Germans in Milwaukee: A Neighborhood History (Arcadia Publishing and The History Press), by Jill Florence Lackey and Rick Petrie

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Germans in Milwaukee: A Neighborhood History

Milwaukee’s Germanic roots remain one of the city’s touchstones, engraved on the landscape with the Pabst Theater and the Pabst Mansion, as well as sprawling brewery compounds that have been rehabbed for new uses.

The story of German immigration to Milwaukee is more complicated than is usually assumed. The authors of Germans in Milwaukee: A Neighborhood History unpack the 19th century influx to show that several distinct groups of German-speaking immigrants came to Milwaukee—many of them before Germany came into being as a nation. Some were Lutherans opposed to the Prussian king’s state church; some were Germans whose ancestors settled in the Balkans and Russia; some were Jewish or Catholics; others fled in the wake of the failed revolutions of 1848.

As the book’s subtitle promises, the authors examine neighborhoods where Germans once predominated. They examine churches and synagogues, shopping districts and street names for evidence of the Germanic past. One of the book’s more enlightening themes concerns the destruction caused by “urban renewal” in the 1950s and ‘60s. Although Mayor Henry Maier tends to be remembered for his urban vandalism, the authors point out that many ill-conceived plans began under his socialist predecessor, Frank Zeidler. Many flourishing ethnic neighborhoods were destroyed—Italian, Puerto Rican and Black as well as German.

Germans in Milwaukee is authored by Jill Lackey, founder of Urban Anthropology, Inc. and the Milwaukee County Historical Society’s Rick Petrie. They will discuss their book in a 7:30 p.m., May 12 virtual event on the Pabst Mansion Facebook page.