Property Record
2461-2463 S ST CLAIR ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Puddler's Hall |
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| Other Name: | Potter's End Tavern |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 27652 |
| Location (Address): | 2461-2463 S ST CLAIR ST |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1871 |
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| Additions: | 1921 |
| Survey Date: | 1990 |
| Historic Use: | meeting hall |
| Architectural Style: | Front Gabled |
| Structural System: | Balloon Frame |
| Wall Material: | Asbestos |
| Architect: | B. KOLPACKI |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Bay View Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 8/23/1982 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office. MEETING HALL FOR MEMBERS OF AMALGAMT'D ASSOCIATION OF IRON AND STEEL WORKERS. BUILT FOR THE SKILLED WORKERS OF THE MILWAUKEE IRON CO. UNION OFFICE'S WERE UPSTAIRS WHILE THE GROUND FLOOR HOUSED THE MEETING HALL. The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, founded in 1876, was the strongest union in Milwaukee after the Civil War. They had two lodges with 800 members located in Bay View. THE ORIGINAL STOCKHOLDERS SOLD THE BUILDING IN THE LATE 1880S; IT HAS SINCE BEEN USED AS A TAVERN AND A RESIDENCE. KOLPACKI DESIGNED THE 1892 ADDITION. A.K.A 1210 E. POTTER ST. BUILDER - JOS. LUETTGEN. BRICK FOUNDATION AND REMODELING $3000, 1892. 1921 DANCE HALL ADDN. TO SIDE 28X44 - $800 AND UNDERPINNED $950. ASSOCIATED INDIVIDUALS: FALK, JUNG & BORCHERT BWG. CO.(1892). FRANK BARBIERI - OWNER 1921. Another map code is 360/4. "A group of businessmen led by Eber Ward, Detroit industrialist and shipping magnate, established the Milwaukee Iron Company in Bay View in 1867. One of the nation's earliest Bessemer steel plants, the mill began operations in 1868 with skilled labor brought to Bay View from Germany and the British Isles. Puddler's Hall was built for these workers and served as union headquarters for the Bay View units of the Sons of Vulcan, later the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. In 1882 the union succeeded in reducing the workday from fifteen to twelve hours. A violent strike four years later brought the eight-hour workday, among other significant reforms. After Ward's death in 1875, ownership of the Milwaukee Iron Company passed to the North Chicago Rolling Mills and then, in 1889, to the Illinois Steel Company. From its earliest days the plant had occupied a sizable tract of land along Lake Michigan, property that the city eventually sought to acquire for harbor development. Condemnation proceedings against Illinois Steel began in 1920, and in 1938 the city completed purchase of the mill site." Pagel, Mary Ellen & Virginia A. Palmer, University Extension University of Wisconsin, Guides to Historic Milwaukee: Walker's Point and South, 1969. |
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| Bibliographic References: | PERMIT. MILWAUKEE HISTORIC BUILDINGS DRIVING TOUR OF BAY VIEW. BUILT IN MILWAUKEE, LANDSCAPE RESEARCH, P. 176. HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE 1881, P. 1627. Pagel, p. 25. Garett, p. 20, pp. 35-36. Pagel, Mary Ellen & Virginia A. Palmer, University Extension University of Wisconsin, Guides to Historic Milwaukee: Walker's Point and South, 1969. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |