Carl Sandburg Hall | Wisconsin Historical Society

Historical Essay

Carl Sandburg Hall

Carl Sandburg Hall | Wisconsin Historical Society

N. Maryland and E. Hartford aves., UW Milwaukee Campus, Milwaukee County 

Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), poet, balladeer, biographer of Lincoln, soldier in the Spanish-American War, came from Illinois to Wisconsin in December 1907 as a state organizer for the Social-Democrat Party in eastern Wisconsin. After marrying Lillian Steichen of Menomonee Falls in 1908, he traveled the state with the Debs "Red Special" presidential campaign train and worked for the Wisconsin Anti-Tuberculosis Association, Kroeger's store, and several Milwaukee newspapers before serving as secretary to Socialist Mayor Emil Seidel for nearly a year. Then he joined the Social-Democratic Herald and Victor Berger's Milwaukee Leader, while residing at 3324 North Cambridge Street. He left Milwaukee permanently in September 1912 for Chicago, where he actively involved himself in its poetic renaissance.

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[Source: McBride, Sarah Davis. History Just Ahead (Madison:WHS, 1999).]