Enjoy these historic downtown Milwaukee images from the 1870s through the 1980s

An 1880s view of Grand Avenue (now Wisconsin Avenue) looking west from the Milwaukee River.

This undated photo shows the Second Ward Savings Bank located at the intersection of Third Street (North 3rd Street), Cedar Street (West Kilbourn Avenue) and West Water Street (North Plankinton Avenue). It was replaced in 1913 with the Neo-Classical building that today is home to the Milwaukee County Historical Society.

This picture shows the business office of The Milwaukee Journal circa September, 1891, when the newspaper was published at 92 Mason St. Pictured are (from left) city circulation manager Nathaniel Greene, secretary and business manager and later publisher Lloyd Tilghman Boyd, an unidentified circulation clerk, advertising manager J.E. Sutton, advertising clerk and accountant E.A. Belda, state circulation manager F.J. Studnicka, advertising solicitor A.A. Rudkowsky, treasurer J.W. Schaum and stenographer Mrs. Elizabeth Bright Studnicka.

In October, 1899, U.S. President William McKinley visited Milwaukee and toured the soldiers' home and Wood Cemetery. On the return trip, McKinley shared the carriage of General Otto Falk with Governor Edward Scofield (top hat), waving to the crowd on Clinton Street (now South 1st Street).

Among buildings to be razed in 1923 at North 4th and West State streets was the old Freie Gemeinds Hall at far right. The buildings were located at the future site of The Milwaukee Journal Company.

The construction of The Milwaukee Journal Company building at 333 W. State St. looking southeast from North 4th and West State streets, circa 1924.

Circulation trucks in front of The Milwaukee Journal building at North 4th and West State streets, circa late 1920s.

A parade was held in Milwaukee for aviator Charles Lindbergh in August 1927. Following the parade, the large crowd filled the street at North 5th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue.

A view of the former Milwaukee Sentinel newspaper building on East Mason Street, circa 1927.

In 1928, the Milwaukee safety commission placed 50,000 traffic law booklets at filling stations for free distribution to car owners. The booklets contained all driving laws enforced in Milwaukee. This picture shows downtown traffic officer John Lepak handing a copy of the booklet to a motorist.

An aerial view of downtown Milwaukee photographed as the plane headed south toward the county airport in 1928.

A section of downtown Milwaukee seen from the Kilbourn Avenue bridge looking north in 1929. The new State State bridge is in the foreground with the Electric Company power plant on Commerce Street and Schiltz brewery buildings in the background.

The formal opening of the new Kilbourn Avenue bridge in 1929 marked another advance in Milwaukee's downtown development program.

Unemployed by the depression, Milwaukee men demonstrated in front of the Public Employment Office on North Edison Street and East Kilbourn Avenue on St. Valentine's Day in 1930. The crowd had formed at Haymarket Square and marched through the downtown area to the employment office.

Schlitz Brewery beer wagon Driver John Mueller photographed in 1930 with a local beer delivery setup in use before the advent of autos.

In a demonstration two blocks long, striking Phoenix Hosiery Co. employees marched through downtown Milwaukee streets in 1931. They are shown arriving at Turner Hall at 1040 N. Fourth St. for a "pep" rally. The march started from Catalano Hall at 523 E. Buffalo St., and proceeded to Turner Hall.

A U.S. Postal truck carrying a band led a procession of 50 mail trucks through downtown Milwaukee in November, 1931, to officially mark the start of the Christmas mailing season.

Thousands of Milwaukeeans filled downtown streets on Milwaukee Day in December, 1931. These bargain hunters were photographed along West Wisconsin Avenue near North 3rd Street.

Milwaukee's Communists turned out at Red Arrow Park at North 10th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue for parade in August, 1932.

A new type of bus was reviewed by Milwaukee road officials in 1932. The bus can run on rails using guide wheels on either side of each tire, reaching speeds of 60 miles an hour. By lifting the guide wheels, the bus can return to the road.

Christmas shoppers fill Milwaukee's downtown streets along West Wisconsin Avenue with less than a month before the holiday in 1932.

Milwaukee Department of Public Works employees were busy with snow removal along West Wisconsin Avenue in February 1933.

During the Great Depression, Scrip, a substitute for currency, was used when money was in short supply. In 1933, Scrip was introduced in Milwaukee, helping businesses make payroll. As a result, shoppers filled Milwaukee's downtown streets in mid-March giving merchants their best day in nearly two weeks.

Strikers from Seaman Body Corporation marched downtown to protest arrests made by police on their picket lines in 1934. The workers are shown at city hall and later moved their protest to the police station.

Here's a view of West Water Street, now North Plankinton Avenue, taken from Spring Street, which later became Grand Avenue and is now Wisconsin Avenue with a stage coach and two horse drawn street cars at intersection - serious traffic jam. Photo sent in by Charles Schlicke, 1574 South 12th Street. (Milwaukee - Streets - Plankinton Avenue) Downtown Milwaukee

Automobile designer William B. Stout (left) was in Milwaukee during May, 1936, with his famous scarab. Stout met with Allis-Chalmers baby combine inventor R.G. Fleming (right) and Timken Roller Bearing Co. representative and secretary of the Milwaukee chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers George W. Curtis before Stout spoke at the Wisconsin Club. The scarab, produced by the Stout Motor Car Corporation in Dearborn, Michigan, is priced at $5,000.

The last old street clock in downtown Milwaukee was photographed in 1936. The weather beaten clock stood handless in front of the empty Richard Seidel jewelry store on West Wisconsin Avenue and North 2nd Street and was razed with the building.

Bob Taylor snapped this view of East Water Street circa 1910 in downtown Milwaukee. Taylor was The Milwaukee Journal's first photojournalist.

The new headquarters for the Milwaukee Association of Commerce was the Loyalty building at 611 N. Broadway. It was announced by association president Charles A. Neidhoefer in 1937.

A group of 600 strikers and sympathizers and 100 policemen confronted each other at the gates of the A.F. Gallun & Sons Corp. tannery at 1818 N. Water St. in February, 1938.

One of Milwaukee's oldest downtown buildings along with others along East Wells Street, near North Milwaukee Street were targeted to be torn down in 1938 to make way for a service station and parking lot.

Lighting flashes in the distance with the Electric Company's Commerce Street plant in the foreground. This picture was made during an electrical storm in 1938.

A downtown Milwaukee photo looks southeast on Plankinton Avenue from the top of Klode's Furniture building in 1939. The intersection shown is West Wells Street and North Plankinton Avenue.

Journal staff photographer J. Robert "Bob" Taylor took his last picture of the Milwaukee courthouse just days before the wreckers arrived in 1939. This structure was built in 1873 on the plot of land now occupied by Cathedral Square.

Looking south on North Third Street at the intersection with Garfield Street (Milwaukee Streets - Third) Downtown Milwaukee

A 1941 photo of the Federal Courthouse and U.S. offices including the postal service.

West Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Milwaukee looking east from North 11th Street. The 1941 photo predates the construction of the Marquette interchange and I-43 freeway.

One of the most notable of legion events held in Wisconsin was the 1941 national convention in Milwaukee which entertained around 57,000 national delegates. Outdoor beer bars helped fuel the party atmosphere. The highlight of the convention was a 12-hour parade where an 900,000 spectators watched 100,000 participants.

One of the most notable of legion events held in Wisconsin was the 1941 national convention in Milwaukee which entertained around 57,000 national delegates. Outdoor beer bars helped fuel the party atmosphere. The highlight of the convention was a 12-hour parade where an 900,000 spectators watched 100,000 participants.

One of the most notable of legion events held in Wisconsin was the 1941 national convention in Milwaukee which entertained around 57,000 national delegates. Outdoor beer bars helped fuel the party atmosphere. The highlight of the convention was a 12-hour parade where an 900,000 spectators watched 100,000 participants. A US Navy band marches along West Kilbourn Avenue past the Second Ward office of First Wisconsin bank. The building now houses the Milwaukee County Historical Society. Further back is the Hotel Republican It was razed in 1961.

A 1942 photo of Milwaukee's City Hall.

Thousands of holiday shoppers filled downtown Milwaukee at North 3rd Street and West Wisconsin Avenue in early December, 1942.

Milwaukeeans took over downtown to celebrate the surrender of Japan on August 14, 1945. This scene, looking west from the river, shows the jubilant crowd as far as the eye can see.

A December, 1945, aerial of downtown Milwaukee.

The eight-story Realty building at 740 North Plankton Avenue was purchased by American State Bank as its new home. It was photographed in 1945. The building sporting a contemporary facade is now called River Bank Plaza.

An undated photo Milwaukee Journal delivery trucks outside its former home at 734 North 4th Street (between West Wisconsin Avenue and West Wells Street), where the newspaper was headquartered between 1907 and 1924.

Erected in 1886, the Loyalty building on North Broadway and East Michigan Street is representative of Victorian Romanesque design developed in the United States after 1880.

Despite the impossible traffic conditions that prevailed in January, 1947, the Milwaukee Journal was delivered from The Journal Building at North 4th and West State streets to Radio City on W. Capitol Drive, where highlights of the news were read over WTMJ during three half-hour broadcasts. Milwaukee Ski club members who delivered the papers are Henry Pfleiger (left)and Lawrence Maurin, shown as they were about to depart. The five mile trip took them an hour and fifteen minutes.

A Transport Co. employee shoveled furiously in an attempt to free a stalled streetcar in front of the Princess theater just north of the Wisconsin Hotel on North 3rd Street during a furious, drifting snowstorm in January, 1947.

A suffocating blizzard hit Milwaukee in January, 1947. This scene near North 5th and West Clybourn streets was typical throughout the city. A man pushed his car hoping to find traction in the slick snow as other cars passed in both directions.

Buildings are going down quickly to make room for the $4,300,000 Milwaukee Auditorium and Sports Arena on the block bounded by West Kilbourn Avenue and North 4th, North 6th and West State streets. This view, made in November, 1948, shows the south half of the construction area.

Motorists officially started dropping in pennies and nickels Monday in Milwaukee downtown parking meters. A total of $343.53 was found in the meters when the first collection was made by guards Raymond Quade (left), 5068 N. Green Bay Avenue and Thaddeus Wishowski, 25099 S. 19th Street. They wheeled a tan like a receptacle by Patrolman Phillip Weinheim, 3023 N. 39th Street looked on

Newly widened and paved West Kilbourn Avenue was open to traffic in October, 1950, eliminating another traffic bottleneck.

The Hokanson building at 807 N. Broadway was sold to present occupants Ruby Chevrolet interests in 1951.

Downtown Milwaukee got its "magnificent mile" back when remodeled Wisconsin avenue finished in 1951. As part of the festivities, popular champion mile racer Don Gehrmann, from Wisconsin, and his motorcycle escort moved west along Wisconsin Avenue.

A replica of the "Marguerite," a horse drawn streetcar familiar to Milwaukeeans at the turn of the century, traveled in the downtown area in July, 1951. However, no horses were used for this run, the streetcar was mounted on a truck. It is shown going west between North 4th and North 5th streets on West Michigan Street. The trip was was part of the reopening celebration of Wisconsin Avenue.

In 1951, one of downtown Milwaukee's older buildings at 764 N. Jackson St. was purchased by first-floor occupant Petrie Furniture Co. The building was built around 1866 by Dr. Lewis Sherman. The location is now occupied by a parking structure.

Firemen clambered over debris as they searched for victims and fought a rubbish fire in the basement at the scene of a downtown explosion in December, 1951. The blast wrecked the B.F. Goodrich Co. store at 132 E. Kilbourn Avenue.

Nature put on a brilliant show in June, 1952, with lightning racing across the sky. The Milwaukee River is in the foreground and the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co. is in the distance.

Traffic flowed smoothly along North Third Street between West Juneau and West Kilbourn Avenues in August, 1952. This view looks north from West Kilbourn Avenue.

A typical downtown Milwaukee parking lot photographed in November, 1952.

Erected in 1881, this building in downtown Milwaukee at 725 N. Milwaukee St. is among many older structures along North Milwaukee Street still standing. It was photographed in 1953.

Workers continued dismantling a building in 1953 that was once home to small shops and apartments at 440 West State Street. The building was condemned as "structurally unsound" by city building inspectors.

Eight F-86 Sabre jets of the Wisconsin air national guard flew eastward over downtown Milwaukee at 450 miles while being photographed by Milwaukee Journal photographer Henry F. Larson in 1954.

Milwaukee's 1954 Christmas parade photographed as it made its way through downtown.

Firemen fought a smoky fire at the Moose club at 768 North Jefferson Street in downtown Milwaukee in 1955.

Striking workers with local 833 of the CIO United Automobile Workers union of Kohler cruised downtown Milwaukee in June 1955, encouraging Milwaukeeans not to buy Kohler products. The occupant of this car passed out leaflets at a bus stop on West Wisconsin Avenue.

Old pawn shops lined the north side of West Wells Street near North 5th Street in downtown Milwaukee in 1956.

The sights of downtown Milwaukee were enjoyed by these members of the Vienna Choir Boys who were in town for a perfomance at the Garfield Theater at 2933 N 3rd St. From left are Wolfgang Sattma (10), Anton Schermann (10), Alois Trimbacher (11), and Maximilian Jaekel (11).

A long line of baseball fans stretched through the Plankinton building in March, 1957, as tickets for all Milwaukee Braves home games except the opening day game went on sale at the downtown office.

Wet streets reflected glare from downtown lights as wind-driven rain pelted shoppers rushing from store to store along West Wisconsin Avenue in October, 1957.

A Nike ground-to-air guided missile being deployed at Maitland Airfield along Milwaukee's lakefront in 1957. Today, the area is home to the Summerfest and festival grounds. This was one of eight installations that encircled Milwaukee.

Firemen were framed in the window of a downtown tavern as they fought a three alarm fire in April, 1958. The blaze gutted Mr. Anthony's bar at 431 West Michigan St. An adjoining tavern, the Gay 90's bar, was also damaged.

Automobiles poured down and up Wisconsin Avenue in September, 1958, after the Milwaukee Braves won the National League pennant.

This five-story building once stood along the west side of North Broadway in the 700 block. It was photographed in 1958.

Properties along the 700 block of North Water Street pictured in April, 1959. The corner building and the tall building to the left are now gone. The smaller buildings to the left and right still stand.

Downtown Milwaukee pedestrians walk through a snow squall along North 2nd Street and West Wisconsin Avenue in March, 1959.

Gulls fill the air over a new taking shape at the north side of Milwaukee’s harbor entrance in May, 1959. The 20-acre site will become a downtown dump for incinerator residue and rubbish. The area is enclosed by steel bulkheads designed for commercial dock structures. When completed, the filled-in tract will be used for future harbor expansion. This view looks north showing the Cudahy Tower hotel at left center.

A small crowd gathers around a car carrying former President Harry S. Truman (right, foreground) as it heads to downtown Milwaukee in September, 1959. He’s riding with Milwaukee Mayor Zeidler (left) and Stanley Joers, chairman of Labor's Political League of Milwaukee county, sponsors of an event featuring a speech by Truman at the Milwaukee Arena.

Snowdrifts buried cars in a downtown parking lot in December, 1959, after a snowstorm dropped 12.2 inches.

Umbrellas kept falling snow off downtown Milwaukee pedestrians along West Wisconsin Avenue at North 3rd Street in January, 1960.

Thousands of Christmas decorations glowed along Wisconsin Avenue between North 6th and North Cass streets in November, 1960.

Students from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee competing in the Mr. and Mrs. Flintstone contest dashed through downtown Milwaukee in May, 1961, night to promote the school's campus carnival. They were (from left) Jack Suworoff, Ilona M. Walbruck, Dawn Harwood, Gene Hetzel, Sally Kamer, and Joan Kugler.

A snowblower cuts through drifts along Lincoln Memorial Drive in January, 1962.

The dividing line between the clouds and fair skies was photographed in June, 1963.

The 1963 Circus Parade thrilled crowds in downtown Milwaukee during the July 4th spectacle.

Built in 1890s, Milwaukee's city hall with its soaring tower continues to be a distinctive landmark in the downtown skyline. This photograph is from August, 1963.

President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in November, 1963, left West Wisconsin Avenue nearly deserted during the funeral services.

All but the most daring stayed under cover in downtown during a summer downpour in June, 1964.

The 35 circus wagons that will roll over more than four miles of downtown Milwaukee streets in July, 1964, were prepped on the former Maitland Airfield along the lakefront.

A forest of concrete piers replaced shade trees in of Milwaukee’s oldest neighborhoods just south of West Wisconsin Avenue and west of North 9th Street. The area will become the central interchange for a new freeway system. This photograph was taken in September, 1964.

The Second Ward Savings Bank Building opened in 1913 and later became the First Wisconsin National Bank, second ward branch. Today, it is home to the Milwaukee County Historical Society. This photo from 1964 predates the development of Pere Marquette Park in 1976. The building occupies the southwestern corner of the park at West Kilbourn Avenue and North 3rd Street.

A protest march attacking unpaid United Nations bills from Communist bloc nations was photographed in downtown Milwaukee in December, 1964. The March was organized by the Grover Cleveland chapter of the Young Americans for Freedom.

Lucio Savoia of Chicago picks up a model of the Milwaukee County Courthouse to demonstrate the versatility of his model. There are 1,012 miniature structures, each hand carved and mounted on pegs so that they can be moved to show the city's physical changes. Savoia was photographed in September, 1966.

Hecklers outnumbered demonstrators during a war protest rally at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in November, 1967. The protesters marched to UW-Milwaukee's downtown campus where job interviews were being conducted by the Dow Chemical Co.

Traffic moved along the State street bridge spanning the North-South freeway. The bridge opening eliminated one more detour in Milwaukee's downtown area. Also visible in this photograph are the Highland Avenue bridge (center) and the Juneau Avenue bridge, all spanning the freeway construction area.

Servicemen, mostly from Great Lakes naval training center in Illinois danced with hostesses and girl friends at the downtown Milwaukee USO Club in February, 1968. Music was provided by "Tiny West and her Swinging Queens."

A row of 1800-era buildings along North 3rd Street between West State Street and West Highland Avenue.

The Christmas shopping season in downtown Milwaukee got off to a strong start on the day after Thanksgiving in 1968.

A small group of participants at the 1969 National Liturgical conference gathered at a downtown grass triangle where draft records were burned the previous September.

The new Milwaukee Brewers were greeted by banners strung across Wisconsin Avenue when they arrived in 1970.

Firemen and Wisconsin Electric Power Co. employees worked to quell an underground fire that caused power to be cut off in the downtown Milwaukee area for about four hours in March, 1972.

The Cinderellla float going rolls along West Kilbourn Avenue in July, 1972. It was originally built in the 1880s for the Barnum & London Circus.

Ironworkers Jack Brue (left) and Gary Grider completed welding a steel beam prior to topping off ceremonies at the 42-story First Wisconsin Center in August, 1972. The skeleton of the building towers over the east side of downtown Milwaukee.

West Wisconsin Avenue looking east from the North 600 block was photographed in July, 1973.

An aerial of downtown Milwaukee looking west from Lake Michigan. The photo is believed to have been taken in the late1960s, early 1970s.

A double-decker bus is helped off the ferry after arriving in Milwaukee during June, 1974, from Ludington, Michigan. Four double-deckers will offer free shuttle service in downtown Milwaukee.

Al Gabel's newsstand at North 3rd Street and West Wisconsin Avenue photographed in June, 1974.

Although outlying shopping centers and malls have decreased the number of people coming to downtown Milwaukee, many residents and tourists still visit the area. A window-shopper was photographed in June, 1974.

Four men walking along West Wisconsin Avenue display fashion trends current in June, 1974.

Milwaukee's Pabst Theater photographed in June, 1974.

The corner of East Wisconsin Avenue and North Milwaukee Street in August, 1974.

Passengers boarding one of the new Milwaukee County Transit System downtown shuttle buses in July, 1975.

A high-level view of Milwaukee looking west from the top of the First Wisconsin Center in February, 1976.

Painter Gordon Olson found the rotunda in the Plankinton Arcade a useful studio in July, 1978. He loves the natural lighting and the unspoiled, 15th Century Italian Gothic design.

Wisconsin Bell displayed the latest trends in land-line phones at its new downtown Milwaukee phone center in November, 1978.

Christmas decorations along West Wisconsin Avenue in November, 1978.

Snow storms buried the city during the winter of 1978-’79. This image shows a downtown street in January, 1979.

Walking tours of East Town in downtown Milwaukee in 1979 included this row of 19th century buildings along North Milwaukee Street between East Wisconsin Avenue and East Mason Street.

This block along North 5th Street between West Wisconsin Avenue and West Michigan Street included the Starship Encounters Disco, a venue catering to Milwaukee’s punk and alternative music scene. Today, the block is used by parking, both surface and structural.

This view of downtown Milwaukee in March, 1980, is from the Allen-Bradley Co. observation tower at 1201 S. 2nd St. On the right, the First Wisconsin Center dominates the horizon.

Slush and snow slowed traffic in downtown Milwaukee in December, 1980. This view looks west along West Wisconsin Avenue from North 2nd Street.

Workers replaced glass in the skylight of the Plankinton Arcade in June, 1981. The work was being done by the developers of the Grand Avenue Mall who plan to open in about 10 months.

Demolition of the building that housed the T.A. Chapman Co. was photographed in February, 1982. The former department store on East Wisconsin Avenue is now site of the 411 Building.

Joseph Legas worked on wiring for an escalator in the Plankinton Building in June, 1982. The escalator leads to a sidewalk connecting buildings in the Grand Avenue retail center.

Roberto Gaggioli raises his arms in victory as he distances himself from the pack to win the PAC Gran Prix in downtown Milwaukee in July, 1982.

Crowds gathered outside the Grand Avenue in downtown Milwaukee during opening ceremonies in August, 1982.

Work continued in October, 1982, on the North Plankinton Avenue bridge in downtown Milwaukee. The new bridge replaces the original built in 1905.

A downtown shopper is reflected in one of the Gimbels holiday windows. The display features Christmas scenes in three-quarter scale. Work on the hand-built scenes began in August.

Gene Williams sells his computerized personality analysis service from a pushcart in the downtown Milwaukee Grand Avenue Mall in March, 1983.

Participants were off and running outside the Milwaukee Public Museum in April, 1983 during the second annual Dinosaur Dash in downtown Milwaukee. Proceeds from the 3.1 mile run benefits the museum's Centennial Fund.

Youngsters tagged along with Paddy McFest and his entourage of fiddlers and dancers in August, 1983, as the Irish Fest character walked down Wisconsin Avenue with his pot of gold and silver. Paddy and his friends were deliverying $5,000 in gold coins and $2,000 in silver bars to First Bank Milwaukee. The money will be awarded during the Irish Fest raffle.

A November, 1986 aerial photo looks northwest from North 4th Street and West State Street from and shows construction of the Bradley Center in downtown Milwaukee. At the same time the Milwaukee Rescue Mission building is being razed in the background.