Check out the Downtown Milwaukee historical markers near Streetcar Flats. Snap a photo of your favorite, and don’t forget to tag us!
Historical Marker 463: Rescue of Joshua Glover
The Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1850 and allowed slave catchers to cross state lines to seize runaway slaves. Joshua Glover was a runaway slave who fled to Racine in 1852 before being arrested by his Missouri owner in 1854 and jailed in Milwaukee.
News of Glover’s imprisonment spread, and a large crowd assembled around the jail demanding his release. The crowd busted down the jail door, freed Joshua Glover, and ushered him to Canada.
The Glover event sparked abolitionist sentiment in Wisconsin and made the state supreme court challenge the federal government by announcing the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional. Historical Marker 463 was established in 2001 by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
E Kilbourn Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202
Cathedral Square Park
24/7
+14142768686
hmdb.org/463
Historical Marker 309: Pabst Theater
Pabst Theater was designed by Otto Strack and constructed by Milwaukee brewing tycoon Captain Frederick Pabst. The Pabst Theater was built upon the location of a preceding opera house ruined by fire in 1895.
Construction took six months, and the Pabst opened on November 9, 1895.
The Pabst is revolutionary as one of the first “all-electric theaters” and featured air conditioning and fire-proof construction. Historical Marker 309 was erected by the Wisconsin State Historical Society in 1992.
144 E Wells St, Milwaukee, WI 53202
8 AM – 4:30 PM, Daily
hmdb.org/309
Wisconsin State Historical Marker 57: Oneida Street Station
Oneida Street Station was the first to continuously burn coal at high efficiencies in stationary steam boilers November 11-15, 1919.
This significant exodus from orthodox firing methods of the time was strongly resisted by engineers at first.
After local, national and international approval, it has caused many benefits to humanity, including decreased electric power costs and conservation of fuel assets.
Historical Marker 57 was raised by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in 1956.
108 E Wells St, Milwaukee, WI 53202
hmdb.org/57
Wisconsin State Historical Marker 43: Invention of the Typewriter
C. Latham Sholes completed the first functional typewriter in September 1869 at 318 State Street (about 300 feet northeast of the Marker’s location). Carlos Glidden, Samuel W. Soule, & Matthias Schwalbach assisted Sholes over the summer in C.F. Kleinsteuber’s machine shop.
James Densmore funded the typewriter’s development for the next six years before assuming controlling interest and selling it to E. Remington & Sons of Ilion, N.Y.
Milwaukee County Historical Society initiated Historical Marker 43 in 1956.
995-959 Vel R. Phillips Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53203
hmdb.org/43
Wisconsin State Historical Marker 234: Milwaukee Interurban Terminal
The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company opened in 1905, and the first car entered on January 1, 1905. The first-floor terminal provided two waiting rooms and 13 car tracks, making it “the largest terminal of its kind in the United States” at the time.
The rail system formerly ran to Watertown, Sheboygan, Kenosha, Burlington, and East Troy before the last line was discarded on June 30, 1951. Milwaukee County Historical Society built Historical Marker 234 in 1976.
N 3rd St, Milwaukee, WI 53290
24/7
hmdb.org/234
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