aipuck.com. ## The Town of Brookfield The first French explorers who came to this region at the end of the 1600s called this area "La Petite Couronne," or the Little Crown. Then a few decades later a Jesuit priest named Gabriel Sagard wrote about his experiences in what is now Wisconsin. Sagard called the town in which he lived Cahokia, the name of the Native American village nearby. Other Frenchmen eventually took over Cahokia. They were eventually followed by Dutch settlers, who built Fort Koshkonong, the country's first European settlement west of the Mississippi. Its name is a corruption of the Chippewa word for "swamp" or "marsh," which was used to describe its proximity to Koshkonong Lake. The fort was rebuilt as Fort Winnebago in 1827. The first permanent European settler in Brookfield was Jonathan Storms, who arrived in 1834. His son Henry became the county's first elected judge, in 1837. Henry's sons, Hiram and Warren, were in the lumber business. Hiram was the first to acquire large tracts of land in the area, thanks to the Wisconsin River's superior access to water. That changed when the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway came through in 1855 and transformed the lumber business into an agricultural operation. Hiram built a large grain elevator and opened an ice house in Brookfield. In the process, he became a very wealthy man. Henry then built Brookfield's first commercial brewery and named it after his wife, Mary. Another of his sons, Frank, built a sawmill and flourmill in 1878. Frank eventually became the owner of the entire town, which he acquired by filing for bankruptcy in 1906. He then built a private lake in the area, using water from the nearby river, Brookfield Park. Today it is part of the Chequamegon National Forest. One of the main attractions in Brookfield is the large brewery in which Hiram constructed his original brewery. The brewery is situated on the lake, and the beer is stored in it as it is made. The brewery has two small rooms set aside for tours. A large ice house, a replica of the one Hiram Storms had built, is visible near the center of town, on what was once the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad depot. # Four # ANOTHER PART OF CHICAGO In the late 19th century, when Milwaukee was still a distant dream for most people, this was where the wealthy moved to escape the cold winters of Wisconsin. To these families this was like moving to the South. In Milwaukee their houses were large and grand. In the northern area of what is now Illinois their houses were also large and grand. They brought lumber and furniture with them when they moved to Chicago, or they had it shipped down from Milwaukee. Their winter homes were also part of their new homes in Milwaukee, along with their farmland. They spent winters and summers there. Today the houses are gone and there is nothing left to indicate how wealthy people lived in this area. Most of the streets are named after presidents and statesmen, though the number of streets named after presidents has dwindled. Most of the houses, including the last private houses built in North Shore Park, are gone, as have most of the original trees along Lake Shore Drive. A few of the small towns in the area are also gone, though a few are still there, mostly consisting of residences, as these were the only part of the town left. Other nearby towns have also disappeared. Many of the places and events mentioned in the book are either gone or have changed greatly. However, much of the history that I have compiled here is a story of change, change for better and for worse. What remains is not perfect, but change rarely is. Some of the streets named after presidents. # CHAPTER 7 # BEER, AND OTHER STUFF If you look for them in the area, there is still some evidence of the people that built this area's history. In some cases, the structures and even signs on them are visible, but most of the places and people are gone. You will find no evidence of the families that called this area home, though the names and the places remain. There are also reminders of one of the first businesses in the area, and of the first great wave of settlers from the East. This is seen in the signs, statues, and museums located throughout the city. The names are familiar to most people. We remember them from school, public relations literature, television, and just life in general. They bring back memories of families, vacations and events of long ago. ### A Brewery in North Shore Park The old Bremen Brewing Company is a testament to beer making in Chicago, the industry, and its history. It was founded in 1898 by William Bremen, son of German immigrant beer makers Friedrich and Barbara Bremen. His son William, known as Bill, became president of the company. In 1936, after some years of indecision, he sold the business to the Pabst Brewing Company. An old sign from the original brewer. Today Pabst, which closed the brewery and sold the property, offers tours of the grounds that include an old barroom and the small, original brewery. The tour ends at a museum that displays a range of memorabilia from over a century of brewing. This is a good example of how some things never change. Pabst still makes beer in Wisconsin, outside the city, in West Allis. This is the result of Bill Bremen's decision to leave the old brewery to his son Fred and his cousin Harry Bremen and become a partner in the new company, though they are not involved in the actual brewing. This is the only Pabst brewery left in the country that has not been owned by a large company. The original brewery, seen here, opened in 1855. In the photograph below you can see the new Pabst brewery, just north of the city limits. Notice the change in the size and the location of the brewery since the old brewery was closed. While this has changed the buildings and the nature of the neighborhood, the small brewery is still in operation today. A look inside one of the older bars. Inside the museum at the Brewery in North Shore Park. ### Mouths of Babes, Near North Side The first church on the Near North Side of the city was St. Peter's Episcopal. This is where Bishop Morgan Dix built his residence when he came from Kentucky to be the first rector of the church. He gave his life to his work, in this case the Episcopal Church, which is still one of the largest in the country. As the area grew, so did the Church, and in 1857 a parish house was built on an elevated ground east of the original church. It still stands today. Another church, this one Roman Catholic, was built around the same time. It was located across from the main school of the nearby Notre Dame College. It was named St. Lawrence, after a patron saint of the fishing industry. It was later called St. Monica's Church, but it too had an interesting beginning. It was built by four nuns who came from Ireland in 1852 and stayed in Chicago after their convent burned. They founded the Church and school together. In 1870, Fathers Patrick Murphy and J.H. McKenzie, who were priests of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Milwaukee, assisted them and in 1871, opened the convent. The first Mass in the church was celebrated on Christmas Day of 1874. The first burial was that of one of the nuns, Mary. She was buried in the cemetery adjacent to the church. The nuns sold their home to the Sisters of St. Joseph, who in turn sold it to a local college. The Roman Catholic Church was established here in 1873. The school was discontinued in 1915, but the church continues to exist today as a private chapel. In 1929 the first post-office-beer brewery was built next to the church and this brewery was an important part of the Near North Side from the end of the 19th century through the early 1930s. Today this site has been converted into a parking lot for vehicles. ### Another Brewery on the Near North Side Another building, from a similar period, is a former tavern. It was built in 1910 and has since been converted into offices and retail space. In its day it was called the Lyman-Moore Tavern, named for the owners of the building and also the founder of the Union Brewing Company. Lyman was once a small-town merchant, as was Moore. This bar and restaurant was started by Joseph and John Lauber, local German immigrant brewers, who ran the place until 1924. Their sons, George and Edward, then took over until 1938, when the family sold their interest to Fred and John Hildebrand. They ran the business until 1960, when they died within a short period of time of one another. The business was sold to Harry C. Barth, an immigrant from Germany who was in the lumber business. He ran it for about seven years. Fred and Anna Bauersdorfer and their sons took over the business in 1959. The place was sold again in 1975 and finally closed in 1983. Many of the family-owned restaurants that once dotted the