Browse Items (22 total)

In 1994, brewing returned to Fox Head in the form of a micro-brewery. A group of brewing enthusiasts was searching for a spot to produce their own beer, and stumbled upon the aging Fox Head facility on Maple Ave.

They were impressed with the old…

Although the sign has 100 slots for names, there were only 66 rooms. Each slot has a number covered in plastic with slips of white or pink paper with names written on them. The Avalon Hotel at 222 Park Place, was a community interest project for…

New construction and redevelopment have reshaped the city of Waukesha in the last fifty years. Local developers, engineers, and architects have led many of the projects, in both commercial and residential building. Significant among them are the two…

This large plate studio camera was used for portrait sessions in the O’Brien Photography Studio. Missing is the lens housing, and the photographer's hood or cape at the back. The table support provides the adjustments for height and angle for the…

This sign, when electrified, was lit from within and featured a tube of liquid that appeared to “flow” within the amber beer bottle. Also notable is the brewery’s “W” logo.
The “W” logo honored both the family behind the beer, and the city it…

Although collectors items today, back-lit signs like this one were often free merchandising to bars and taverns from distributors. The Fox Head Brewing Company of Waukesha (1893 - 1962) is best recognized by its logo, as seen in this stein. Nicknamed…

“Everyone (was) at Goff’s,” recalled one Waukesha resident in the early 1990’s, “it was a Waukesha institution.” The Goff family fed residents and visitors to Waukesha for generations,
Opened as the Ideal Restaurant in the mid-1890’s by Chester…

These original drawings by Armand Hans Delzer are frequently seen on office walls throughout the city. The man behind the drawings, Hans Delzer, co-founded the city’s first lithographic printing business, Delzer-Marlow, in 1949 after a conversation…

The history of Waukesha cannot be told without a mention of Colonel Dunbar and his discovery and promotion of Bethesda Spring. Believing that the waters from the spring cured his diabetes, Dunbar and his wife Catherine formed the company that…

Plowshare, a fair trade shop, first opened in 1990 and has become a fixture of the downtown shopping corridor. The shop provides a marketplace for Waukeshonians to connect with global artisans. Plowshare works through the Fair Trade Federation to…