Photo by Adam Levin
Lyle Oberwise slide collection
Lyle Oberwise was a nationally known photographer whose specialty was urban life and architecture in Milwaukee from the 1930s through the early 1990s. Over a period of nearly 50 years, the shy and somewhat reclusive amateur photographer amassed a collection of 43,000 color slides depicting not only the city's architecture but the daily lives and celebrations of its people.
He took photos of just about anything and everything in Milwaukee, from buildings, street scenes, signs, trains, trolleys, fire engines, festivals, parades, the Zoo and beaches. His images also contain numerous architectural treasures such as the Northwestern Depot, the Little Pink Church in the Third Ward, Borchert Field on 8th and Chambers and the Wells Street Viaduct. Also, neon signs for Carload Colder’s, Riverside Theater, Eugene’s Restaurant, Wisconsin State Fair, Centurama and the South Shore Frolics.
During his off time, Oberwise walked around the city with his camera ... he didn’t have a car. At home he worked in a little room near his living room with his slides. His photos are a rare glimpse of postwar Milwaukee when it was changing daily (and not always for the better). Some of his best slides show offbeat places that nobody ever thought to photograph.
Early Years
Oberwise was born in 1908 in Illinois. He arrived at Marquette University to obtain an engineering degree. After graduation in 1931, he served for several years in the Civilian Conservation Corps and later worked for a Milwaukee packaging company. During this time he started his life’s project of documenting Milwaukee through the use of photographic film. At the onset of World War II, he was drafted into the Army and served as a combat photographer in the China-Burma-India military operations. It is during this time that his use of color Kodak film became his preferred choice in his photography.
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Postwar Years
Upon his return to Milwaukee, Oberwise spent his spare time photographing a Milwaukee that no longer exists today. Due to his extraordinary efforts to document our ever-changing city from the mid-1940s to early 1990s, we can enjoy and revisit a Milwaukee that most have never seen. Referencing Jim Stingl’s 1995 Milwaukee Journal article, Oberwise was known to be frugal. A niece related how she and her husband once stopped at his apartment for a visit. Expecting to dine out afterwards, and even offering to pay, they were surprised when Oberwise suddenly announced, “There’s plenty to eat at home …” and proceeded to cook them a box of macaroni & cheese.
The Treasure Trove
On Sept. 25, 1993, Oberwise was found dead of a heart attack in the hallway of his Pasadena Apartment on State and Cass streets. Paramedics arriving on the scene checked his pockets and found only a prayer book and a roll of 35mm slide film. His wife passed away four years earlier. He had no children, nor heirs and did not have a will. I am curious if the roll of film found in his pocket was ever developed. He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery and Mausoleum in Milwaukee.
In April 1994, a classified ad appeared in the local paper for an estate sale of Oberwise's remaining possessions. John Angelos, a retired high school English teacher and his wife Marilyn Johnson, became interested because it read, “Many historic Milwaukee photographs.” Angelos recalled walking into a room stacked with boxes filled with Kodachrome slides. Given only 15 minutes to inspect the boxes, he placed a sealed bid. That night Angelos received a call telling him he now owned the entire collection.
Angelos began hauling the boxes home and examining them more systematically. The contents were a treasure trove comprised of 18 albums of black-and-white prints, 750 black-and-white negatives taken during the 1930s, one box of prints taken in Burma during World War II, one box of pictures taken in New York City upon Oberwise's return home from the war and, finally, over 45,000 Kodachrome color slides of Milwaukee taken between 1945 and 1993.
Access to the Collection
In March 2003 Angelos and Johnson offered the Lyle Oberwise slide collection to the Milwaukee County Historical Society. This collection of over 45,000 color slides allowed the staff and researchers a chance to view old Milwaukee in a new way—in vivid color. Up to that point, we could only look back through black and white photography, and only imagine the color of buildings, planes, homes, clothing and vehicles.
Over two years of labor-intensive work by volunteers and staff, this valuable collection of images was sorted and re-sorted into categories that can be searched today by researchers and the general public. Some of the categories include neon signs, commercial buildings, parks, parades, and transportation. Subcategories exist which make it easier to search for a desired image.
If you’re at the Milwaukee Historical Society to view the collection and happen to find something that you must have, these images can be reproduced for a fee. I looked at the slides a couple years ago and could easily spend an entire day or two looking at the collection. We are forever grateful to John Angelos for preserving the fascinating Oberwise collection and the Milwaukee County Historical Society for sharing it publicly. His contribution is ever lasting.
On Nov. 1, 2007, a book was released, Milwaukee at Mid-Century: The Photographs of Lyle Oberwise. It would be great to see a Volume II of Milwaukee at Mid-Century someday. His photos will always be historical treasures.
Adam Levin is administrator of the Old Milwaukee Facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/oldmilwaukee/ ,and author of Fading Ads of Milwaukee.
