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    Sec. 1156, Pg. 317 PROHIBITION on physician ownership or Investment. Gov tells doctors how much they can own. link #tcot

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Prohibition may have left its mark on subterranean Bay View
 
By Bobby Tanzilo RSS Feed Twitter Feed
Managing Editor

E-mail author | Author bio
More articles by Bobby Tanzilo

What is a blog?  For us it is a short blurb that we write when the mood strikes us.  It can be first person, funny or informative. In short, a blog is whatever we want it to be. Published Feb. 6, 2007 at 9:12 a.m.
Tags: gurda, groppi, prohibition, russell avenue, superior street, bennett farmhouse, three brothers, bay view

Having spent a lot of hours walking the streets of old Bay View -- that is, the tightly-packed byways that once huddled in the shadow of the old steel rolling mill near Russell and Superior -- I've often heard tell of a network of tunnels, false walls and secret doors in subterranean Bay View.

While I've seen at least one basement door that opens into a space beneath the sidewalk on Russell, it didn't tell me much. It did, however, feed my imagination. Sadly, one person I had hoped would give me some insight a few years ago passed away before I got the chance to ask.

This being bar month at OnMilwaukee.com, I got to thinking about it all again: the rum runners, the bath tub wine, the local grocers trafficking truckloads sugar up from Chicago on the sly to feed the hungry stills steaming away in Milwaukee basements. So, I asked Milwaukee's history -- and Bay View -- go-to guy.

"The only Prohibition-era tunnel I've heard about supposedly ran from the old Bennett farmhouse, which still looms over the 3200 block of Kinnickinnic Avenue, to a secret opening on the west side of the hill," John Gurda told me in an e-mail. "The story has never been confirmed, to my knowledge."

That's a bit outside the area I expected, but Gurda hinted that I might have been sniffing around the right parts of the neighborhood.

"My surmise is that you'd find the greatest concentration of bootleg-era 'improvements' in the area around Groppi's (Russell and Wentworth) and Three Brothers (St. Clair and Conway)."

As in any city, Milwaukee also built atop nature and what it couldn't erase, it controlled. In Bay View, such work resulted in another subterranean feature, Gurda noted.

"The most historic underground passage is probably the tunnel that carries Deer Creek the length of Delaware Avenue to Lake Michigan, exiting at the foot of Russell Avenue."

That exit point can be seen, just south of the Coast Guard station.

If you live in Bay View and have a Prohibition basement story or photos. Bring 'em on.

4 comments about this article.
Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by buster_1 on March 1, 2007 at 10:51 a.m. (report)

There are tunnels connecting all the various Catholic buildings; e.g. the old St. Mary's, the Motherhouse, the seminary. I've heard funny stories about the nuns "busting" late night dorm parties at St. Mary's via the tunnels. My son tells me there are tunnels all over downtown, connecting various bars and one that connects the Cathedral to somewhere unlikely; can't remember what. John Gurda referenced the Bennet Farmhouse on KK. I've always wondered about that house...can anyone give me a history lesson? Thanks!

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Posted by juliebird on Feb. 20, 2007 at 2:26 p.m. (report)

There is a home for sale on Woodward that has an almost 20 foot ceiling, a rounded ceiling, a finished room(1800s style with paneling, wood floor) a sealed exterior door and windows. You would never know about the basement from the outside. Really cool. Would love to know the history there. Almost surely was there alcohol being made there. Anyone know the history on that place?

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Posted by djzesta on Feb. 8, 2007 at 8:06 p.m. (report)

Ask some of the seasoned bartenders at Puddler's Hall about their tunnel in the basement.

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Posted by luigibasco on Feb. 6, 2007 at 3:12 p.m. (report)

Talk to Teri Regano at Regano's Roman Coin on Brady Street. She's told me several times about the tunnels that used to connect the four corner establishments which, I think, were all bars at one time.

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