Whitefish Bay and an Invaluable Contribution to Our Knowledge of Local History
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IN'TJ{'EI8QOS INCLUDING T^T IWtfntETIStf ZJAV TIONET'R NZWSTJAT'Z'R IVMT'EflStf'BJAy HTSOIIT ISTNRING fAMILy J-flSTOlUC MTMOIKS 'R'ESXJA'RCJ^EV AMD COMTILTV 1982-1992 JArchivaCmateriaCs, incCuding the aCfaum, were donated 6y the IVhitefish 'Bay foundation 3- My © COMPILED AND RESEARCHED BY MIMI BIRD, THESE VOLUMES ARE HER LEGACY TO WHITEFISH BAY AND AN INVALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF LOCAL HISTORY. vy 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] Jit Ak+vt ~Xu*4> 1*>F& ^\€U>Sf,^fU\ $ "y P l i o A/ e 3 v\ m ;£*T;Y'4** V?^ .;.V' V -T :,.N *••-- "'V*n \{ '**•>• ••' •* - - .':•-*• -. ^ w^awi- VOL. II. WHITEFISH BAY, WIS, WlSt^NEBDAY, JANUARY 25, 181K,. NO: a. WHITEFISH BAY PIONEER. Village Gossip. With the start Whitefish Bay now has the reetlaeaay. Tha village will grow rapidly OPHOIAL »A"»Ie\ OP TH« VILLAGE during the next three or four yean. Prob^ LAKE FOREST PARK. Mr. and Mre, Remington entertained the *b!y a Httla neighborhood near the depot will *- >UBUSHKO BY rat Cinch Ctab ThantUp evening. be built np to bnaineea plfteea covering tha AT WH1TBFISH BAY. Suburban Newspaper Company, RaaidanU are lookinf to- Mr. Yoeka to sap- main aooenHeli of honaekoepiAg. a hardware :o-n plj theta with lea aax£ rammer. and a geaarai dry goods and. clothing store, /}•; or JOLWJLUXWC. a drug store, a post-office, oner or two scope, MILWAUKEE'S MOST ATTRACTIVE SUBUR0. Mr. Iatnriaf feel* Jubilant over knocking beaide a meat markei aad gioeety w* now *2o •u A* RO««flS. ooi tha propoaad poor flsrm purohaaa. havw^ • Bank (roca thia Utile group many niee lewal OSM, WUtaaek tUy, Wli. - "^ha aohool hbam* oontiauaa at a aland atill CD realdeneee, /ram 13000 to flOOOO or area high and will while tha paaaant waathar laata. l •••• r f»LAT Of* L*K er, will present an appearance«along the FT SabecrtpUoa, ettJO per Ywr. Mr. aad Mrs, H. A. Bogere and Miaa Com , If Paid la Advance, «.<» par Year. atreeta that will give ue quite the appearance CO hart returned to their horn* in Ooouomowoo. of a town. Lawndale and Laka Forest Park CO. VlLLAai OMIO««*. Work la profreaalnf fery rapidly upon the are evidently to be the center of the new Til '7 Lake Shore depot, which will toon & fot lage. The principal improvement* are being r PreeWeat and Sup.rH.oc:* Fred G. leearinc. 0 ready for occupancy. x made here and thoae propoaed are largely for VilUft Board; T. W. Williams, Heary Kastnar, tha two traota mentioned. Burke dr. Menn'f r 9 Israel Lef.bvie, Lewie Schaife, Wm. T. Cousaul Mrs. Rogeri and ohildren are expected O Braat Tioxpal Sr. newly platted tract will however rarf likely home thia week. Miaa Kama will remain for Villa** Clark: CM. A. Roger*. get a number of resident* within the next two S* a while with her aunt. VUU<« Treaanrer: Alvab P. Xaatiafftoa. or three years. These pieces together ooin< s AMMMTI AU|»M ¥. NuNbiuaw. Whoa yoa bear tha doge harking at about pVise enough ground for quite a village in X }u«lloee of iba f««c«i Itwtfc <**•«*: and Gee. A. 12 o'otook tniduight, do not be alarmed •o«.re. themselves and the other trmota will add some o m ; Police Jeatie*: Daal.l W. Laet. about bai-f iars. It ia only tha Cinch Club thing to their growiht #**• '. Constable*: H.nrv Scheife .ndGeo. Rodd. foiofliome. There la no doubt in the world but that a sr « Street Coouniseioners] Charles ftab* and Char* 31 CO Miai Annie Bowen and Trof. Willie Wil >s Laagacbwiq(M, few brief years will find Whitefish Bay an b5f or : kins, the pianist, were visitors at D. W. Leeta important village of the county, with a pop kwX H OTer Friday night. The young professor ulation reaching well up into the thousands. m fe LAND OIRKCTORY, gate a Tory pretty piano recital. LARAMONT HEIGHTS—P. C. Iseariac. pro z Cprietor, Waitsash Bay.. Snow again Tuesday filled up all the beaten CD paihea at Whitefish Bay. Early paeetngera z SOCIAL PARTY. CD IFfEET? MINUTES RIDE from the Northwmtern depot in Ifilwankee; tbr** miaatee walk from AIRMOUNT HEIGHTS-Oathe Daman Uo. going to the suburban looked like dim and '* 5 ttwi L.k<* Hhore Htattoa at Whlt*B«b Hay; Mitl wnliin fwar blocks of tbe WkitHUh Bar tenotaas of eoata of Idlewild, SroHK a THOMAS, JOS Broad* o It CI. F F shadowy ghoeU through the hase of fast fall (>>• Iiunimjr l.ln*. conn** I lug wlil» ail •irro-t nllmfi. way, afliwewke*. S*» A*Tt4»*—rmt Ftianda of Mrs. Wm. Schroeder help bar r 4S CO ing enow. to celebrate her birthday. IIW< (>I IU« 1IWHIXI M>4 . Q. ISKNKtNG buUdUUloo, For lufoimatioa g o o MKWKKH ANI» WATKIt WOHKM u* h«»Mg »tt|.|'«»««l ••» •> •^•ry r*»ld>nl will bntirOvtd«Mtwith tl»^» C4inv.-n».-iur« Fa**!* u» F. G. iMorioa. Whit«a*h Bay. Work will be oomuaeuood putting iu the CO At the beautiful residence of Mr. Wm. r aide tracks for the oetuent and brick company AIRMOUNT HEIGHTS »nd Oakland Avenue m aa soon aa the weather will permit. A good Schroeder on the Port Washington Road, on Qrav«led streets, paved gatters, rnrbing and std*walka, all at tbs rxprnse of the owners of this tract FKticht»~-Special Inducements smll winter. Call o Friday afternoon and evening* Jan. 90th a or and contracts for lota .atered Into subject to aerh lmprovemant*. o«or addraaa G. A.We*t A Co., so* Grand A»e. deal of the machinery for the plant ia in th< wav CO city ready to be put in. heat of friends of Mrs. Schroeder, who ia well i S IGHLAND VIEW—Baautifaljo-acre Tract ad- known in the society of Germane, gathered to o Asilstance will be aifOTOVd to thoeewho wi.h to bnlld. To losers the fatare ol this property all aaa C. It. CSether baa giren orders for another a tracts and d*ada will ba made with restriction. Uraitiag its os* to residence parpoMs only. Hjoiaiaf Beltcvu* Park on the sooth, 1600 ft. Lake do honor and help her in celebrating her 34th I > <] Plwatafe, At terminus of Dummy Una aad adjoin well lor the continuation of Lawndale, North birthday. o ing Laka Ave, I. H. Lowrv. fa If ichican St Lawndale and the Acme Realty Co's aubdi CO* o For plaU, price*, and farther information, apply to . • t The evening waa spent in musie, oard play DLKWILD—Ai ierminua of to.