The Bridge War and the City That Refused to Line Up

Three men founded Milwaukee and they hated each other.

Solomon Juneau, a French Canadian fur trader, built his trading post on the east bank of the Milwaukee River beginning in eighteen eighteen. Byron Kilbourn established his competing settlement on the west bank in eighteen thirty-four. George Walker planted his claim south of the Menomonee River around the same time. Each man platted his land into lots, named his streets, and promoted his settlement as the real Milwaukee.

The problem was the rivers. To connect the settlements, bridges had to be built. Each bridge represented economic power for whichever side it favored. Kilbourn, in particular, worked systematically to undermine Juneau's position, and he made sure that when the streets were laid out on the west side, they did not align with the streets on the east side. If bridges were built, they would have to run at an angle, which would be inconvenient for east-side commerce. This was intentional.

The conflict came to a head in eighteen forty-five in what Milwaukee historians call the Bridge War. West-siders tore down the western half of a bridge that Juneau's faction had built. East-siders mustered in response. Someone on the east bank rolled out an old cannon loaded with clock weights and aimed it at Kilbourn's house. The firing party held when they learned that Kilbourn's young daughter had just died. A temporary truce followed. More bridges were torn down before it was over.

No one was killed. On January thirty-first, eighteen forty-six, all three settlements incorporated as the City of Milwaukee, with Juneau elected as first mayor. Kilbourn served on the Common Council.

You can still see the Bridge War in the downtown bridges, which cross the Milwaukee River at angles that make no sense until you know that the streets on each side were drawn by men who refused to cooperate.