Milwaukee Slogans
If you enjoyed reading Monday’s Green Sheet article about past Milwaukee slogans and nicknames, we dug up some more from our staff reference files. Some are well-known and others are long forgotten. Here’s a look at them in chronological order.
During the mid-1800s, six local kilns produced a pale yellow brick. It was used for more than buildings here but was also sold in the Great Lakes region, thus giving Milwaukee its first nickname of Cream City.
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed many of the Windy City’s breweries. The Cream City’s booming brewing industry seized the opportunity to quench the Second City’s thirst for beer. Pabst soon catapulted into becoming the country’s largest brewer and our city became famous as the Beer Capital of the World.
The growth of the machinery industry in the late-1800s, exemplified by E.P. Allis Reliance Works (Allis-Chalmers), Harnischfeger, Nordberg, Allen-Bradley, Falk and many more built Milwaukee’s reputation as the Machine Shop of the World.
During the Roaring '20s, Milwaukee’s business community coined the phrase Make Milwaukee Mightier to broadcast our industrial might. The City of Milwaukee followed suit with a book, Making Milwaukee Mightier, touting its 1922-1932 annexation campaign that almost doubled its land area from 26 to 44 square miles for economic growth and residential development.
A short-lived mid-1960s slogan attempt was Milwaukee is Great for Living and Growing Greater, which was used in the Milwaukee Public Museum’s 1965 annual report and a “Great for Improvements” letter to the editor in The Milwaukee Journal.
The Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau registered a trademark for World of Fun, Old World Charm, New World Vigor in 1968 that inspired B. Hasting’s 1973 Old World Charm, New World Vigor aerial cartoon poster of our hometown.
The Convention & Visitors Bureau teamed up with Milwaukee County and the Metropolitan Association of Commerce for a Milwaukee - The Well Kept Secret promotional campaign and film in 1978.
The Milwaukee Ad Club rolled out Milwaukee Builds Winners to boost civic pride in 1983 after the loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs during the 1981-1982 recession and deindustrialization.
A year later, Newspapers Inc. (The Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Sentinel) came up with Milwaukee - Wish You Were Here!, aimed at national advertisers to open their wallets for newspaper advertising.
Stay tuned for the mystery of Milwaukee Feeds and Supplies the World.
Daniel Striped Tiger @ Central
(Dan, Local History Librarian)