John Gurda's Milwaukee
For decades, John Gurda has provided Milwaukeeans with a tour of our city’s history through his books and PBS programs. Who knew that he also conducted actual tours of the city’s historic sites?
His side gig as tour guide is the subject of his latest book, John Gurda’s Milwaukee. The 83-page guidebook includes route maps, historic photographs and—Gurda’s specialty—compelling stories. Tours have been his part-time job since the mid-‘70s when local TV personality Bunny Raasch called on behalf of the Junior League. Can you give new members a rolling overview of the city? she asked.
“The bus tour was popular enough to become a Junior League rite of spring for more than a quarter-century. One tour led to another,” Gurda recalls. “Since about 1975 I’ve shown off Milwaukee to thousands of people, from church groups to foreign visitors to young lawyers, most often on motor coaches but also on school buses, trolleys, vans, limousines, boats, bicycles and, in much shorter spurts, on foot.”
Gurda’s tours have always been in response to requests from organizations. “I think there's been demand because history literally comes to life when you see it in the landscape; it’s hard to imagine a more effective visual aid than the city itself,” he explains.
John Gurda’s Milwaukee is published by the Milwaukee County Historical Society and will be officially released at the Society’s headquarters, 910 N. Martin Luther King Drive, 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 10. Copies will be available for at the Historical Society gift shop; at Historic Milwaukee, Inc., 235 E. Michigan St.; and Boswell Books, 2559 N. Downer Ave.
