Whitefish Bay and an Invaluable Contribution to Our Knowledge of Local History
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T0SrtlQ22 H'ES'EA.'RCtf'E'D, AND COMTILT'D 'By MIMI 2IWD 1982-1992 Majority of photographs 6y Qeorge Xappes, Jr. and Herbert ScfiuCtz JArchivaCmateriaCs, incCuding the aChum, were donated By the lYhitefish Bay foundation _£ (5 COMPILED AND RESEARCHED BY MIMI BIRD, THESE VOLUMES ARE HER LEGACY TO WHITEFISH BAY AND AN INVALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF LOCAL HISTORY. w MIMI BIRD, 1933-2002 Mimi Bird knew just what she wanted for a final resting place. After all, she spent years of her life exploring the Town of Milwaukee Union Cemetery, tucked away north of Bayshore Mall in Whitefish Bay. She remembered running through the cemetery as a girl "to scare ourselves on Halloween". Years later, as a neighbor and a historian, she began tending the little cemetery and quite literally, uncovering its history. Bird died of emphysema Thursday at the Glendale condominium she called home the last four years. She was 69. "She really died from cigarette smoking" said husband John D. Bird. "That's what did it." She was born Miriam Young in Milwaukee. When she was 4, her parents moved to Whitefish Bay. That was where she grew up and spent her adult life. It was also where she became the undisputed expert on local history, both in the village and the greater North Shore area. In her earlier years Bird had worked as a secretary. She met her husband when their mothers—concerned about their two twenty-something children remaining unmarried — managed to fix them up for a date. She spent the next decades in volunteer work, including at their children's schools, and working part time for the Whitefish Bay Public Library. In 1976, she began to research her genealogy and that of her husband's family. As that was winding down in the early 1980s, Bird heard about the Whitefish Bay Historical Society. Her first project involved locating, photographing and researching hundreds of the oldest homes in the village. All kinds of other research followed. Some of the leads took her to the Town of Milwaukee cemetery. There she looked for sunken spots, sticking a spade into the ground. She found dozens of old fallen tombstones, buried by time under the earth. "I just had this wonderful feeling of elation when I'd find an old one," Bird said in a 1983 interview. "The tombstones were the only (surviving) records of births and deaths." Bird filled volumes with everything from real estate records to the early details of village life, its farms, businesses and people. She pored over the minutes of every Village Board meeting from 1892 until 1950. She interviewed old- timers, acquiring old letters and documents. Bird eventually researched the rest of the old Town of Milwaukee, which includes what's now the North Shore area, and the adjacent Town of Granville. And when Whitefish Bay had a 100th anniversary in 1992, she produced a book on local history. In 1991, Bird was recognized by the Milwaukee County Historical Society. Her research continues to be available at the Whitefish Bay Library, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Golda Meir Library, the County Historical Society and the Milwaukee Central Library's local history room. Survivors include her husband, John; sons David J. and Peter E.; brother Carter H. Young; grandchildren; and other relatives...Her ashes will be buried at the Town of Union Cemetery. [Obituary by Amy Rabideau Silvers for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 10/14/02.] 1 Home Development in Whitefish Bay Post-1922 I. Map of Area, 1926 II. Real Estate Ads - 1920's, 30's and 40's III. Photographs, Whitefish Bay Development, 1920's - 40's IV. Newspaper Articles, Whitefish Bay Development, 1930's - 60's V. Photographs, Homes in Whitefish Bay, 1980's VI. Newspaper Articles - Recent development in the Bay, 1980's and 90's VII. Appendix - Building Permit Statistics, 1926-57, including a sample permit from 1930 %j ?• Map No. 6 t^ac? SCALE—mjinch to mile. MILWAUKEE TOWNSHIP PAVED ROADS i OZAUKEE COUNTY R.22E. <2^Vt~n^4^ CITY 4 Ttai back the clock on your home (libraryhas fascinating collection of real estate ads from the '20s, J30s By Mary Schuchmann Editor he dollar isn't what it used to be. No Tsurprise there. And nowhere is that clearer than when you compare housing prices over a period of years*. The new property assessments in Whitefish Bay may have some village resi dents surprised (pleasantly or otherwise) at what their property is considered to be worth in the real estate market today. (The average house in Whitefish Bay is now assessed at between $185,000 and $190,000.) The shock could be even greater when you consider what it cost to build the house way back when. Among the most intriguing items on the local history shelves at the Whitefish Bay Library is a collection of old real estate construction on Its 50*125-ft. lot. It in-v ~"*s clipped from old newspapers and heated . large living room , . * dining- . with choice of sun room or bedroom 4gazines. drooms or three exceptionally large bed- Many of the ads are from the late and large tile shower stall on second 1920s and early 1930s — the building ur requirements. Brick may be selected boom in Whitefish Bay The population of the village was about 5,000 (today it's about 14,000), and the sound of new- 16,000 home construction was everywhere. Until the post-World War II housing COMPLETE frenzy, the largest number of building per The Tudor-style house at 4721 N. mits, 248, was issued in 1929. Woodburn St. was new in 1931 Many of the homes pictured look famil iar but have unfamiliar street names or and for sale for $16,000. In the house numbers. That's because house recent revaluation in Whitefish numbers in Whitefish Bay were revised in Bay, it was assessed at $311,000. 1930 and many streets were renamed in 1932. In general, streets that were a continua tion of city of Milwaukee streets were "A wonderful value at $14,900," for a The home at 722 East Lake View given new names in Whitefish Bay. North home built in 1927 on East Lexington Avenue is called "a home of extraordinary Holton Street, for example, was renamed Boulevard that is now assessed at beauty and artistic room arrangement .The North Diversey Boulevard. North Richards $247,000. exterior is of expensive vitrified brick Street became North Santa Monica with lannon stone trim and a costly slate Boulevard, and North Fratney Street In fairness, it needs to be noted that rooLAll outside walls and ceilings are thor became North Elkhart Avenue. many of the homes built in the '20s and f oughly insulated with a 2-inch layer of One of the ads gives a price — 30s have had substantial additions over cork and the inside walls are plastered on "$16,000 complete" for a home on North 'the years, with an obvious increase in CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 Wbodburn Street that is currently their worth. ped at $311,000. The descriptions of the homes are as interesting as their prices. £-/?. ml 5 4765 N. Woodburn St.^Whitefish Bay;: Vz BlockjSouth t>£ Hampton Roa< 1 .: ? •*'. • ' ••-y*tV*->^ ;?.».•-•/ '«,;. </""v;** *.*-'• ; •*. - '-'••*« , - " You'll want to'sec this beautiful residence which includes a S0xl25-ft. lot. 1 , includes two»car brjtek parage, lawn* trees," shrubs, copper screens, storm? large recreation room, shades and'fixtures,-refrigerator, exceptionally hi? basement, large recreation room, plastered and heated basement, oil burner wit 1,000.gal. tank, 3-bushel Incinerator. On the first floor, there.is a large livin room, dining room, kitchen, large breakfast room with ^ ' "*>.' many cabinets, large clothes'closets, lavatory, and rear C^f ••» "' #\ #^ ^ porch. There are three exceptionally.'large bedrooms »«P. i P%' I II If on thr second floor together with - large, tile bathroom -'•) • I .J ff%#%#lb and tile shower stall. The entire ;v\^b>rt;-?•<•••* : C " • W^ W .w ^* -home is insulated, with 7 •-*jf&*£i8>: .-4% 'V>'t:\!:/y'" ;V.--;./f<l Open for Inspection Sundays 2 to 7 p.ms~-Daily'^ to fFffi^^ 22ffi?E^"^ '* rtTft °£ "f * Mewes. This wealth rtsZessiul experience Jakes Tnn^J > -«W«i«"» the logical choice to design and build yout home, '.Office open evenings by appointment.. •'*•••; ' , < «vt ^f^?*.- *; -< * : .- - s AVC CcntCC and ^hJ^^TT"^^^au improvements paid, at #75 per ft. ' ^ •••-.••, >*,> Ave?.«o , ji <'*' Center,., , in Wamvatosa- ,, including, . ' Apartment site, corner Island Ave. and Concordia,60x120 ft., #6,000! \ • -\ . ' '. ' Choice wooded residence lots in Palo Alto, #65 per ft., all improvements paid. V*, .;' 'V .-" "- V;* ~ Lots on 13th St., 2 blocks north of Capitol Drive, #65 per ft.";''AH improvements paid, * " EWES •?04R ™«ui riAici Aivm ivrMtS*'™' '*«*M'»* and Designing Contractor" 304S.3054 OAKLAND AVENUE «te( «. Wan, D„tg„ or ^emoife/ rw Home>, EDGEWOOD 42SO-42S1 4 —Jf^^^Sdfe^ / ? ^ ^K^u4jt^i^ ^^:r^u' /*• *•* ^JL •* Six New Residences for Whitefish Bay ^^rmits for six residences were ',3d last week by the village of Wiiitefish Bay. They will be erect ed at 160 Day av. for R E. Nillerd- ing at a cost of $8,000, at 131 Carl-J isle av. for Adam Schmitt at'a cost of $8,400, at 1595 Twenty-second st. y for Ketter Holzshuh, Inc., at a cost IX to %f&U<ju^c>4 Av*.~u 'Jnio W.WM^txxJAve. of $12,600; at 2027 Lake drive for the Hercules Construction Co. at a cost of $12,500, at 1800 Hollywood M^JUO^P. av. for John R. Blake at a cost of ' ,4oe',\ot- >uu) S97S" y\ > $5,700 and at 2613 Shoreland av.