This engaging chronicle begins with Milwaukee's origins in the wilderness; Indians made their home here in 1785, and much of the future town site was originally under water. Jacques Vieau built a trading post among the Indians and, in 1818, he had a white neighbor, Hypolite Grignon, and a clerk to work at the post; additionally, "James Kinzie is expected, with a large stock of goods from the American Fur Company" located in Mackinac. Growth of the town was slow during these early years but trade with the Indians and trappers was good, increasing steadily over the next few years. In 1832, the Sauk (Indian) War broke out, and most of the Indians were removed "beyond the Mississippi;" white settlers took advantage of the tamed country and flocked into the area. By 1837 "the population [of Milwaukee] was between six and seven hundred." To read this interesting history is to learn about the growth pangs of a mid-western city — similar in so many ways to the establishment and growth of cities on the eastern seaboard — including: altercations between whites and Indians, murder, establishment of a newspaper and a harbor, the hard times of 1837, road and bridge building, incorporation of the city, elections, churches, and more. About twenty-five pages are given over to a brief description of Milwaukee in 1861.
A. C. Wheeler
(1861, 1990), 2016, 5.5" x 8.5", paper, index, 310 pp.
ISBN: 9781556133732
101-W0373
