North Milwaukee (originally Schwartzburg and later briefly Northern Junction) was a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

in northern

Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Milwaukee County is located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, and the 45th most populous cou ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

History

The original Schwartzburg was a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

centered on a large farm settled by one Christian Schwartzburg on land bought from

Byron Kilbourn Byron Kilbourn (September 8, 1801December 16, 1870) was an American surveyor, railroad executive, and politician who was an important figure in the founding of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the 3rd and 8th mayor of Milwaukee. Biography Kilbo ...

, and was named after the settlement's most prominent citizen. In the 1850s Schwartzburg began to sell some of his land holding to others, and a

railroad depot A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

was established in the area. Expansion was fuelled by real estate developer and

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...

magnate Henry Clay Payne, and the village (now renamed North Milwaukee) was incorporated in 1897 and merged with the

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

on January 1, 1929. The village (later to become a city) covered an area from Congress Street to Silver Spring Drive between 27th Street and Sherman Boulevard. The main street was Villard Avenue, but the village had the economic advantages of a

Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experienced ...

railroad crossing near 35th and Hampton, supplemented by a streetcar line which Payne (local manager of The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company) had run across two miles of vacant fields to the new community. The population was heavily

German Americans German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

, including a large population of Volga Deutsche in the neighborhood called "Red Town". The records of the village are in the Archives of the City of Milwaukee. The name "Old North Milwaukee" survives to some extent as a neighborhood name roughly coterminous with the village boundaries."Villard Avenue Library" Northwest Side Community Development Corporation website
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Notable people

* Fred C. Maertz, businessman and politician, ran a movie theater business in North Milwaukee in his later years * Arthur J. Miller, businessman and politician, served as a North Milwaukee alderman * Fred A. Mueller, farmer and local politician, born in North Milwaukee, served one term in the state legislature

References

1897 establishments in Wisconsin 1929 disestablishments in Wisconsin Former municipalities in the United States Former populated places in Wisconsin History of Milwaukee {{MilwaukeeCountyWI-geo-stub