Walking Tour of Revolutionary Milwaukee--Sunday, June 24

What? Walking Tour of Revolutionary Milwaukee

Date? Sunday, June 24

Time? Meet at front entrance of Turner Hall (address below) @ 2 p.m. If you wish to ride your bicycle en masse to Turner Hall, meet at the Riverwest Co-op at 1:30 p.m.

Who is sponsoring the tour? Riverwest Co-op and History Graduate Program at UW-Milwaukee, with thanks to the Milwaukee Turners

Who is leading the tour? Aims McGuinness, associate professor of history, board member of Milwaukee Turners, and author of “The Revolution Begins Here: Milwaukee and the History of Socialism,” in Perspectives on Milwaukee’s Past, eds. Margo Anderson and Victor Greene.

RSVP? If you plan to attend, please notify Nichali Ciaccio of the Riverwest Co-op at nichalic@riverwestcoop.org

Cost? The tour is free.

Where? Turner Hall is located in downtown Milwaukee, across from the Bradley Center, at the intersection of N. 4^th St. and E. Highland Ave.: http://www.milwaukeeturners.org/.  The Riverwest Cooperative is located at 733 E. Clarke Street: http://www.riverwestcoop.org/.

Weather? The tour will happen, rain or shine. If it is raining, we will remain inside Turner Hall. If it is sunny, we will start at Turner Hall and then walk around.

Description:

This tour will focus on Turner Hall and its immediate environs. Turner Hall was constructed in 1882 and inaugurated in 1883. One of Milwaukee’s oldest civic organizations, the Milwaukee Turners have their origins in the Turnverein movement, which was founded in Germany in the early nineteenth century. The building currently contains one of the oldest working gymnasiums in the United States as well as restaurant space and a large, active ballroom/concert hall. Milwaukee’s Turner Hall was an important source of support and mobilization for Milwaukee’s socialist political movement. All three of Milwaukee’s socialist mayors were Turners: Emil Seidel, Daniel Hoan, and Frank P. Zeidler. The tour will cover the period between the early nineteenth century and the present, with a focus on connections between Turner Hall and the history of revolution and reform, including events such as the Revolutions of 1848, the US Civil
War, the great strikes of 1886, the elections of 1910, World War I, and the election of Frank P. Zeidler as the most recent socialist mayor of Milwaukee in 1948.