1873 Warren View of Milwaukee, Wisconsin

This is an 1873 Asa Coolidge Warren view of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The view is oriented to the west, and shows the city skyline as seen over a forest - the neighborhood which would develop into Juneau Town, almost certainly as seen from the 1855 North Point Lighthouse. The view is remarkable in that it pre-dates the 1880s architectual explosion. Later views would emphasize Milwaukee's booming factories and tall buildings: here instead is the forest that would in part become Milwaukee's Lake Park.

An Idealized, Idyllic City

This image appeared in Picturesque America, a work intended to promote travel and tourism throughout the United States. As such the cities highlighted in the book were presented as prosperous, appealing places. Many of the views picture perambulating, fashionably-dressed women and children, emphasizing the safety of the city and its suitability for leisurely and well-to-do visitors.

Publication History and Census

The engraving was produced for inclusion in William Cullen Bryant's Picturesque America, or The Land We Live In, which was published in 1873 by D. Appleton and Company in New York. The complete book is well represented in institutional collections, but the separate view is catalogued only in the American Antiquarian Society Library.