Land Rush!

In the mid-1830s many pioneer settlers arrived in what is today Bay View, staking claims in the future Town of Lake/Bay View area. Land surveys were not completed until 1836, however, so these early Yankee settlers had no legal right to settle the land.

To complicate matters, in the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, the indigenous Potawatomi Indians had ceded their Milwaukee-area lands to the federal government, but the Indians weren’t all forced to relocate until 1838.

So for almost a decade, the area took on the qualities often associated with the wild west.  »Read more

Three ships wrecked off St. Francis coast

Three 19th-century Great Lakes sailing ships, the Boston, the Sebastopol, and the Alleghany, had two things in common. All three were shipwrecked off the shore of St. Francis, Wis., and all three were shipwrecked as a result of an inadequate Milwaukee harbor.

Milwaukee’s original harbor (located about a half-mile south of the present-day harbor) had a shallow harbor entrance, which kept larger ships from entering the inner harbor. These larger ships were forced to anchor outside the harbor entrance at extended piers to unload their goods. Without the protection of the inner harbor during fierce lake storms, many of the ships risked great damage or destruction. Also, due to inadequate navigational lighting, ship captains found it difficult to find the harbor at night, especially during a storm, resulting in ships running aground. Between 1846 and 1855, the three previously mentioned sailing ships were doomed because of these inadequacies.

Fate of the Boston

The side-wheel steamship Boston was built in 1845 and measured 210 feet in length. On Nov. 24, 1846, the Boston arrived in Milwaukee from Buffalo, N.Y., but was unable to enter the inner harbor due to the shallowness of the harbor mouth. The ship instead docked at the extended pier to discharge its cargo. At around 8pm that evening a horrific storm came out of the northeast. Seeking safety, Captain William T. Pease again attempted to take the ship through the harbor mouth into the inner harbor, but the Boston was caught by the powerful gale and lost its smoke stacks, rendering the engines useless.

Anchors were lowered, in hopes of riding out the storm, but the strong winds dragged the Boston southward and around 11pm the ship struck bottom about 150 feet off the shore of the present-day St. Francis Seminary in St. Francis. Help arrived and all the crew and passengers were rescued. The surf broke over the ship, which filled with water. The remaining smoke stack hung limply over the side. An organ destined for an Episcopal church was rescued, as well as cabin doors and panel work, and the vessel’s engine.

Sebastopol Doomed

On Sept. 12, 1855, the side-wheel steamship Sebastopol left Boston for Milwaukee with a crew of 33 and 60 passengers. The newly built ship measured 234 feet long. The 600 tons of cargo, worth $100,000, included copper, tin, lead and iron ingots, safes, and 50 horses. The Sebastopol arrived near the Milwaukee harbor during a severe northeastern storm. Captain Thomas Watts sailed toward what he thought were lights on the harbor pier but in all likelihood were the lights of a another ship or the lights of the houses on the bluff. The Sebastopol traveled off course three miles south of the harbor and struck bottom 200 feet off the shore of the present-day St. Mary’s Academy in St. Francis.

Sebastopol crewmembers set out in a lifeboat, but it capsized and three were drowned. A government lifeboat rescued crew and passengers, including Captain Watts’ wife and four children. Seven or eight of the horses were saved, with some survivors reaching the shore on horseback. Valued at $1,000 each, more horses could have been saved but it was impossible to get them to jump in the water, according to the Milwaukee Sentinel.

The bodies of the three crewmembers, James Clark, Frank (last name unknown), and Morris Berry were recovered from the lake. “I have had all three of the bodies taken to the Lake Protestant Cemetery [in St. Francis] and decently buried side by side,” said Justice of the Peace Jared Thompson in a Milwaukee Sentinel editorial. Three more bodies were later recovered. Cargo was strewn across the beach and at the bottom of the lake. (Divers rediscovered the shipwreck in the 1970s in 15 feet of water near E. Oklahoma Avenue and salvaged items including pewter tableware, ironstone dishes, and a brass belt.)

Last Gasp of the Alleghany

On the evening of Oct. 20, 1855, during a heavy northeastern storm, the propeller ship Alleghany approached the Milwaukee harbor. The 177-foot ship was built in 1849. Captain Asa S. Curtiss saw no light on the harbor piers and ended up anchoring north of the harbor. Due to the intense storm, the anchor did not hold. The ship lost its smoke pipe, was dragged to the southwest, and struck bottom about 100 feet from the lakeshore of the present-day St. Francis Seminary. A local newspaper reported that various articles of cargo were thrown in the water, “forming a sort of bridge from the boat to the shore, on which the women and children were carried.” All 30 passengers survived.

In 1848, the Wisconsin Legislature passed a law allowing Milwaukee to levy a tax to pay for the construction a new harbor entrance. By 1857, a new, safer harbor entrance opened (known as the straight-cut) just north of the original harbor.

19th-century Ships of the Great Lakes

Schooners, side-wheel steamships, and propeller steamships sailed the Great Lakes during the 19th century. These commercial vessels moved cargo and passengers between the Great Lakes ports. Schooners were big sailboats powered by the wind and had two or more masts. Side-wheel steamships had locomotive-type boilers that were fueled by coal and wood. The boilers created steam that turned the ship’s side paddlewheels. Propeller steamships also had boilers that provided steam power that turned the submerged propellers. All three types of shipping vessels continued to be used on the Great Lakes well into the 20th century.

Other 1846-55 Shipwrecks off Milwaukee County’s Lake Shore

• C. C. Trowbridge, side-wheel steamer, 1842
• Badger, side-wheel steamer, 1837
• Bolivar, schooner, 1847
• Nile, side-wheel steamer, 1850
• Buckeye State, schooner, 1852
• Active, schooner, 1855
• J. Steinhart, schooner, 1855
• John F. Porter, schooner, 1855
• Orleans, brig,1855

Source: maritimetrails.org

**There are no known drawings or period images of the Boston, Sebastopol, or Alleghany. Shown below are some period steam-powered vessels that would have plied the Great Lakes. Click to enlarge.

Town of Lake’s Civil War draft

Volunteer or be drafted. That was the message barely beneath the surface of Wisconsin Civil War recruitment posters like the one that shouted, “Arouse! Volunteers Wanted!”

Wisconsin, like other states, was having difficulty filling its volunteer quota set by the federal government. The recruitment posters alone did not spur enlistments, so President Lincoln mandated that any state unable to provide its quota of men through voluntary means by Aug. 15, 1862 had to draft men between the ages of 18 to 45 to make up the difference. Wisconsin failed to fill its quota by that date, so draft lotteries took place around the state.

Three Years with a Draft

On Nov. 19, 1862, the first Milwaukee County draft lottery took place at the Milwaukee County Courthouse. A quota had been set for each of the Milwaukee County townships-Milwaukee (north of what was then the city of Milwaukee), Granville, Wauwatosa, Greenfield, Franklin, Oak Creek, and Lake (see sidebar), as well as a number of wards in the City of Milwaukee.

Town of Lake, which then included what is today Bay View, had a considerable number of local men who had already enlisted. Because of the high enlistment rate for this still mainly rural area, Town of Lake’s draft quota was lower than the other townships. For the first draft lottery in 1862, Town of Lake had a quota of 18 men. These draftees were to serve 90 days.

The Milwaukee Sentinel described the draft lottery process at the courthouse on Nov. 20, 1862. Twelve boxes were lined up on a table, one for each of the townships and wards, with each box containing ballots with the names of residents from that township who were eligible for the draft.

A large 18-by-8-inch black walnut box was used for drawing the draft lottery ballots. Each township box was emptied separately into this box. “Mr. Milman handled the big box and shook up the ballots well before each draw,” reported the Sentinel. Daniel McCarty, a “young lad,” was blindfolded and drew the names. Each ballot name was read aloud and was recorded by two clerks.

Thousands of people, including representatives from each township, witnessed the procedure. After ballots from each of the townships were drawn, the list of draftees was read. “The reading of the list was listened to with the best of good feeling,” according to the Sentinel, “and at the conclusion of each reading, cheers were given.”

In 1863 and 1864 draft lotteries were also conducted. Town of Lake had to meet a quota of 50 men in 1863, and a quota of 36 men in 1864. Over the three-year period from 1862 to 1864, 104 men were drafted from Town of Lake.

According to the Wisconsin Historical Society’s website, only a small number of the draftees actually served in the war. In 1864, for example, only about 20 percent of the 17,534 Wisconsin men drafted were actually mustered into service. About 40 percent “claimed exemption from service” and the other 40 percent “simply failed to report for duty.”

Draft Drama

Draftees were allowed to hire substitutes, whose going rates ranged from $200 to $350. Several advertisements appeared in local papers, in which individuals offered themselves as substitutes. Some draftees were disqualified due to physical disabilities and some paid a $300 commutation fee or got an exemption due to family hardship. In December 1863, a draft dodger list was issued, which included 15 men from Town of Lake.

The clergy was not exempt from the draft lottery process. Procurator Father Joseph Salzmann of the St. Francis Seminary on S. Lake Drive secured a substitute for $300 and was exempt from military duty for three years.

Professor Mathias Gernbauer, knowing the anxiety seminarians felt about the draft, played a practical joke by having two older students dress up as recruiting officers. As students gathered at the front entrance of the seminary building, Gernbauer had the two imposters walk up the pathway. Word rapidly spread among the students that the recruiters were coming and “all who were Americans and old enough [for the draft], disappeared in a grand stampede for the safety of cellars and other hiding places,” wrote Reverend Peter Leo Johnson in his seminary history, Halcyon Days. By May 1864, half of the seminary students had fled, some to Canada. Six of the eligible seminarians were drafted that year.

Town of Lake

Town of Lake was formed Jan. 2, 1838 by an act of territorial legislation and was located in what is now Milwaukee County. By the middle 1840s the boundaries of Town of Lake were Greenfield Avenue to the north, Lake Michigan to the east, 27th Street to the west, and College Avenue to the south. In 1879, the Village of Bay View was carved out of Town of Lake.

Over the years the territory of Town of Lake was reduced due to incorporations and annexations of its land. The incorporation of the Village of Bay View reduced the size of the town in 1879, and shortly after that the City of Milwaukee annexed the area between Lincoln and Greenfield avenues. The incorporation of the Village of Cudahy in 1895 again reduced the size of the town. In the early 1900s, the City of Milwaukee annexed Town of Lake’s Fernwood neighborhood south of E. Oklahoma Avenue, and then the area south and west of Humboldt Park. The incorporation of the City of St. Francis in 1951 further reduced Town of Lake, and finally, in 1954, the City of Milwaukee annexed the remaining portion.

Old Smoky

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure, says the old adage. When the retired steam locomotive Old Smoky was placed on display in Bay View in May 1957, it was considered a treasure. Mayor Frank Zeidler heralded it as an educational tool, one that would “serve the children-as a friend and teacher.” But by the 1970s, some Milwaukee aldermen were calling Old Smoky “a piece of junk.”

According to period news accounts, in fall 1954 a class of second graders first suggested to Mayor Zeidler that a steam locomotive should be on public display. Zeidler appointed a committee to obtain an engine and establish a trust fund for its preservation.

In June 1955, the city of Milwaukee accepted a steam locomotive (known as Number 265) from Milwaukee Road Railroad. The city planned to put the old locomotive on permanent display in one of the county parks.

However, the city selected a city-owned piece of land just north of E. Conway Street and just west of the U.S. Naval Reserve Armory on S. Lincoln Memorial Drive. The former site is across the street from the present Dom & Phil’s De Marinis Pizza Restaurant, now green space unofficially known as Bridgeport Park. A trust fund of $7,000 was raised from donations for the perpetual care of the locomotive exhibit. A naming contest was held. Charles Schmidt, age 5, of South Milwaukee won with “Old Smoky.”  »Read more

Eschweiler designed unique house used by three doctors

In the early 1900s, well-known Milwaukee architect Alexander C. Eschweiler designed many of the palatial homes on Milwaukee’s affluent East Side, including the Charles Allis house at 1801 N. Prospect Ave. and the Robert Nunnemacher house at 2409 N. Wahl Ave.

But on Milwaukee’s south side, Eschweiler is known only to have designed two houses. In 1903, he designed an Arts and Crafts style house for his friend Dr. William Batchelor at 2445 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. in Bay View. In 1913, he designed an Arts and Crafts style house for Arthur Manegold at 1202 S. Layton Blvd.

The Batchelor house, however, was not just a residence. For over seven decades, the house also served as a medical office for three physicians: Dr. Batchelor, Dr. Earle X. Thompson, and Dr. Joseph Halser, Jr.

Dr. William Batchelor

Batchelor was born in Marietta, Ohio in 1856. He graduated from Marietta College in 1878 and earned his M.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1884. That year he married Emma Granger of Marietta, and they moved to Bay View, residing at 1339 E. Potter Ave., where he also practiced medicine.

According to a city directory, in 1888 Batchelor moved his medical practice to a home at 2445 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., and by 1891 the city directory records that the family was also residing there. The couple had two sons, Roger (b. 1890) and Henry (b. 1892).

In addition to his private practice, Batchelor was a surgeon for Milwaukee Hospital, Emergency Hospital, Milwaukee’s Children’s Hospital, company physician for the Bay View Illinois Steel Company, and railroad surgeon for the Chicago, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway Co.

In early 1903, Batchelor decided to move his Queen Anne style home to a lot across the street to 533 E. Wilson St. (where it remains today) in order to build a larger home on his Kinnickinnic Avenue property (present-day northwest corner of KK & Wilson). Batchelor continued to live and practice medicine in his relocated home while his new house was being built.

In May 1903, Eschweiler completed the architectural plan and the Meredith Brothers of Bay View began construction of Dr. Batchelor’s new home and office. The red-brick house was 3,896 square feet and 2.5 stories, clad with cedar shake above the first floor. The architectural drawings for the house at the Wisconsin Architectural Archive essentially reflect the present layout of the house.

The first floor features a living room, dining room with stained glass windows, library with a brick fireplace, wide oak staircase, an enclosed servants staircase, and a kitchen. A butler’s pantry connects the kitchen to the dining room. Most of these rooms have oak woodwork and oak coffered ceilings.

The original architectural drawings show two rear rooms on the first floor that comprised the medical office. One room was a waiting room and the other an examination room with a small closet laboratory. Patients entered the doctor’s office through a separate entrance on E. Wilson Street.

A two-way mirror (like the kind used in police interrogation rooms) was installed in the newly constructed wall at the base of the central stairway, which allowed the doctor or his wife to peer into the waiting room, unobserved, to see if patients were waiting.

There are three bedrooms, a study with a brick fireplace, one full bath, and one half bath on the second floor. The architectural drawing identifies an additional room at the back of the second floor as a sewing room. This room was most likely also a servant’s bedroom. According to census records, 22-year-old Ida Oberst was a servant in 1900 and 21-year-old Julia (last name unclear on census record) in 1910. The walk-up third-floor attic provides capacious storage space.

In 1904, Eschweiler designed a stable and coach house, topped with a cupola, west of the house. Bay View contractor Elias Stollenwerk did the carpentry work and the Meredith Brothers of Bay View the masonry work.

After Batchelor

Batchelor died in 1920. Two years later, his widow sold the property and the medical practice to 30-year-old Dr. Earle X. Thompson, formerly of the state of Maryland. At the time he bought the Batchelor property, Thompson had a medical office and residence at 4708 S. Packard Ave. (now razed) in Cudahy. He was also the company doctor for the Patrick Cudahy Company.

Thompson expanded the doctor’s office by erecting a wall between the living room and dining room. The living room became a patient waiting room and the former waiting room became an X-ray room. A two-way mirror (like the kind used in police interrogation rooms) was installed in the newly constructed wall at the base of the central stairway, which allowed the doctor or his wife to peer into the waiting room, unobserved, to see if patients were waiting.

In 1941, Dr. Joseph G. Halser, Jr. purchased the property and practice from Dr. Thompson. Halser and his wife Dorothea “Dot” lived in the house with Thompson and his wife Marion for nine months in preparation for taking over the practice. After the nine-month transition, Thompson moved back East with his wife.

Dorothea Halser worked beside her husband in the practice. She was responsible for raising the children, cooking, and cleaning, as well as performing receptionist duties and being her husband’s nurse assistant. Halser practiced medicine into the mid-1970s and died in 1984. Along with his private practice, Halser was also the company doctor for Cudahy’s Ladish Company.

When the Halsers moved into the house there were ginkgo trees on the property. The Chinese ambassador to the United States had given Dr. Batchelor three ginkgo trees, according to Dorothea Halser. The ginkgo trees became Dorothea’s passion. She is considered the person who was responsible for propagating the ginkgo tree around the Milwaukee area. There are still ginkgo trees on the Kinnickinnic Avenue property.

In 2009, Bill Doyle, a well-known Bay View house rehabber, purchased the Eschweiler house. According to Doyle, Joseph Halser III, the son of the late doctor, called him and asked if he would like to purchase the house. “The Halser family chose me over a number of people who had offered to buy the house,” said Doyle. The Halsers wanted to sell the house to someone they could trust to preserve the historic fabric of the house, Doyle said.

He acknowledged it’s an ambitious project, but Doyle said he plans to restore the house to its former glory. He’s already completed some exterior work, including a new roof and the replacement of decorative shingling on the second story. Inside the house, he removed the wall between the living room and the dining room. He said he carefully removed the two-way mirror that was housed in the wall and is preserving it.

Doyle intends to retain as much of the house’s history as possible, including the unique black roller blinds in the former X-ray room and the footed cast iron bathtub in the upstairs bathroom. Doyle credited the Halsers for their years of stewardship and said he’s committed to the house, too. He doesn’t see himself just as its owner. “I see myself as the caretaker of this house,” he said.

1886 Bay View ball club—city and state champions

Baseball had been played in Milwaukee since the 1860s, but local amateur interest really took off in 1884, with over 200 local baseball teams receiving coverage in Milwaukee’s newspapers. These impressive numbers continued throughout the decade. Most major companies, and many smaller companies, sponsored a team. Groups of men, boys-and occasionally girls-from neighborhoods throughout the city also formed teams. Bay View was no exception, and one team would stand out, winning both the city and state championships in 1886.

The Bay Views

The amateur baseball club of Bay View first appeared in 1884 and became a major local force in 1885. Playing in the newly formed amateur four-team City League, the Bay Views compiled a record of 14-6. A team sponsored by James Morgan, a large downtown clothier, put together a record of 11-4 in the league. Although the Bay View team won more games, the Morgans thought they should be the champions, having beaten Bay View in three of five games played. These two clubs set out to decide the City League championship with a three-game series in October and November. Rain cancelled the games, leaving the matter unsettled.

In August 1885, Bay View club general manager William Sisson, a salesman, and field manager Felix McIver, a Bay View saloon owner, announced they would “support a paid nine” for the next season. The two men leased grounds in Bay View and built a “first-class baseball park,” complete with a grandstand and enclosed by a high board fence. They also set out to subscribe $1,000 in stock for building purposes. According to Milwaukee city directories, these grounds were at Kinnickinnic and Garfield (today, Garfield Street is known as Pine Avenue and no longer connects with KK, but then would have between Dover Street and Potter Avenue). The park was completed in May 1886 at an estimated cost of $4,500.

Ready for 1886

New men were involved in the club in 1886. Anton Stollenwerk, who owned a saloon and boarding house on S. Bay Street, and Richard M. Moore, listed as a “heater” in the 1886 city directory, formed a partnership with Felix McIver to run the park and club for the upcoming season.  »Read more

Pryor family and farm

For sale 10,000 of the best selected fruit trees, together with an extensive assortment of currant and raspberry bushes, shrubs and ornamental trees all prime order…” reported the Milwaukee Daily Gazette Dec. 5, 1845. Phillip Pryor, a resident of Buffalo, N.Y., had shipped these nursery items from New York to Milwaukee with the intention of selling them to area farmers.

Pryor must have taken a liking to Milwaukee. The following November, 26-year-old Pryor and his new bride, 17-year-old Elizabeth Mary Sharp Pryor, purchased 37 acres from John Ogden for $600 in Lake Township (in the area now known as Bay View). Their farm roughly bordered Lake Michigan and E. Ontario, E. Iron, and S. Clement streets.

The Pryors built a cabin from timber on the property and carried water from a spring near the present Pryor Avenue iron well. Phillip and Elizabeth had four children: Phillip M. (1848), Catherine “Kate” (1849), William J. (1851), and Daniel S. (1852).

In June 1852, Phillip, Sr. died at the age of 32 while visiting Rochester, N.Y., cause of death unknown. Since there was no will, the children inherited the estate with Elizabeth retaining dower rights.

Four years later, Phillip’s younger brother, William Robert Pryor, moved to Lake Township from New York and married his sister-in-law, Elizabeth. Their marriage produced six children: Sarah (1858), Edward W. (1860), George T. (1861), Abraham Lincoln (1862), Lismun (1864), and Robert (1867).

The Pryor farm was described in an 1866 document as having two houses, a barn, a shed, plus “a garden spot with a fine nursery and asparagus bed.” The nursery produced apples over 12 inches in circumference, weighing 15 ounces. “As long as we see such convincing proofs of this, we cannot be led to believe that our soil and climate are not adapted to fruit growing,” opined the Milwaukee Sentinel in an Oct. 18, 1866 issue.

In 1871, the original Phillip Pryor farm was subdivided among the three sons of Elizabeth’s first marriage. (Kate had died in May 1856 at the age of 6 of brain congestion.) Phillip got eight acres, William nine acres, and Daniel 21 acres.

Despite getting the smallest area, as the eldest son’s land was considered most valuable. In a memoir published in the May 1980 issue of the Bay View Historian, Abraham Pryor’s son, George R. Pryor, said, “As quality and value of the property were major factors in the division, it is obvious that Phillip received the most desirable lot.”

Six weeks after the subdivision of lots, on March 27, 1871, Phillip sold his land to the Milwaukee Iron Co. for $10,300. At the time, Philip was living Waupun, Wis. and was the editor of the Waupun Times. Around this time, Pryor Avenue was platted. His parents Elizabeth and William R. Pryor continued to live on Pryor land, on property owned by William J. Pryor.

Elizabeth M. Pryor, 48, died in June 1876, cause of death unknown. William Robert Pryor, 52, died in November 1876 of typhoid fever. Both were buried in Waupun. Elizabeth and William’s children, ranging in age from 9 to 18, moved to Waupun to live with relatives. Lismun lived with his half-brother Phillip, Robert with a cousin, Edward attended the Wisconsin State University in Madison, and Sarah attended the University of Whitewater.

Abraham returned to Bay View in 1880 and worked at the rolling mill. He lived with Henry Lenck, co-owner of Lenck Hardware. From 1907 to 1909, Abraham lived at 2574 S. Shore Dr. with his wife, Olive, and sons, George R. and William H.

In his memoir, George R. recalled, “In our yard above the lake were two apple trees, which had been in the farm nursery when my father was a boy.”

In 1910, Abraham moved his family to West Allis. They were the last of the original Pryors to live in Bay View.

Many of Elizabeth’s children at one point left Wisconsin. William was a fruit farmer in Stanton, Neb. and in Mesa County, Colo.; Phillip was an editor in Garner Township, Iowa; Daniel was a truck farmer in Garner Township, Iowa; Robert was an abstractor in Foster, N.D.; George was a physician in Sheffield, Pa.; and Edward was a schoolteacher in Mesa County, Colo.

The original Pryor homestead was razed. George R. recalled that the original Pryor home “was built on the lake bluff at the high point of the property,” probably at the site of present-day 2608 S. Shore Dr.

In 1964, the late Bill and Lois Rehberg built a home at 2596 S. Shore Dr. According to Bay View resident John Ebersol, Lois’ mother, Meta Lawrie, claimed that some of the Pryor children had been buried on the property, and she was concerned that the graves of the Pryor children would be disturbed when the sewer lateral was laid for the new house. However, no bodies were uncovered.

The 1912 bathhouse at South Shore Park

In the early 1900s, when South Shore Park was known as the 17th Ward Lake Shore Park, there was no permanent public bathhouse building where swimmers could change into their swimming suits, lock up their personal items, and take a shower. Rather, there were temporary bathhouses set up on the beach, like the ones run by a man known as Mr. Brown. Former Bay View resident Arthur Hickman, born in 1905, used Mr. Brown’s bathhouse as a small child. “It consisted of a number of dressing cubicles erected on a slightly elevated platform,” recalled Hickman in his book, Bay View As I Remember It. »Read more

Lenck’s Hardware was men’s headquarters

Male bonding. That’s what the former C.H. Lenck & Bros. Hardware Store at 2499 S. Delaware Ave. was known for in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Old-timers would congregate and “tell stories and crack jokes, and bet on elections and their fast horses, and tell of their great deeds of valor and narrow escapes,” wrote Captain William Donahue in his memoir, Early Days.

The days of the old-timers around a potbelly stove, with a spittoon nearby, are pretty much past. Perhaps the neighborhood barbershop is the only place of business where such male camaraderie still transpires. The old Lenck hardware store is now the Delaware House, a place where people of all ages (and both sexes) congregate, not to “jaw,” but to dance, perform yoga, and engage in other health-related activities.

But at a ceremony Saturday, June 27, the former Lenck & Bros. will be remembered, when it is designated as a Bay View Historical Society Landmark.  »Read more

Tale of our tower

At one time the church steeples of St. Augustine, St. Lucas, and Bay View United Methodist were the tallest points in Bay View. In 1964, the 25-story, 275-foot-high Bay View Terrace was built and subsequently dwarfed all those ecclesiastical steeples. After nearly 45 years, the Terrace still dominates the skyline at the corner of E. Russell Avenue and S. Shore Drive and is still the tallest building on Milwaukee’s south side. »Read more

Ken Keltner, Bay View’s husky third sacker

A deafening roar of applause rocked the jam packed wooden stands of old Borchert Field as Kenny Keltner, the pride of Bay View, blasted a tremendous drive far over the left center field fence,” wrote George Reimann in his book Sandlot Baseball in Milwaukee’s South Side. “The ball sailed across the intersection of N. 8th and W. Burleigh Streets, and smashed a filling station gasoline pump on the northwest corner.”

It was Sept. 8, 1937, Keltner Night at Borchert Field. Kenneth F. Keltner was the third baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers, a minor league team that played in the American Association from 1902 to 1952.

From Bay View to the Brewers

Keltner was born in Bay View in 1916 and spent much of his childhood in Bay View, living at 2519 S. Superior St., 2130 S. Bennett St., and 2930 S. Pine Ave. He attended Trowbridge Elementary School and Boys’ Tech, but did not graduate. His father was a railroad switchman at the steel mill. As a teenager, Kenneth played on the south side municipal Midget League baseball teams, playing for the Gerber Morticians in 1932, Hebein Drugs in 1933, and the Justrites in 1934. He also played for the Charley’s Colts, an American Legion junior team. Keltner acquired “a reputation as a terrific fast pitch softball player with the 12-inch inseam ball,” wrote Reimann. In 1935, Keltner played for Sanders Clothiers in the Major AA league.

The minor league Milwaukee Brewers signed Keltner in 1936, and he played with the Brewers’ Fieldale, Va. farm club at a salary of $40 a month. With a .360 batting average, he scored 33 home runs and 116 RBIs. In 1937, he moved up to the minor league Brewers at Borchert Field, playing third base. With a .310 batting average and 27 home runs, Keltner tied for second place in the association. At six feet tall and 190 pounds, he was known as the “husky third sacker.”

In 1937, the Brewers traded Keltner to the American League Cleveland Indians, a major league team, for $25,000 and six players. Keltner made his debut with the Cleveland Indians Oct. 2, 1937. During his 1938 rookie year, he had a .276 batting average, 26 home runs, and 113 RBIs.

Snapping the Streak

It was during a game in Cleveland on July 17, 1941 that Joe DiMaggio’s 56-straight-game hitting streak came to an end, due in part to Keltner. In both the first and seventh innings, DiMaggio hit balls sharply down the third baseline, and both times Keltner fielded them backhanded and threw DiMaggio out at first. After the game, he and his family received a police escort as a precaution against anyone who might target Keltner for ending baseball’s most amazing streak.

Keltner played for the Indians from 1937 to 1944. From March 1945 to March 1946, he served with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific operations. Keltner returned to play for the Indians from 1946 to 1949.

The Indians released Keltner in spring 1950, and he then signed with the Boston Red Sox, playing 13 games before being released. In 1951, he played his last professional baseball season with Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League in California. His batting average for his 13-year major league career was .276, with 852 RBIs and 163 home runs.

While he played for the Indians, the Keltner family lived at 3249 S. Springfield Ave. in Bay View during the off-season. Every year, Keltner, his wife Evelyn, and his two sons Jeff and Randy packed up and drove to spring training in California. They then drove to Cleveland where the family resided during the baseball season.

In 1946, the whole Keltner family was featured on the Wheaties cereal box. For payment the family received free Wheaties for a whole year. Perhaps, too much of a good thing? “I no longer eat Wheaties,” said Randy. Though when he and his wife attend modern Brewers games with their friends, they all wear T-shirts with the Wheaties poster on them.

After the Majors

According to Jim Nitz’s extensively researched online biography of Keltner (bioproj.sabr.org), after retiring from professional baseball, Keltner played a few seasons of semi-pro baseball for Rohr Jewelers in 1952, worked in various sales jobs, and scouted for the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox. In the late 1960s, Keltner operated a restaurant called Keltner’s Hob Nob at 3158 S. Howell Ave. (now The Bubbler).

In 1989, when the movie Major League was filmed in Milwaukee, Keltner served as a consultant during the hiring of the extras who auditioned for roles as baseball players. Randy Keltner’s son Paul played a batboy in the movie.

Love of baseball ran in the family. Both sons played baseball while attending Bay View High School. After graduation, Jeff spent two months with the minor league Kansas City Athletics’ farm team. Randy’s son Ken served as a batboy for the major league Milwaukee Brewers in the 1980s. Jeff lives in Caledonia and Randy lives on Milwaukee’s southwest side.

In tribute to Keltner, a youth baseball diamond at 13th and Grange was renamed Ken Keltner Field in 1989. In 1999 the name was transferred to the baseball diamond in Humboldt Park where Keltner had played as a youth, according to Nitz.

Keltner died in 1991 at the age of 75. According to Reimann, Keltner summed up his 13-year major league baseball career this way: “As a sixteen year old kid playing on the sandlots, I had two ambitions. One was to be a World’s Champion and the other to be an All-Star player. I was fortunate enough to realize both of these. Our 1948 Cleveland team won the pennant in a playoff with Boston and then defeated the Braves in the World Series. I participated in seven All-Star games.”

Randy’s greatest memory of his dad was his father’s dedication to his fans.

When walking through the Cleveland stadium parking lot after a game, fans would besiege Keltner for an autograph. According to Randy, Keltner did not leave the parking lot until every fan was satisfied.

The Hide House transformed through time

Many longtime Bay View residents living near The Hide House at 2526 S. Greeley St. remember it as the site of the former J. Greenebaum Tannery. But these old timers may be surprised to know the tannery wasn’t the first factory to occupy the site. Since 1898, a number of businesses manufactured goods at this location.

Before a factory building even existed at the corner of Greeley and Dover streets, the empty lot served an important purpose in the neighborhood. In the late 1880s and early 1890s it was a baseball field for neighborhood kids. “Our playing field was an excellent one on the site of the present Greenebaum Tannery,” recalled Paul Gauer in his The Gauer Story, A Chronicle of Bay View. “Here we had our first $1.25 baseball. How proud we were!”  »Read more

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