USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Memoirs of Milwaukee County : from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Milwaukee County, Volume I > Part 27
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But his range of vision, compared with that of Kilbourn, was de- cidedly limited, and the latter viewed the situation in an entirely differ- ent light. He had been identified with some exceedingly important enterprises, was a skillful engineer, and had had occasion to make a study of the growth of cities and the causes which contribute to their
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development. No sooner had he secured his patent than he took im- mediate steps to improve and advertise his town-site. Some of his claim was hilly, but more of it was a dense tamarack swamp, "bris- tling on the outskirts with black alder and ash." In 1835 he made two contracts : one to clear the tamarack swamp, and the other to build a stationary bridge across the Menomonee river. He began his city along what is now Chestnut street, as that was the most favorable ground he had for building lots. He commenced the improvement of his town with the vim and energy that characterized all his acts, and in a short time the two solitary dwellings belonging to himself and Garrett Vliet, on Chestnut street, were separated by a score of others. He had removed the cloud from the title to his land while in Washing- ton in the winter of 1835, and that made purchasers of lots in "Kil- bourntown" feel that their investments were secure. He had also made substantial improvements, the Menomonee river had been spanned by a substantial bridge, the tamarack swamps that had disfigured what is now the Second ward had been cleared away, a newspaper made its ap- pearance, and a steamboat was soon plying on the river. It was in the very nature of things that jealousy would soon manifest itself between the two sections of Milwaukee, and it presented itself on schedule time. "The Badger", which was the name of the little steamer that plied the waters of Milwaukee river, would visit the bay when a big steamer made its appearance, and all the passengers that wanted to land were given a free ride ashore. They of course were taken to "Kilbourn- town", where the statement was impressed upon them that the future city of Milwaukee was to be built upon the west bank of the river, with Chestnut street as the main thoroughfare, and as for the East side, "it was well enough as an Indian trading post, but no one would seriously think of ever building a town between the river and the lake, for the simple reason that there was not land enough." The first impressions of the site of the future city were not altogether favorable, and to the minds of some they were not improved by the pictures of inevitable greatness painted by Kilbourn and his associates, D. H. Richards and Garrett Vliet. The Milwaukee river was in some respects an erratic stream, at that time not being very sure where its mouth was, and it possessed the uncertain habit of sometimes emptying itself into the lake at one place and sometimes at another. The embryo city had been started nearly two miles from the mouth of the river and its not prepossessing site was reached by a tortu- ofis river channel, through a wet morass, the little steamers having to paddle through the maze of wild rice and grass from the mouth of the river to the foot of Wells street. Water
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covered what is now the Third, Fourth and Fifth wards, and inter- mixed with it was a thick undergrowth of bush peculiar to swamps. A good deal of the hard lands was occupied by high hills or knolls that made straight thoroughfares impossible until an immense amount of grading had been done-a kind of work that has been a necessity even unto the present time.
TOPOGRAPHY.
The original topography of the city as it appeared in 1836 is thus given in substance by James S. Buck, in his "Pioneer History of Mil- waukee", published a half-century after his first visit to the place :
On the South side, or "Walker's Point", there has been an im- mense amount of grading and filling done, changing its appearance very materially. What is now Reed street was formerly all water and marsh, except where it cut the old point, which was about midway be- tween Lake and Oregon streets. This point ran in a southwest direc- tion from the foot of Barclay street to the bluff, which it struck at or near the intersection of Reed and Oregon streets. It was about twelve feet high in the center and from four to six rods wide, and sloped each way to the marsh and river. On its southern side all was marsh and water, and on its northern all marsh and river, over which I have sailed in a small boat many times. Where the St. Paul railroad yard now is there was at least ten feet of water and where the present elevator stands I have passed in a steamboat often. The water at that place was at least eight feet in depth, with a hard, pebbly bottom. Where now stands the best business portion, then all was water and marsh. The west side of Reed street skirted the bluffs, or hard ground, with one or two exceptions, from Florida to Railroad streets, now Greenfield avenue. These bluffs were from ten to twenty-five feet high, reaching the last-named altitude between Greenfield avenue and Greenbush streets from Oregon to Mineral. At Mineral was a ravine, where the grade from Reed west to First avenue was practically the same then as now, and from there to the railroad the bluffs were lower. Oregon street runs along what was originally, in part, their northern face. This face was quite steep and abrupt until it terminated near Fourth avenue, where the Wunderly & Best property still shows their original height. At that point there occurs a fault or set-off in the bluff, re- treating south to Park street, from where it continued west at its original height until merged in the main high lands. The bluffs upon Oregon street were covered upon their southern face from Reed street west to Second avenue with a growth of poplar and hazel, a great re- sort for black, grey and fox squirrels; and all that portion lying be-
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tween Florida, Virginia, and Grove streets and Second avenue was also covered with a thick mat of hazel, interspersed with a few black and burr oaks. At the northwest corner of Virginia and Hanover streets was a sharp hill fifteen feet in height, and from there to Pierce street the ground descended to about its present grade, where it com- menced to rise again, and at Elizabeth street has been cut at least twen- ty-five feet, from there it again descended to Mineral street to about its present level. Where St. John's church stands was a pond hole in which the water stood nearly all the year. And all that part lying be- tween Pierce, Virginia and Greenbush streets and First avenue, or the most of it, was a tamarack swamp, where the water was knee deep, while the grade on Elizabeth street is nearly as it was then, except where it cuts the hill in Elizabeth street (now National avenue) from Greenbush to Hanover, where the cut was at least twenty-five feet, and the cut on those two blocks lying between Hanover, Greenbush, Walk- er and Pierce streets has been an average of twenty feet over their en- tire surface. That block bounded by Reed, Clinton, Elizabeth and Mineral streets, known as "the old Weeks Garden" was a low point extending into the marsh and so thickly covered with plum trees as to be impassable, except in one place, and then it could only be done in a stooping position. The cut on Reed street through or past this garden was at least fifteen and I think twenty feet, a round point so to speak extending into it from about the center of block 100 at least eighty feet. The cut has also been heavy from Hanover to Reed street on the south side of Elizabeth street, the whole distance, including block 100, and on the north about half way, a piece of bottom land ending here that extended to Virginia street. This bottom was in form a crescent and was bounded on the west by Hanover from Virginia to Pierce street, where the bluffs again approached Reed street. The west half of this block has been cut about fifteen feet on an average from Pierce to Elizabeth street, as well as that between Florida and Virginia street, which has been both cut and filled upon an average at least fifteen feet. A small brook came into the marsh at the intersection of Reed and Mineral streets and had its rise in the marsh or lake in the rear of Clark Shephardson's farm. It flowed the year around, and I have shot suckers and pickerel as far west as Grove street. This brook has long since disappeared and its fountain head is now all covered with build- ings. This fountain head or ancient lake occupied all that portion of what is now known as Wechselberg & Elliott's subdivision, lying be- tween Twelfth and Fifteenth avenues and Washington and Lapham streets, its outlet being on Muskego avenue between Lapham street and Greenfield avenue, from whence it wended its tortuous way via
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the present Eighth ward park street to its terminus in the marsh at Mineral street. The fish used to go up this brook to the meadow then lying directly west of the present Muskego road, and great numbers have been taken there in the spring of the year with a spear by Horace Chase and others. All that portion of the present Fifth and Eighth wards bounded by Elizabeth, Hanover and Railroad streets and Eleventh avenue was thickly covered with hazel brush inter- spersed with a few black, burr, and white oaks. This part has not changed so much, although the changes there are quite apparent to an old settler. The grading upon this portion has been more uniform, but will, I think, amount to an average of eight feet over its entire sur- face, the cutting and filling being about equal. All the marsh proper was covered at times with from one to two feet of water in every part, and in the spring would be literally alive with fish that came from the lake, and great numbers of the finny tribe were caught. And the number of ducks that covered the marsh was beyond computation. Thousands of young ones, apparently not a week old, could be seen in the breeding season, swimming around as happy as need be, wholly unconscious of the fate that awaited them from the hands of the sportsmen. But all is changed now, their ancient haunts are covered with the dwellings of the white man, and they, like the fated Indian whose cogeners they were, have gone toward the setting sun. Their day in Milwaukee is over.
So much for the topography of the South Side. The East, or Juneau's side, as that part of the city was called in 1836, was much the largest part of Milwaukee, the reason for which can be easily accounted for. All its upper portion was high and dry ; but aside from this and its position between the lake and river, it had got the first start. Juneau lived there, and being in a position to do so had offered inducements to immigrants and speculators that Kilbourn and Walker were at first unable to do. The amount of cutting and filling that has been done on the East Side in the Seventh and Third wards is very great and would seem perfectly incredible to a Milwaukeean born fifty years hence. Beginning at Michigan street, which was the south- ern limit of the high lands and from whence the ground descended gradually to Huron street. I will first give a description of the present Third ward. All that portion lying between these two streets was soft and boggy, or mostly so, caused by the numerous springs which came from the bluffs. From Huron south all was marsh and water, except two small islands and the strip along the beach. One of these islands, the largest, was bounded, or nearly so, by Jefferson, Milwaukee, Chicago, and Buffalo streets, and was called Duck Island by the boys,
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probably on account of the numerous duckings they used to get in try- ing to reach it. The other was on that block bounded by Menomonee, Broadway, Erie, and East Water streets, Where the chamber of commerce now stands, southwest corner of Michigan and Broadway, the ground was soft and spongy. From Michigan to Wisconsin the ascent was rapid, and at Wisconsin the cut has been at least twenty- five feet in Broadway; from there to Division (now Juneau avenue) on Broadway it has been from ten to twenty feet. The bluffs at this place were originally very steep, and of course the cut has been corre- spondingly large. From Broadway east on Wisconsin street the cut has been eight feet. on an average, to the ravine at Van Buren street. From Wisconsin south to Michigan, on Milwaukee, Jefferson, and Jackson streets, the cut has been from eight to eighteen feet, running out at Michigan street, as the bluffs here were quite steep, while from Wisconsin street north to Mason street it has been very little, just enough to make it level and uniform. And all that part lying between Wisconsin, Division, and Milwaukee streets and the lake was mostly covered with a thick growth of small bushes, interspersed with black, burr, and white oaks. From Broadway to East Water street the descent was rapid; that is, East Water street bounded these bluffs on the west from Michigan to Mason street, where they commenced to trend east a little on Market street. From midway, or near there. of Wisconsin and Michigan streets, on the west side of East Water, the ground was low and wet to Detroit street. This low point did not ex- ceed four rods in width, the west line of East Water not touching it. From Detroit to the foot of East Water street all was marsh, and from midway of Michigan and Wisconsin streets, north to Mason street, it was hard, sloping and grassy. At Mason street was a hill from which enough dirt was taken in 1842 to fill East Water street from there to Division (now Juneau avenue). The cut there must have been at least forty feet, while all that part north of Oneida street and west of Market street was low and wet, a bayou extending the entire length of River street, and in this bayou the water was from four to ten feet in depth. All along the east side of Market to Oneida street the cut was heavy, the bluffs being nearly uniform the whole distance and thickly covered with bushes. The east side of Market street skirted the hills which reached their full height between there and Broadway, that is, the deepest cutting was there, it being at least thirty feet on the Market street front. These bluffs termi- nated on the east side of Broadway in a series of small sand dunes, some of which were standing in the vicinity of St. Mary's church as late as 1846. The fountain from which the pump formerly standing
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on the square was supplied was originally a spring, called the Ball Alley Spring, coming directly out of the bank, and a ball alley once stood in the ravine just above it. There was also an excellent spring coming out of the bank at the place where the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company building stands, about the center of the block, and many of the people formerly went there for water. From Broad- way to the lake on Michigan street, the hills were steep on their southern face, and as before stated were full of springs the entire length. Returning to Wisconsin street we find all that block lying between Wisconsin, Van Buren, Cass, and Mason streets, or the most of it, was a quicksand hole, in which grew a few tamaracks, and in which the water was four feet or more in depth. The east half of the block bounded by Van Buren, Jackson, Wisconsin, and Michigan streets was a ravine, whose northern terminus was in the next block north and its southern in the marsh at Michigan street. From Van Buren street to the lake, and from Wisconsin to Huron street, it has been cut an average of fifty feet over the entire tract, it being forty feet at Van Buren and seventy feet or more at the lake; and from Wisconsin street north and Cass street east to the lake the cut was nearly as much, running out on the north at Oneida street. This bluff terminated at Huron street and upon its terminal point was an Indian cemetery, where Manitou, the Indian who was killed by Scott and Bennett in 1836, was buried. From Huron street to the mouth of the river the lake beach was at least ten feet in height and from one to two hundred feet wide, upon which was the roadway up to the city. This roadway followed the beach to about midway of Huron and Michigan streets, whence it turned west to the ravine just mentioned, then north along the ravine to Wisconsin street, thence west on Wisconsin to East Water street. This ravine was an immense hole and was filled by the late John Furlong in 1839. The beach was quite thickly covered with white cedar, balm of Gilead, crab apple, and oak timber, many of the trees being eighteen inches and some of them over two feet in diameter. And in addition to this the whole bluff from Mason street north has worn away from 150 to 200 feet. All that part lying between Oneida, Biddle, Astor, and Cass streets, or the most of it, as well as a portion of the block on the northwest corner of Biddle street was a swamp hole and has been filled from two to four feet over its entire surface. A small ravine also ran along here in a northeast and southwest direction. There was also a large ravine now nearly all filled, whose terminus was in the Milwaukee river at the foot of Racine street, and which ran in a northeasterly direction to Farwell avenue ; also one now partly filled near the intersection of Cambridge and North avenues (terminating
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also in the river), one near the present pumping works with a terminus in the lake; and this, as far as I can remember, comprises all the ra- vines not previously mentioned within the limits of the present First and Eighteenth wards. There was also a large hole in the court house square, where I have seen the water four feet deep; also a low place on the northwest corner of Jackson and Biddle and on the northwest corner of Jackson and Division, the one on Biddle extending to Jeffer- son street ; one where the Musical Conservatory stands and one on the southeast corner of Milwaukee and Oneida streets; but the largest was known as Cabbage Hollow. upon which quite a history could be written. The bluffs overlooking Market street were, as before stated. extremely bold, and from there north to the ravine, from whence flow cool Siloam's healing waters, the ground was covered with oak bushes, commonly called scrub, from six to twelve feet in height and so thick as to be almost impenetrable.
The West Side, or Kilbourntown, as it was called in 1836-37, did not present a very inviting aspect to the eye as a site whereon to build a city, and did not compare with the east, or Juneau's side, the only advantage which its founder or its friends could or did claim for it over the East Side being that it held the key to the beautiful lands beyond the timber, and that the East Side being merely a narrow strip of land, lying between the river and lake, twenty-five miles in length, and in no place exceeding four in breadth, was in fact an island; and its future inhabitants must of necessity pay tribute to them instead of receiving it. Although the changes upon the West Side do not show as much to the eye as do those upon the East or South Side. yet they fully equal them in magnitude, and a stranger seeing our city to-day for the first time could not comprehend the amount of filling that has been done here. All that portion of the Fourth ward bounded by the Menomonee on the south, the Milwaukee on the east, Spring street on the north, and to a point about midway between Fourth and Fifth streets on the west, where the hills commenced, was a wild rice swamp. covered with water from two to six feet in depth ; in fact, an impassa- ble marsh. The amount of filling that has been done upon this portion is immense, averaging twenty-two feet over the entire tract. There was a small island near the corner of Second and Clybourn streets, upon which was a large elm tree. All else was a watery waste. At Spring street the ground commenced to harden, and from there to Chestnut, with the exception of West Water from Spring to Third (which was also marsh), the whole was a swamp, upon which grew tamaracks, black ash, tag alder and cedar in abundance. From Spring to Third (on West Water street), as before stated, the ground was
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covered with at least two feet of water, and where the sidewalk now is, east side of West Water, crotched stakes were driven into the mud and cross-pieces laid, and upon them was a plank two feet above the water for a sidewalk, which was in use up to 1838. From the inter- section of West Water with Third to Chestnut streets the ground was soft and difficult to pass over with a team. Some work had been done upon it in 1836, but it was as yet nothing but a mud hole. At Chest- nut street the ground was hard enough to build upon, and it was there that Kilbourn commenced his city. From Chestnut to about midway between Vliet and Cherry it was nearly the same. This was the north- ern terminus of the low land, and from this swamp between Spring and Chestnut, I have obtained cedar as late as 1852. The bluffs, or high land, had a uniform front along the line mentioned from the Me- nomonee river to about midway between Spring and Wells streets, or nearly so. Here occurred a fault, or set-off, to the west to a point mid- way between Eighth and Ninth streets. From Wells to Chestnut the course of these bluffs was north. Here occurred a second fault, to the east, to about midway between Sixth and Seventh ; from there to mid- way of Vliet and Cherry their course was again north to Walnut, then due east to the river, along which they ran to the dam, their termini being the crown at North street upon which stands the reservoir. These bluffs were exceedingly beautiful in a state of nature. Their fronts were bold and round, and from Spring street to the Menomonee, and from Seventh to Twenty-fifth streets, were covered with a young and thrifty growth of oak, mostly being what is termed "openings." From Spring north to Chestnut, and from Eighth west to Seventeenth, it was much the same, but from these streets west and north the timber was heavy, including all of the present Ninth ward. These bluffs have been cut from ten to forty feet in order to make the streets run- ning west and north practicable, and I think the cutting on Winne- bago, Poplar, Vliet, and Mill streets west of Seventh, and on Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth, north of Cherry, has been more than forty. But the deepest as yet was on Spring street, it having been cut in some places as much as sixty feet or more. At the southwest corner of Spring and Sixth streets was a quicksand hole with tamaracks grow- ing in it, which had its terminus at Fifth street, where the Methodist Episcopal church now stands. This may seem incredible, but it is truc, and fish have been caught in that hole. The amount of earth taken from the bluffs along Fifth street, from Spring south to Fowler, and from Fifth west to Eighth street, and along Fowler, west to Ninth and north to Clybourn street, to help fill up the marsh, is immense, and would, I think, average twenty feet over the entire district, Eighth
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street being the point of minimum, and Sixth street of maximum grade, upon the East or Fifth street front, and Sycamore the minimum and Clybourn the maximum upon the south or Fowler street front. But from Eighth west to Tenth street, and from Spring south to Sycamore street, the average has been about eight feet. The cut upon Spring street, from Seventh to Eighth street, west, and from Spring south to Sycamore, has been at least fourteen feet on an average, being at the southeast corner of Eighth and Spring streets, where there was a sharp hill, as much as twenty feet. Sand enough was taken from that lot in 1857 to pave Broadway from Wisconsin street to the river. From the north side of Spring street the ground descended toward Wells street quite rapidly. A beautiful ravine had its head or northern terminus in the block bounded- by Spring, Wells, Eleventh and Twelfth streets, its direction being southeast until it reached the intersection of Tenth and Sycamore, from where it curved to the southwest. At Clybourn street it was the most beautiful ravine in Milwaukee and a great resort for the youth of both sexes in pleasant weather. There was also a large ravine between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets, its head being at Sixteenth and Cedar streets and its terminus in the marsh at Clybourn and Thirteenth streets. This was the drain for the swamp then existing between State, Vliet, Sixteenth, and Twen- tieth streets. This swamp is now dry and covered with buildings. Also a deep ravine (now filled up) running in a southeast direction through the block bounded by Spring, Clybourn, Fifteenth, and Six- teenth streets, terminated in the marsh at Fifteenth and Clybourn. It was filled in 1875. There was also a circular basin-shaped depres- sion, filled with surface water six feet in depth, which, up to 1869, was a swimming place for the boys, upon that block bounded by Spring, Wells, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth streets, that is now filled up ; also one now filled, extending from the southeast corner of Spring and Nineteenth streets in a southeast direction, whose terminus was in the marsh at the foot of Sixteenth street. These last ravines were both surface water channels. There was also a large ravine whose northern end was at Walnut and Eighth streets, now (1889) nearly all filled, that ran in a southeast direction, crossing Mill street (now Central avenue) between Seventh and Eighth streets, Cherry just west of its intersection with Seventh, Seventh midway between Vliet and Poplar (now Cold Spring avenue) and terminating in the low ground on Fifth at its intersection with Chestnut. Also one known as the big ravine, now ( 1889) partly unfilled, which had its rise at or near the intersection of North avenue and Hubbard streets, and its terminus in the Milwaukee river at the foot of Hubbard street. This was by far
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