A Vivid Photographic History of Wauwatosa
The forced migration of Indians from their homelands east of the Mississippi opened up territory for settlement in Wisconsin in the 1830s. A few white settlers were attracted to the forested banks of the Menomonee River where it dropped on its way to meet the Milwaukee River.
Here New Yorker Charles Hart built a grist mill in 1835, and then a sawmill soon after, and called it Hart’s Mills. More Yankees followed, and–the area becoming more than mills–the village they formed was named Wauwatosa, possibly a token to the Ojibwe they displaced, whose word “wauwautasi” meant firefly.
In the next decades, the population grew with the addition of more immigrants–German, Irish, Latvian–the craftsmen and laborers who moulded the houses, schools, shops and churches into a brisk village. Images of America: Wauwatosa is rich with images of the settlement of the city, and the progress that those settlers made possible.
Please consider purchasing Images of America: Wauawtosa directly through the Wauwatosa Historical Society in order that we may realize the maximum profit from our efforts. Funds are used for ongoing education and preservation efforts within the Wauwatosa community.
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