Modeling Milwaukee In The 1890's

On the corner of Cherry St, Commerce St and 2nd St was a hexagonal grade crossing tower.  I have scratch built a couple of these in the past but chose to use a Walthers kit for this project.  I did add interior detailing to the second story.  Also on this corner was the milling building for the Phoenix Flour Mill.  I constructed the model using two photos and the Sanborn foot print.  The windows and fire escapes are manufactured by Titchy.  The brick walls are etched basswood from Monster Modelworks.

Milwaukee Public Library

To add visual interest to the structure I offset the loading bay back from the mill tower and added a covered loading dock to the model.  At the time of the above photo the structure was considered a derelict building and it was torn down in the next two years.

 

Next to the flour mill was its associated elevator.  It was connected to the mill by a bridge.  The  interior of the model is made from foam core and is sheathed in Campbell's corrugated sheathing.

Milwaukee Public Library

                          

This is a view down Commerce St. and shows the elevator in the late 1940's.  The building next to the elevator is the former Eagle Flour Mill, at the time of the photo it was being used as a general warehouse for Pabst brewing.

This is my interpretation of the Eagle Flour Mill, my primary references were the above photo and Sanborn map data.  I have added signage indicating that the current occupant is a wholesale grocer.  A careful study of the prototype photo shows that the building was occupied by Armour & Co at some point in its existence.

Milwaukee Public Library

This photo looks southeast across the team track area.  In the back are the chimneys of the power plant.  North of the power plant is the Milwaukee Grain and Feed Company.  The Sanborn map does not show a building named for this company.  There is however a small milling company shown in that location and I used its dimensions to construct the following model.

Monster Modelworks brick materials were used to build the walls.  As would be expected all brick buildings have been finished to represent "Cream City" brick as it was the common building brick used in Milwaukee in the 19th century.