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    • Milwaukee History Timeline >
      • Milwaukee History Timeline 1846-1879
      • Milwaukee History Timeline 1880-1911
      • Milwaukee History Timeline 1912-1945
      • Milwaukee History Timeline 1946-1979
      • Milwaukee History Timeline 1980-2013
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1846-1879>
    1880-1911>
        1912-1945>
            1946-1979>
                1980-2013>



Click on a
hyperlink in the timeline to learn more about a subject.
Milwaukee Timeline 1846-1879

1846

Picture
Solomon Juneau
World News: Evictions and Deaths Rise During the Great Famine in Ireland
Also: Planet Neptune Discovered, Canada & U.S. Agree on Oregon Territory Divide, Saxophone Patented

US News: Smithsonian Institution Established by Act of Congress

Also: Final Ringing of Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell, US Declares War on Mexico, Donner Party Trapped

Milwaukee News: City of Milwaukee Founded
Also: Solomon Juneau Elected First Mayor, North Pier at Harbor Entrance Destroyed by Wind and Ice, City Brewery Opened by Johann Braun, City Board of Health Created, Police Nightwatch Established


1847

Picture
Milwaukee and Waukesha RR's "Old Number 1", the first engine in Wisconsin
World News: Liberia Independence From American Colonization Society
Also: Birkenhead- UK Opens World's First Public Funded Park, Chloroform First Used

US News: Latter-Day Saints Found Salt Lake City
Also: NECCO Produces Wafer Candy, Postal Stamps Introduced, American Medical Association Founded

Milwaukee News: Milwaukee and Waukesha Railroad Company Formed
Also: Young Men's Assoc. Forms a Public Subscription Library, Smallpox Vaccination Ordered for All, Reliance Works (Later Reliance Iron Works) Founded, First Milwaukee City Directory Published


1848

Picture
Byron Kilbourn
World News: Spring Uprisings in Much of Europe Leads to Large Emigration
Also: Mexico Cedes California and New Mexico Territories to United States

US News: Wisconsin Enters Union as 30th State
Also: John Spruce sells first commercial chewing gum, Washington Monument Started

Milwaukee News: Byron Kilbourn Elected Mayor
Also: Milwaukee Female Seminary (Later Downer College) Opens, First State Hospital- St. Mary's- Founded, First Reference to Horse Racing at Cold Spring Park, Section of Watertown Plank Road Opens


1849

German Language Map of Routes to America
German Language Map of Routes to America
World News: Austria and Russia Suppress Hungary's Bid For Independence
Also: Austria and France Crush Italian Revolts, UK Annexes Punjab, Fyodor Dostoyevsky Exiled to Siberia

US News: Tens of Thousands Arrive in California Territory During Gold Rush
Also: Elizabeth Blackwell Is First US Woman to Earn Medical Degree, Congress Allows Minting Gold Coins

Milwaukee News: Forty-Eighters from Germany Arrive in Large Numbers
Also: National Cholera Epidemic Kills Hundreds in the City, City Council Votes a 1% Real Estate Tax, St. Aemilian's Orphan Asylum Founded


1850

World News: Taiping Rebellion Begins in China & Civil War Lasts 14 Years
Also: London Zoo Houses Hippo, University of Sydney Founded (Australia), 

US News: President Zachary Taylor Dies in Office
Also: Fugitive Slave Act, Harriet Tubman Leads Underground Railroad, Pinkerton Agency Founded

Milwaukee News: Jewish Congregation Imanu-Al Organized
Also: Davis Omnibus Line & Transfer Company Established, Milwaukee Musical Society Forms, Orphans' Asylum Established, City Population at 20,000, Wisc. Evangelical Lutheran Synod Formed


1851

Picture
Colonel George Walker
World News: London's Crystal Palace Exposition is First of World’s Fairs
Also: America Wins Race Sponsored by Royal Yacht Club, Est. 1 Million Dead From Irish Famine

US News: Flood of 1851 Strikes the Midwest and Demolishes Des Moines
Also: Northwestern University Established, Wesleyan College Founded at Alpha Delta Pi Sorority

Milwaukee News: George Walker Elected Mayor
Also: Railroad Links Milwaukee and Waukesha, Prof. Engelman Founds Public Museum, Fire Ruins Milwaukee Curlers' Stones, County Sheriff Responds to Leahy Riot on Spring Street


1852

Picture
Albert Blatz
World News: Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada Incorporated
Also: Devil's Island Penal Colony Opens,  Great Ormond Street Hospital Admits First Patient

US News: "Uncle Tom's Cabin" By Harriet Beecher Stowe Published
Also: Harvard and Yale Meet in First U.S. Collegiate Sport Event, Wells Fargo & Company Founded

Milwaukee News: Layton & Plankinton Packing Company Founded
Also: V. Blatz Merges With City Brewery, 2nd WI State Fair Held at Cold Spring Park Race Course, Community Holds First May Fest, Gas Lights Illuminate Milwaukee Streets For the First Time


1853

Picture
World News: Japan's Isolation Ended by Commodore Matthew Perry's 
Also: British Law Requires Smallpox Vaccination, London Opens World's First Public Aquarium

US News: NYC Builds a Crystal Palace for Their Exhibition of All Nations
Also: University of Florida Founded, Levi Strauss Incorporated, Yellow Fever Claims 8000 in New Orleans

Milwaukee News: Pfister and Vogel Leather Company Established
Also: George Walker Again Elected Mayor, Milwaukee-Watertown Plank Road Completed, Cream City Brewing Company Incorporated, Turnverien Society First Organized, Wisconsin State Bank Opens


1854

Picture
Madison, WI 1855 Courtesy National Archives
World News: Crimean War: France and UK Declare War on Russia
Also: Venezuela Abolishes Slavery, Cholera London Epidemic Claims 10,000

US News: Elisha Otis Exhibits His Safety Elevator at the New York Fair
Also: Republican Party Founded in Ripon, Wisconsin, Commodore Perry Arrives in Japan

Milwaukee News: Mob Frees Ex-Slave Joshua Glover From City Jail
Also: Fire Consumes City Block where Mitchell Bldg Now Stands, Byron Kilbourn Elected Mayor a Second Time, Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad Reaches Madison, Wisconsin Ave is Site of City's First Swing Bridge


1855

Picture
Meinecke Toy Company
World News: Panama Railway Across Panamanian Isthmus Completed
Also: French Bordeaux Wines Classified, Paris Hosts Great International Exposition

US News: Sault Ste. Marie Locks Open
Also: Levi Boone Elected Mayor of Chicago For the Know Nothing Party

Milwaukee News: Milwaukee Police Department Began Functioning
Also: "Antiquities of Wisconsin" by Increase Lapham Published by Smithsonian Institute, Frederick Miller Buys the Plank Road Brewery, Meinecke Toy Company Established


1856

World News: European Powers Begin Second Opium War
Also: Nepalese-Tibetan War Ends, Pitcairn Island Colony Resettles on Norfolk Island

US News: President Pierce Declares Free-State Kansas to be in Rebellion
Also: Sen. Brooks Beats Sen. Sumner, Dallas Texas Incorporated, Chicago His. Soc. Museum Founded

Milwaukee News: Bavarian (Later Falk) Brewery Established
Also: Original St. Mary’s Hospital Built, Dean Richmond is First Ship to Leave City's Port for Europe


1857

Picture
World News: India's Sepoy Revolt Against British Rule
Also: University of Calcutta Founded, African Republic of Maryland Merges With Liberia

US News: Supreme Court Rules in Slave-Owner's Favor on Dred Scott Case
Also: U.S. Army Camel Corps Founded, "The Atlantic" Issued, Central Park Opens, Financial Panic

Milwaukee News: Railroad Completed From Milwaukee to Praire du Chien
Also: Straight Cut Completed from the Harbor to the Milwaukee River and Creates Jones Island, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company Founded
 


1858

World News: Government of India Act Dissolves East India Company
Also: England Builds First Electric Lighthouse, Johann II Prince of Liechtenstein Begins Rule

US News: Discovery of Comstock Lode Sparks Silver Rush to Nevada
Also: First Can Opener Patented by Ezra Warner, William Tweed Rises to "Boss" of Tammany Hall

Milwaukee News: City Opens First Public High School
Also: Trostel and Gallun Leather Tannery Formed, Milwaukee Bar Association Formed, Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce Organized


1859

Picture
Plaque at Marquette University commemorating Lincoln's Speech
World News: Charles Darwin Publishes "On the Origin of Species"
Also: Gloire, First Iron Clad Was Launched by the French Navy, Big Ben Bell Rings For First Time

US News: Col. Drake Drills First Successful Oil Well in Pennsylvania
Also: Midway Islands Become US Territory, John Brown Raids Harpers Ferry,  Broderick–Terry Duel

Milwaukee News: Lincoln Delivers "Agriculture" Speech at the State Fair
Also: George Walker Forms Milwaukee’s First Street Car Line "River & Lake Shore Street Railway", Rufus King Organizes First Baseball Games Played in the State, First Superintendent of Schools, Milwaukee Typographical Union Organized


1860

Picture
Woodcut of the Lady Elgin at sea
World News: British-French Invade Chinese Ports, Burn Summer Palaces
Also: Russia Founds Vladivostok, Victoria Bridge in Montreal Inaugurated

US News: Abraham Lincoln Elected President
Also: Whig Political Party Dissolved, Pony Express Established, Crittenden Compromise Tabled

Milwaukee News: First Post Office Building Constructed
Also: PS “Lady Elgin” Returning to Milwaukee From Chicago Sinks & over 200 Persons Perish, Phillip Best Takes Charge of His Father's Brewery


1861

Edward Allis Photo
Edward Allis
World News: Tsar Alexander II Emancipates Russian Serfs 
Also: Kingdom of Italy Founded, Toronto Stock Exchange Begun, Spain, France & Britain Invade Mexico

US News: Suceding States Form the Confederate States of America
Also: US Population at 61 Million, First U.S. Federal Income Tax for War Expenses, Pony Express Closes

Milwaukee News: Riot Attack's Alexander Mitchell's Bank
Also: Edward Allis Purchases Reliance Iron Works (Later the Edward P. Allis Co); Milwaukee Surgeon Dr. Wolcott Performs World's First Kidney Removal, Marshall Clark Lynching


1862

Picture
1862 Call to Arms
World News: France Under Napolean III Conquered Mexico
Also: First Test of Pasteurization, Phylloxera Spreads Through French Vineyards

US News: Confederate Army Leaves Union Soil After Battle of Antietam
Also: Draft Laws in Both North and South, Launch of First US Ironclad Warship the USS Monitor

Milwaukee News: Milwaukee Draft Riot
Also: Chamber of Commerce Raises $12,000 to Support a Milwaukee Regiment, Milwaukee Passes Chicago as the Largest Wheat Market in the World, Fire Destroys Albany Hall


1863

Picture
World News: London Builds the First Underground Railroad 
Also: Denmark's Prince George Begins Reign in Greece, Dominican Restoration War Begins

US News: Emancipation Proclamation Frees Slaves in Rebellious States
Also: Confederate Incursion:Gettysburg Battle, First Homestead Claim, Transcontinental Railroad Started

Milwaukee News: Fire Destroys Camp Sigel Barracks
Also: Alexander Mitchell Organizes the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, Milwaukee Hospital Founded by Dr. Passavant Opens, First Local Polish Catholic Church of St. Stanislaus is Organized


1864

Picture
World News: Geneva Convention Treaty on Soldiers' Treatment
Also: University of Bucharest Founded, Brisbane Queensland Fire Consumes 100 Buildings

US News: Ulysses S. Grant Given Top Command of Union Armies
Also: William T. Sherman Burns Atlanta and Marches to the Sea, Nevada Becomes 36th State

Milwaukee News: Milwaukee Soldier's Home Opens
Also: Former Milwaukee Sentinel Editor Jason Downer Appointed to State Supreme Court; B.J. Johnson Opens a Soap Factory, New Camp Sigel Renamed Camp Reno, Capt. Pabst Joins Best Brewery


1865

Picture
World News: First Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Cable Laid 
Also: Salvation Army Founded in Whitechapel, Britain Introduces First Speed Limit (2mph/4mph)

US News: 13th Amendment Abolishes Slavery, Lincoln Assassinated
Also: Secret Service Created, SS Sultana Sinks on the Mississippi River Claiming 1547 Lives, Gen. Lee Surrenders at Appomattox Court House, Civil War Ends

Milwaukee News: Parade of the G.A.R. at the End of the Civil War
Also: Cream City Base Ball Club Organized, A New Park Honors the Memory of Solomon Juneau, House Number System Begins, Letter Carrier System Inaugurated 


1866

Picture
World News: French Withdraw Forces from Mexico
Also: Henri Nestle’s Company Founded, Hill of New Ilium Indentified as Ancient Troy

US News: Liberty, Missouri is Victim of First U.S. Daylight Bank Robbery
Also: Reno Brothers Commit Nation's First Train Robbery, Sioux Massacre 81 US Soldiers in Wyoming

Milwaukee News: 30 Black Men Vote in Municipal Election For First Time
Also: St. Stanislaus Catholic Church Built, Total Beer Output at 68,758 Barrels, Camp Washburn Returns to Cold Spring Park Horse Racetrack, H.C. Koch & Co. Architects Begun, Union Depot Opens


1867

Picture
Vilter Manufacturing Co in 1893
World News: Creation of the Independent Dominion of Canada
Also: Alfred Nobel Patents Dynamite, Initial Performance of "Blue Danube", Suez Canal Opens

US News: Alaska Territory Purchased From Russia
Also: Chicago Completes First YMCA Dormitory, Candy Cummings Throws Baseball's First Curveball

Milwaukee News: Organization of the Milwaukee Board of Health
Also: Vilter Manufacturing Company Founded, St. James' Episcopal Church Built, Knights of St. Crispin Shoemakers Union Formed (Eventually Nation's Largest)


1868

Picture
World News: Establishment of the Empire of Japan
Also: Australian Convict Transfer Ends, London Inaugurates Traffic Lights, Granny Smith Apples Created

US News: Pres. Andrew Johnson Acquitted of Impeachment By One Vote
Also: Watkins Inc. Founded, Chinese Immigration Increases After Burlingame-Seward Treaty

Milwaukee News: Milwaukeean C.L. Sholes Patents Typewriter
Also: National Soldier’s Home Established, First Permanent High School, Small Pox Epidemic Closes all Schools, Stadt Theater Opens, School Board Approves Teaching German, Catholic Financial Life Founded


1869

Picture
Old Courthouse
World News: Scientific Journal Nature is First Published in London
Also: Margarine Invented in France, Mendeleev Publishes His Version of the Periodic Table

US News: Wyoming Becomes First State/Territory to Allow Women to Vote 
Also: Transcontinental Railroad Completed, Canton and Anthony Form National Woman Suffrage Associationanton and Anthony, Cincinnati Red Stockings are First Fully Pro Baseball Team, First Football Game Rutgers Defeats Princeton

Milwaukee News: Saint Mark’s African Methodist Episcopal Church Built
Also: Begin Construction of a Sewer System, Courthouse Construction Begins (Completed 1873), Women's Suffrage Convention Held in Old City Hall, Milwaukee Old Settlers Club Organized


1870

Picture
World News: Paraguayan War Ends
Also: Mitsubishi Company Established, Cardiff Giant Revealed to be Gypsum, Deutsche Bank Founded

US News: Senate Defeats Treaty to Annex Santo Domingo
Also: Old Faithful Geyser Discovered, NYC Met Museum of Art Founded. National Weather Bureau Established

Milwaukee News: Board of Public Works Formed
Also: Adam Gettelman Buys and Renames the Menomonee Brewery, City Population Reaches 71,440 People, Main Street Renamed Broadway


1871

Picture
World News: Unification of German Speaking States Under German Empire 
Also: Kimberley Diamond Rush in South Africa

US News: Great Fire Nearly Destroys Chicago
Also: Racine's Dr. Carhart Invents First Steam Vehicle Suitable for Wagon Roads, Peshtigo Fire Kils 2000

Milwaukee News: City is Largest Tanning Center in the World
Also: Nunnemacher’s Grand Opera House Opens, Milwaukee Water Board Established, Germantown Celebrates Prussia's Victory Over France


1872

Picture
World News: HMS Challenger Sails on Scientific Mission to Study Ocean
Also: First Football Association Challenge Cup, Canada Legalizes Trade Unions, Telegraph Links Australia

US News: 
Yellowstone Park Established as World's First National Park
Also: Nebraska Begin's First Arbor Day, Mary Celeste Discovered Abandoned, Popular Science Published 

Milwaukee News: German-English Academy Froebelian Kindergarten Opens
Also: St. Mary's Institute (St. Mary’s University) Established in Prairie du Chien Moves to Milwaukee in 1929, Reform Temple Emanu-El Established, Williams & Brenckle Cigar Mfg Co Formed


1873

Picture
World News: Archaeologist Schliemann Unearths "Priam's Treasure" at Troy
Also: Jules Verne "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", Puerto Rico Frees Slaves, Kennel Club Founded

US News: Government Ceases Buying and Minting Silver Coins
Also: Levi Strauss Patents Jeans, Barb Wire Patented, Nationwide Depression

Milwaukee News: North Point Water Tower Constructed
Also: McCormick Harvesting Opens Milwaukee Branch, Kilbourn Reservoir Built, Graf & Madlener Soda Company Founded, Germania Weekly Newspaper Begins Publication


1874

Picture
Joseph Schlitz's Brewery
World News: General Postal Union Coordinates International Mail
Also: Agra Canal Opens in India, Medieval Frankish Tower on Athens Acropolis Dismantled

US News: Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings Photographed by William H. Jackson
Also: Chicago Futures Exchange Established, Women’s Christian Temperance Union Founded

Milwaukee News: August Krug Brewery Becomes Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co
Also: John Luick Buys Curry's Confectioner and Ice Cream Business, C.J. Smith Starts a Machine Shop Precursor of A.O. Smith Corp., North Point Pumping Station Opens, Sholes & Glidden Typewriter Marketed


1875

Picture
World News: Ottoman Empire Declares Bankruptcy to European Creditors
Also: Major Excavation of Olympia (Olympics) Begun, Montreal Site of First Indoor Hockey Game

US News: Mason County War in Texas Begins
Also: Wisconsin Offers Award For Horse Substitute, First Kentucky Derby, First College Football Game

Milwaukee News: Paid Milwaukee Fire Department Established
Also: Blatz is the First Large American Brewery to Bottle Beer, Milwaukee Mayor Ludin Becomes Governor of Wisconsin, Catholic Church Makes Milwaukee an Archbishopric


1876

Picture
World News: Backerganj Cyclone Kills 100,000 People in Bangladesh 
Also: Adam Worth Steals Duchess of Devonshire Painting, Japan-Korea Treaty of Amity Signed

US News: Custer's Last Stand at Little Big Horn
Also: Baseball's National League Formed, John Hopkins University Founded, Bell Patents Telephone

Milwaukee News: Women’s Club of Wisconsin Founded
Also: First Bicycle Appearance in the City, Milwaukee Mayor Term Becomes Two-Year Instead of One


1877

Picture
World News: Russian Empire Declares War on Ottoman Empire
Also: England and Australia Play in World's First Cricket Test Match, Swan Lake Debuts, First Wimbeldon

US News: Edison Produces First Ever Phonograph Recording
Also: First Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, Discovery Tombstone Silver Lode, Many Railroad Strikes

Milwaukee News: Alexander Mitchell Declines Nomination for Governor
Also: First City Telephone Service Begins with 15 Subscribers, E.L. Husting Opens Soda Water Factory, Milwaukee City Hospital Opens, Wolf & Davidson Opens Port's First Dry Dock, Arion Music Club Formed


1878

Picture
Leiderkranz Founders
World News: Muybridge's Sequence of Stop-Motion Photographs of a Horse
Also: Second Anglo-Afghan War Began, De Laval Invents Cream Separator, H.M.S. Pinafore Opera Debut

US News: Four Mile Sutro Tunnel Through Comstock Lode Area Completed
Also: Woolworth’s "Great Five Cent Store" Opens, Green Bay to Madison First City to City Auto Race
 
Milwaukee News: Milwaukee Streetlights Begin Upgrade to Arc Lights
Also: First Public Library, City Contracts for Private Garbage Collections, Milwaukee County Insane Asylum Built, Milwaukee Liederkranz Chorus Founded, Milwaukee Grays Baseball at Eclipse Park


1879

Picture
World News: Zulu Warriors Defeat British Empire at Isandlwana
Also: Chile Declares War on Boliva & Peru, Oxford Admits First Female Students

US News: Thomas Edison Patents Incandescent Light Bulb Design
Also: United States Geological Survey Created, Listerine Formulated as Antiseptic

Milwaukee News: City's First Telephone Exchange Established
Also: Schlitz Park Opens Where Carver Park Is Today, Sentinel Newspaper Begins to Publish a Sunday Edition, Three Franciscan Sisters Began a Healthcare Ministry on 4th & Walnut



Some Sources:



Milwaukee Sentinel Archives, Milwaukee Journal Archives, "Milwaukee: A Chronological & Documentary History" by George Lankevich, Buck's "Pioneer History of Milwaukee", various company and industry websites
   
The majority of images are from the Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear except where noted

This site is constantly updated so continue to check back for more content.
Suggestions and corrections are welcome! Please email info@chudnowmuseum.org
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