Map via Wisconsin Historical Society
Historic map of Granville
The Town of Granville, in Milwaukee County’s northwest corner, was one of the county’s seven townships established between 1838 and 1841. Its borders were: north, Ozaukee County (today’s County Line Road); west, Waukesha County (today’s 124th St.); south, Wauwatosa Township (today’s Hampton Avenue); east, Milwaukee Township (today’s Range Line Road/27th Street).
Granville, settled by pioneers from Pennsylvania, Indiana, and New York, was named by an influential group for their former home in New York. When pioneers began converting wilderness to farmland, Granville’s beautifully rolling and fertile countryside provided the best farmland in Milwaukee County. The Milwaukee, Menomonee, and Little Menomonee Rivers provided an abundance of water and drainage.
Granville’s only municipality, Schwartzburg, in its southeastern corner, incorporated as North Milwaukee in 1897 and consolidated with Milwaukee in 1928. In 1930, River Hills incorporated and Granville lost a small portion of its northeast corner.
The Depression and World War II halted Milwaukee’s expansion. When the war ended in 1945, the United States experienced runaway prosperity. Returning GIs married and started families, initiating the baby boom. Housing and land for housing was needed. Industry moved toward Granville in the northwest. Milwaukee, with little vacant land for industrial development, needed to expand or die.
Granville, with 29 of its original 36 square miles, or 80.5 % of its land area, was mainly farms and vacant, undeveloped land. Unfortunately, Granville lacked the population necessary to incorporate.
In 1950, Glendale, partly in southeast Granville, incorporated. In 1955, Granville’s northeastern corner incorporated as Brown Deer. It then annexed most of what remained of Granville and expanded to 22 square miles. Milwaukee immediately sought to overturn the new annexation. A complex series of actions and court battles followed. Finally, in April 1962, the Wisconsin Supreme Court reduced Brown Deer to 4.3 square miles, giving Milwaukee 16 square miles, largest acquisition in its history.
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Granville ceased to exist, but with open land, woods, and farmland, was promoted as, “Milwaukee’s suburb in the city.” Today, much of Granville remains rural with vacant land, parks and golf courses. Parks and bike trails are the only development along the Menomonee and Little Menomonee Rivers. Havenwoods State Forest boasts six miles of hiking trails. East of Havenwoods, the tree-lined streets of the Thurston Woods neighborhood remind one of Granville’s ancient forests. Florist Avenue, a half-mile north of Silver Spring, recalls the days when Thurston Woods was covered with fields of flowers and greenhouses.
