Horse History In Photos – Milwaukee

 

Back when the town had drinking troughs for horses, and taverns served free lunches and streetcar tracks bent round the corner, Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Sentinel photographers, and other picture makers, were there to record the history.

The photographs on this page provide a small view of the horses in Milwaukee’s past.

 

Blackie, Whitie and Brownie were among the last horses to pull Milwaukee Fire Department rigs. This picture was taken in 1925.

 

This photograph of New Coeln House was taken about 1905 when Jacob Klein operated the two-story Cream City brick saloon and dance hall.

It was built as a “half-way house” in about 1851. Travelers between Racine and Milwaukee often slept on the second floor.

 

All Wisconsin Ice & Coal Co. deliverymen wore brass-buttoned uniforms when this picture was taken in 1901 in front of the home of Capt. Fred Pabst of the Pabst Brewery family. 

 

Around the turn of the century, wagons held up street car traffic on Wisconsin Ave. in Downtown Milwaukee. The old Gimbles Store is on the left.

 

This is a view of the undertaking and furniture establishment of Herb & Schmidt, with one of the firm’s rigs at the curb.

  

Dummy horses were a familiar sight in harness stores in Milwaukee. This picture, taken about 1899, shows the Standard Harness Shop at 506 Grand Ave. (now W. Wisconsin Ave.).

 

A busy corner in downtown Milwaukee before the end of the 19th Century.

Milwaukee was a big user of horses in 1951 when it kept 56 teams to pull ash and rubbish vehicles, like this one, from house to house. This type of collection ended later that year.

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Photographs and information from the Archives of the Milwaukee Journal and Sentinal

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