and other Milwaukee notables. Includes Index.

Condition: Good Plus. Cover lightly soiled; spine ends bumped, corners a bit worn; small ding to the top front edge; page edges darkened as from shelf dust. Interior pages clean and unmarked.

Contents: William George Bruce was a Milwaukee native, publisher, and prominent local official who was active in civic life all of his adult life. He loved Milwaukee, was proud of his city, and took every opportunity to extol its virtues. He edited a large three volume set of books on the history of the city, but this smaller volume was intended to give school children a brief but rounded history of the city.

As a personal observation, I must say that in 1936 school children were expected to read texts of much more complexity than the stuff that often passes for juvenile literature today. Here is a small sample from the introduction:

The story of Milwaukee possesses all the charm, interest, and romance that go with a typical American city. A knowledge of your city, its beginning, its struggles, and its achievements, will lead to a higher appreciation of urban life and the blessing which modern civilization confers upon us. The story of our own city should be known to every man, woman, and child living within its limits. Such knowledge forms a more loyal citizenship and a better understanding of the forces that spell progress. It also tends toward a higher appreciation for the men and factors which figure in the great march of civilization. It is well, then, to know how things had their beginning; how Milwuakee got its start; why a great metropolitan center of population grew upon this very spot.

In addition to a very readable text that provides many interesting and lesser-known facts about the city (Abraham Lincoln visited in the spring of 1837 when he considered settling there premanently) the book contains a number of historically interesting photographs, including two of the ruins of the great third ward fire of 1892.