For some time, I've wondered why the adjoining east-west streets of VLIET plus (just to the north) Cherry, Galena, and Walnut-- where all four intersect with 12th Street-- marked what looks to me to be the most densely populated section of Milwaukee in 1858, as suggested by my copies of sections of Henry F. Walling's detailed 1858 map of Milwaukee. This seems to be so, even though this area was over a mile NW of Milwaukee's downtown center (then and now): at about Water St. and Wisconsin Ave. The SE corner of Ward 9 in 1858 was the intersection of Vliet and 7th streets-- so that most of this densely populated area was within Ward 9-- and to a much lesser extent within older Ward 2 to the south. One of the main Ward 9 focal points must have been St. Joseph's Catholic Church, which was located in 1858 on the north side of Cherry between 11th and 12th. I've just confirmed my impression above by checking some US Census population summaries that I forgot I had. While Ward 9 was apparently not created until about 1856, by 1860 it had already become Milwaukee's most populous ward-- with 6594 residents. And by 1870 Ward 9 had become Milwaukee's largest ward by far, with 11537 residents)-- followed by Ward 5 (Walker's Point on Milwaukee's south side), with 8725 people. Can anyone throw any light on why the SE section of Ward 9 became so densely populated in the 1850s and 1860s? And was this primarily a German Catholic and/or German Protestant area? Most of Milwaukee's old breweries appear to have been in this general area-- and maybe these provided ample employment to new settlers. Another explanation might stem from the fact that Vliet Street was an eastern extension of the old Watertown Plank Road, originally (1849?) a toll road, which seems to have been Milwaukee's main early link to Watertown, Madison, and points west. My copies of this 1858 map show a toll booth just west of 35th St., then Milwaukee's western city limits. No doubt sustained speeds of 80 miles per hour would have been difficult in horse-drawn vehicles on these ancient "plank roads" that were apparently formed of parallel logs. These toll roads were briefly popular in the pre-railroad era and were a big improvement over old muddy Indian trails. The Walling map also clearly shows (to the south) the big house that my g-g-grandfather Elisha Eldred was building in 1858-59 on a large piece of land on the north side of modern Wisconsin Ave., between 14th and 15th St. (land that is now part of the Marquette University campus). This Ward 2 area was much closer to downtown Milwaukee than all of Ward 9-- and yet what is striking to me is this area was almost totally undeveloped in 1858. Perhaps this was due to the formerly rugged terrain of Wisconsin Ave. between about 5th and 20th streets. Maybe this area needed a lot of grading before it could be accommodate much housing. Does anyone know something about all this? ........John (in Chicago) ______________________________________________________ << Subj: [WiMilwau] Change in neighborhood - I-43 & Galena Date: 9/28/01 9:56:06 PM CST From: busia@mindspring.com (Mary Popovich) Reply-to To: WIMILWAU-L@rootsweb.com I started attending Marquette University in 1969 and that fall applied for a job at a neighborhood library on Walnut Street. I've always been relatively fearless, not to mention at least a little naive, and walked from my dorm at 11th & Wisconsin to the library (in late afternoon) and back (in early evening). I seem to recall both empty lots and new "low-income housing," mostly side-by-side duplexes and 4-plexes. This area was a center of urban renewal, possibly because of some minor rioting, but also because the area was already run-down...... >> ______________________________________________________