author, publisher, politician, b. Milwaukee. Ill health limited his education to brief periods at a parochial school and business college. In 1876 he went to work for the Milwaukee Daily News and in 1880 for the Milwaukee Sentinel. In 1891 he established his own publishing house where he published the American School Board Journal, Hospital Progress, Industrial Arts Magazine, Catholic School Journal, and various educational and religious books, as well as his own books and pamphlets. A Democrat, he held numerous local offices in Milwaukee, and in 1925 was an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate. A champion of Milwaukee harbor improvement and the St. Lawrence seaway, Bruce was president of the Milwaukee Harbor Commission (1913-1945), a member and at times president of the Wisconsin Deep Waterways Commission, the St. Lawrence Tidewater Association, and several similar organizations. He was the author of several books, including the History of Milwaukee, City and County (3 vols., 1922), A Short History of Milwaukee (1936), I Was Born in America (1937), and Builders of Milwaukee (1946). W. G. Bruce, I Was Born in Amer. (Milwaukee, 1937); J. G. Gregory, Hist. of Milwaukee (4 vols., Chicago, 1931); F. L. Holmes, et al., eds., Wis. (5 vols., Chicago, 1946); Milwaukee Journal, Aug. 13, 1949.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the William George Bruce Papers for details.

View a related article at Wisconsin Magazine of History Archives.

View newspaper clippings at Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]