Carl Minkley (November 14, 1866 – July 26, 1937) was an interior decorator,

housepainter A house painter and decorator is a tradesman responsible for the painting and decorating of buildings, and is also known as a decorator or house painter.''The Modern Painter and Decorator'' volume 1 1921 Caxton The purpose of painting is to imp ...

labor movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

activist and

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...

politician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who served two terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly (as well as being an alderman for the City of Milwaukee).

Background

Minkley was born in Strelno (now Strzelno), in what was then the Kingdom of Prussia, on November 14, 1866. He attended the

public schools Public school may refer to: *State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government *Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England and ...

and studied designing for interior decoration in the trade schools of Berlin, Germany. He became a member of his trade union in 1887, and was elected a delegate from the city of Berlin to its national convention in 1890. Minkley came to the United States in 1892, settling in Milwaukee in 1893. He was a delegate to the national convention of the Brotherhood of Decorators and Painters of America. He became a member of the

, became the state organizer of the Socialist Party (known in Wisconsin at the "Social-Democratic Party"), and served as a delegate to the national Socialist convention in 1912.

Elective office

Minkley was appointed as alderman-at-large in the city of Milwaukee by mayor

Emil Seidel Emil Seidel (December 13, 1864 – June 24, 1947) was a prominent German-American politician. Seidel was the mayor of Milwaukee from 1910 to 1912. The first Socialist mayor of a major city in the United States, Seidel became the Vice Presidential ...

, to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of

Victor L. Berger Victor Luitpold Berger (February 28, 1860August 7, 1929) was an Austrian–American socialist politician and journalist who was a founding member of the Social Democratic Party of America and its successor, the Socialist Party of America. Born in ...

after Berger's 1910 election to Congress. Minkley was first elected a member of the Assembly in the Fourth district of

Milwaukee County 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 coun ...

(20th and 22nd wards of the City of Milwaukee) in 1912, with 2365 votes to 1969 for independent Paul G. Dorow, 1331 for Republican Max J. Leutermann, and 54 for Prohibitionist Peter J. Norgaaard, succeeding his fellow Socialist

Max E. Binner Max E. Binner (January 6, 1883 – March 15, 1943) was a bookkeeper from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who served one term as a Socialist member of the Wisconsin State Assembly. Background Binner was born in the city of Erfurt, Germany on Janu ...

(Binner, whose old district had been split up after the 1910 United States Census, did not run for re-election.) Minkley served on the Assembly's Committee on Municipalities. In 1914, he was re-elected by a narrow margin, with 2295 votes to 2209 for Republican Walter F. Mayer. He was assigned to the Committee on the Judiciary for the 1915-1916 Assembly session. In May 1915, he requested an indefinite leave of absence, as the $500 salary and what money he had earned as a housepainter while the Assembly was not in session was insufficient to pay his expenses in

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

. While in the Assembly, he continued his work as Socialist Party state organizer. He was succeeded in the Assembly in the 1916 election by fellow Socialist

Henry Ohl, Jr. Henry J. Ohl Jr. (March 16, 1873 – October 16, 1940) was a Wisconsin typographer and trade union leader, president for many years of the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor (WSFL). He also served one term as a Socialist member of the Wiscon ...

After the Assembly

After leaving the Assembly, Minkley continued as an activist. He frequently appeared before the legislature on behalf of Socialist legislation or on behalf of unions. As a lobbyist for the Brewery Workers Union, he wrote, published and distributed 2,500,000 copies of a pamphlet against Prohibition, and appeared before the United States Senate and five

state legislatures A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Stat ...

in opposition to it. When the

Milwaukee City Hall The Milwaukee City Hall is a skyscraper and town hall located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was finished in 1895, and was Milwaukee's tallest building until completion of the First Wisconsin Center in 1973. The Milwaukee City Hall was ...

's Council Chambers were remodelled in 1931, Minkley contributed a

stencil Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...

design for the ceiling and anteroom on the theme "Human Endeavor and Progress". This led to some complaints from the Milwaukee Art Commission, which condemned the designs as the product of "a painter, not an artist." In 1934 he was the Socialist nominee for the Fifth Wisconsin State Senate District, garnering 6,458 votes to 10,435 for Democrat Harold Schoenecker, 6,916 for Republican Bernhard Gettleman, and 5.674 for

Progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

Gustave Dick. Minkley's rhetoric was often vigorous. During a 1935 rally in the Assembly chamber in favor of a bill to create a state corporation to operate shuttered factories and employ jobless workers, he told the Assembly that if the bill did not pass, its supporters would return at the next session with

baseball bats A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than in diameter at the thickest part and no more than in length. Although histori ...

"to drive you out." In 1937, Minkley was state secretary of the Socialist Party, and expressed the Party's concern that the Civilian Conservation Corps was "a breeding spot for militarism or Fascism."

Personal life

On September 29, 1934, he married Anna Hunter, a widow whom he'd met at the Wisconsin Socialist Party annual picnic in Pleasant Prairie. He already had six children (Carl, Nora, Carla, Clio, Eric and Kurt) by a prior marriage. He died July 26, 1937, of a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

."Carl Minkley Stroke Victim" ''Milwaukee Journal'' July 27, 1937; p. 1, col. 5

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minkley, Carl 1866 births 1937 deaths American interior designers Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States House painters Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Wisconsin city council members German trade unionists Politicians from Milwaukee People from Strzelno Politicians from the Province of Posen Socialist Party of America politicians from Wisconsin