The Bay View Historic District

The Bay View Historical Society will offer a tour of the Bay View National Historic District Saturday, Aug. 9. The district, created in 1982, consists of homes and businesses, some dating to the early 1870s. The area’s boundaries are, roughly, Lake Michigan on the east, Lake Parkway on the west, Conway Street on the north, and Meredith Street on the south.

Bay View was Milwaukee’s first industrial suburb, established Jan. 12, 1867 by Eber Brock Ward as the company town for his Milwaukee Iron Company (also known as the Bay View Rolling Mill, North Chicago Rolling Mill, and United States Steel).

In 1867, this area was agricultural, sparsely settled, and far from the population center of Milwaukee. Because Ward obtained most of his workforce from Great Britain, he built a company town, laid out the streets, named them, and constructed housing for workers and families. In 1879, Bay View became a village, but its village days lasted only until 1887.

This column acquaints the reader with some of the structures on the tour, led by the author and Todd Smith.

The Pioneer Era
Elijah Estes was one of Bay View’s pioneers. When he arrived in 1835, this area was heavily wooded. He had to clear the land for his farm before building a home overlooking Lake Michigan in what today is South Shore Park. The home was razed in 1922 when South Shore Park was being developed.

The northwest corner of Estes Street and Shore Drive could be called the Estes corner, for the three homes built by the Estes Family. The Estes House on the northwest corner of Estes and Shore at 2136 E. Estes St. (1880-81) is an Italianate Victorian home that was designated as a landmark by the Bay View Historical Society in 1989.

According to city records, the home at 2124 E. Estes St. was a barn remodeled into the present home by E. Z. Estes. Arthur L. Estes built the Queen Anne style home at 2789 S. Shore Dr. in 1903.

Rolling Mill
The Bay View Historical Society was responsible for placement of the State Historical Society Marker on the northeast corner of Superior and Russell. The marker commemorates the Bay View Rolling Mill that stood at this site and extended onto Jones Island from 1867 to 1939.

The majority of the homes that Ward built for his workers were one-story frame Italianate puddler’s cottages. Puddlers were the highly skilled workers who manufactured steel. The George W. Edmunds home at 2550 S. Shore Dr. (1873) is one of the more elaborate puddler’s cottages and it displays delicate scroll saw brackets on the porch.

The Palmer House at 2425-27 S. St. Clair St. (1867-68) has a Mansard roof, a rarity in Bay View. This largest of Bay View’s boarding houses was originally a hostelry for 60 people.

A Step Up
The Victorian Gothic Beulah Brinton home is at 2590 S. Superior St. (1872-73). It is headquarters for the Bay View Historical Society. Warren Brinton worked for the Milwaukee Iron Company and Beulah Brinton, his wife, was a cousin of Eber Brock Ward. She is credited with creating Bay View’s first library and the first social center in the country.

Puddler’s Hall, 2461-63 S. St. Clair St. (1873), was jointly erected by the Sons of Vulcan and Badger State Lodge Number 2, with assistance from the Milwaukee Iron Company. In the early days, the hall was the only gathering place in Bay View and was used for lectures, debates, plays, and concerts. The building was dedicated as a Bay View Historical Society landmark May 3, 1986 and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Stores
As steel replaced agriculture, the readily obtainable supply of produce in Bay View dwindled, but several entrepreneurs opened stores in Bay View to fill the niche. Gottlieb Patek was born in Bohemia in 1842 and came to Milwaukee with his parents in 1858. Patek’s General Store, 2469 S. Delaware Ave., built in 1870, was the village’s largest general merchandise store. In 1917 it was the Italia Co-Op.

Church & Well
The Milwaukee Iron Company donated land for the establishment of many Bay View churches. The oldest surviving church built by iron company employees is the Welsh Church at 2739 S. Superior St., built by Welsh immigrants. The church is home to the Christian Science Society.

One of Bay View’s most famous landmarks is the Iron Well in the 1700 block of E. Pryor Avenue. It is the only well left in Milwaukee and people come from all over the area to fill jugs with fresh spring water. The artesian well was drilled in 1882-83 to provide fire protection for the “little red schoolhouse” located nearby. While a pump brings water to the surface today, when the well was first drilled, pressure forced water 50 feet into the air. The Health Department monitors the well several times a year for purity. The well was recognized as a historic structure by the city of Milwaukee Nov, 17, 1987.

The Walking Tour
The Bay View Historical Society conducts a 2.5-hour tour of 12 historic sites on the Bay View Historic District Walk Saturday, Aug. 9, starting at 9:30am at the Beulah Brinton House, 2590 S. Superior St.

Society members Ron Winkler and Todd Smith lead the walk and Bill O’Brien leads a tour of the Brinton home.

Tickets are $10; $5 for society members. Call Diana David at (414) 483-1285 to reserve tickets or buy them Aug. 9.

Click images to enlarge.