Cream City Chronicles: Stories of Milwaukee's Past

by John Gurda

Ever since 1994, history buff John Gurda has been gracing the Sunday pages of the iMilwaukee Journal Sentinel/i with his carefully researched articles on local history. This collection by the author of iThe Making of Milwaukee/i contains the creme de la creme of his "Cream City Chronicles." Together, these essays provide a rich history of Milwaukee's people, institutions, landmarks, and traditions. Appetizing chunks of a great city's history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Essays

320 pages, Hardcover

First published October 16, 2006

About the author

John Gurda is a Milwaukee-born writer and historian who has been studying his hometown since 1972. He is the author of nineteen books, on subjects ranging from life insurance to Frank Lloyd Wright and from heavy industries to historic cemeteries. The Making of Milwaukee is Gurda’s most ambitious effort. With 450 pages, more than 500 illustrations, and a cast of thousands, it is the first feature-length history of the community published since 1948. Milwaukee Public Television premiered an Emmy Award-winning documentary series based on the book in 2006.


In addition to his work as an author, Gurda is a lecturer, tour guide, and local history columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He holds a B.A. in English from Boston College and an M.A. in Cultural Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Gurda is an eight-time winner of the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Award of Merit.

Reviews

[William Schram · Rating 5 out of 5]

With Cream City Chronicles, Historian John Gurda discusses the reason behind some of the idiosyncrasies of the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a resident and native of the City of Milwaukee, it is rather disappointing to not know too much about it. Some of the items in the book are famous enough that I heard about it from my Mom, but it is still nice to read about it. The book takes its title from the Cream-Colored bricks that used to be popular for buildings in the local area.

The book is a compilation of newspaper articles written for the Milwaukee Sentinel paper and later on for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel when it was formed. Thus, none of the articles are too long or toilsome to read. The book is mainly organized under some overarching subject. It starts with the founding of a trading post that came to be Milwaukee and the main personalities that propelled it forward. So we see stories of Solomon Juneau; the first mayor of Milwaukee, Byron Kilbourn; the guy who hated the other founders so much that he made the roads crooked, Increase Lapham; a polymath naturalist and many more. While the book is loosely chronological, it does go out of the way to talk about big areas and other places of interest.

Along the way, we can see the problems that Milwaukee has had with separate neighborhoods, the shifting of economies and the crumbling of old factories and so on. Take the Tory Hill Neighborhood for instance. It was obliterated in 1964 because of the construction of the Marquette Interchange. Due to that, I had never heard of the place. There are stories of the Mitchell Park Domes, the story of water and how it relates to the City, the shifting ethnic footprint in many areas.

I don’t know if it is difficult to find this book though, and it is rather specialized in scope. I can’t imagine many people from Atlanta, Georgia for instance, reading this book for fun but it is really well done. I mean, I have a bias since I am from the City, but there is a lot of stuff to read about even if you don’t particularly like the City of Milwaukee. In that vein, I am glad that I found this book. It did a good job of explaining why the bridges don’t meet exactly and why some of the streets cut diagonally through the otherwise orthogonal plan.

So in that sense, the book was extremely enjoyable and understandable.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Gurda probably knows as much about Milwaukee history as anyone. Luckily for us, he also knows how to tell a story. These vignettes of people, places and events in the history Milwaukee are written with a light touch. They're easy to read, accented with Gurda's wit, and a with sense that, while we can mourn what is gone, we can rest in the knowledge that we are richer for having experienced the culture they established. If you have somehow missed visiting Milwaukee, this book will give you a taste of the special spice that flavors this great city on a Great Lake. If, like me, you grew up in Milwaukee, well, get ready to be nostalgic and proud.

[Lauren Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Wherever we reside, the story of the community around us can provide a lively context for our personnel stories." (xvi)

I would like to thank the Wisconsin Historical Society Press for providing me with a copy of this book!

I have never been to Milwaukee but now its on my list! I loved this book, it was chalked packed with history and adventures. This book was beautifully written and had a great flow.

This book was a medium read, as it took me about 3 days to read.

I would recommend it to anyone to anyone into Milwaukee's history.

[Lee Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this for free through Goodreads First Reads

I found this pretty fascinating. I have never been to Milwaukee, nor do I really know anything about it, but I feel as if I do now. It really made me want to visit and see all the things the author talks about.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a delightful, witty, and charming collection of essays about Milwaukee's history. It certainly made me wish to read more about some of the different characters and events discussed in the book!

[Xenos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heard stories growing up about revered Police Chief Jacob Laubenheimer, my grandfather's uncle. Thought they might be embellished. Thanks to Milwaukee treasure and this book's author, John Gurda, I now know these stories are true. Cool!

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The brief but authoritative vignettes are highly readable and informative.

[Muriel McLemore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting short pieces about different aspects of Milwaukee history, interesting for Milwaukee natives and transplants.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun snippets about history around Milwaukee. Written originally for publication in a newspaper, this is the collection of that weekly column.

[David Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up just before the COVID 19 virus hit...I grew up in Milwaukee and moved to Northern Wisconsin later on...I really enjoy reading the rich history of Milwaukee and Gurda describes it well.

[Jillian Imoehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating historical stories of the city of Milwaukee.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating book about Milwaukee's history, written in an easily digestible fashion with plenty of interesting and humorous tidbits.

[Adrianna C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and bite-sized pieces of Milwaukee history. Gurda covers a wide range of topics, and with seeming ease. Fun to read and hard to put down.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book!

[Art · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Five dozen anecdotes about Milwaukee people, buildings, neighborhoods and culture. Five dozen perfect essays, each one beginning with a scene-setting introduction, expanding into the interesting story then wrapping up with a conclusive summary.

Although I read it front-to-back, you can start anywhere in this collection of self-contained stories.

John Gurda covers Milwaukee's seasons, celebrations, early years, water and a sense of place here. In my favorite section, he discusses the common good in nine essays, ranging from mayors to newspapers to schools and libraries before wrapping up with his concerns about good governing in an era of grandstanding and a perverse "cartoonish" view of government.

John Gurda's new book, about Milwaukee's neighborhoods, will publish late this year. http://www.johngurda.com/node/12

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful walk through Milwaukee history. Turns out that I went to school with John and his brother Paul as I discovered in the preface. We both have memories in common: The same Sister Josetta, the Sears parking tower man, the same library on Forest Home. Amazing. But that's not why I gave this book top rating; it's because the history was made so "readable". It has a conversational style, and interesting arrangement of eras and topics. John did occasionally struggle with coming up with unique conclusions as the end of each essay but that was definitely understandable. Well done.

[Kaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book by John Gurda! This book is a quick and fun read. It is made up of 63 interesting stories about historical events and people who have made Milwaukee what it is.It was as if I was listening to a family member tell me stories of our families past, Gurda writes just like that. He adds in his personal stories and feelings about the importance of knowing about the past. I can't wait to hunt out some of the landmarks and areas he talked about that are still around today.

[Jeramey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one of the best Milwaukee books I've ever read. An extremely enjoyable read given that each story is so short. Expanded my knowledge of the city greatly by making me aware of many pieces of Milwaukee history that I wouldn't have otherwise encountered.

[Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stories about Milwaukee!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of unusual or new-to-me stories in here.

[Greyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for its purpose (bite-sized chunks of Milwaukee history) but it's not for me.

[Bexa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, historically accurate, short chapters make for fast reading. There's a lot of personal commentary that doesn't really add to the stories, but a lot of good information and wonderful photographs.