Description
The Village of Bay View [†], now part of the city of Milwaukee, grew up alongside a bay on Lake Michigan around an iron and steel mill that was introduced there in 1867. Although the community is located only about three miles southeast of the commercial center of Milwaukee, it has always maintained a separate identity from the rest of the city due to natural and manmade barriers. The Kinnickinnic River and the Menomonee Industrial Valley come between Bay View and downtown Milwaukee which, until recently, were linked by only one artery—Kinnickinnic Avenue—until a second link—the Dan Hoan Bridge—was opened in 1977.
Bay View is divided into an east side and a west side by the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad tracks which were laid in 1835. Bay View Historic District consists of a portion of the east side of the original Village of Bay View, as incorporated in 1887. This is the portion of Bay View that was settled first, the portion that was nearest the iron and steel mill, and the portion that is today most representative of the "company town" that Bay View used to be. Although infill houses have been built and buildings have been replaced over the years, this section of Bay View retains the scale and the character of the nineteenth century village. The district consists of approximately 330 structures excluding small accessory buildings such as garages and sheds. Of the 330, about 310 are residences, four are commercial, and fifteen are a combination of both; one is a church. The district includes two parks. The Beulah Brinton Park is a triangle of land at the northwestern edge of the district. The South Shore Park is a long narrow park running along the eastern edge of the district along Lake Michigan. There are a few vacant lots. Nearly all of the buildings contribute to the closely knit fabric of the district. There are only nine intrusions, mostly built after 1940.
Significance
The Milwaukee Iron Company and its company town, the Village of Bay View, were established in 1867 "in the Town of Lake, at the mount of Deer Creek, on Milwaukee Bay, where the shore curves eastward and juts out into the lake, forming South Point."! The mill town was located south of the place where the Milwaukee River originally emptied into Lake Michigan. At the time, the general area was sparsely settled by farmers, most of whom had staked their claims between 1835-1837 and received clear title to their land in 1838-39, when an 1833 treaty with the predominant Indian tribe, the Potawatomic Indians, took effect. The initial settlement of the area was precipitated by three national events: the completion of the Erie Canal across New York State in 1825 provided a continuous water route between the eastern seaboard and the Great Lakes, the end of the Black Hawk Indian Ware in 1832 provided a safe passage for westward bound pioneers from New England, and the Green Bay land sale of 1835 provided the opportunity to purchase inexpensive property at $1.25 per acre from the government. 2 The area was claimed rapidly because it was high"ground and had plenty of rich soil, timber (mostly maple and beech), and water provided by streams, springs, and shallow wells).
The history of Bay View, per se, begins with the establishment of this company. The company was chartered by the Legislature of Wisconsin on March 8, 1867. The mill was organized by its largest stockholder, Eber Brock Ward, assisted by J. J. Hagerman, who had been involved with Wart in setting up an earlier mill. Ward had made his first fortune as captain of the largest shipping fleet on the Great Lakes. After purchasing a controlling interest in several railroads, he began to invest in rolling mills to provide rails for his lines as well as those of his competitors. Later he expanded his interests to include ore mines, banks, lumber companies, and newspapers.
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Street Names
Conway Street East • Delaware Avenue South • Estes Street East • Iron Street East • Nock Street East • Ontario Street East • Potter Avenue East • Pryor Avenue East • Russell Avenue East • Seeley Street East • Shore Drive South • St Clair Street South • Superior Street South • Wentworth Avenue South