Wander through a history of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, told largely through the letters and recollections of early residents of the village. Current residents can get a sense of what it was like to live in their community during its formative years, as it was becoming the sort of place where literally every house has a story. In addition to giving a voice to familiar landmarks and beloved local characters, the story of Whitefish Bay also provides prime seating for the drama of Wisconsin at large during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Join editor Thomas Fehring as he fishes out the fascinating history of this remarkable coastal town..

Incorporated in 1892, Whitefish Bay is a pleasant, verdant village that is home to more than fourteen thousand people. More than half of its five thousand houses and other structures have been deemed historic or architecturally important. Even casual passersby can attest to the architectural significance of these buildings, and while the personal history attached to them is less apparent, it is no less dramatic. Their walls retain the stories of their remarkable inhabitants, from the outhouse where the first village president disappeared in 1899 with $20,000 in public funds to the lakeside Beaux-Arts mansion built by a Schlitz Brewing Company heir with eight varieties of Italian marble. Jefferson J. Aikin and Thomas H. Fehring examine these landmark treasures and the legacy of the residents they help preserve.

Cream City Chronicles is a collection of lively stories about the people, the events, the landmarks, and the institutions that have made Milwaukee a unique American community. These stories represent the best of historian John Gurda’s popular Sunday columns that have appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel since 1994. Find yourself transported back to another time, when the village of Milwaukee was home to fur trappers and traders. Follow the development of Milwaukee’s distinctive neighborhoods, its rise as a port city and industrial center, and its changing political climate. From singing mayors to summer festivals, from blueblood weddings to bloody labor disturbances, the collection offers a generous sampling of tales that express the true character of a hometown metropolis.