Browse Items (99 total)

Produced during Mayor Paul Vrakas’s second tenure, this map provides a whimsical look at the city. It does not accurately represent roads, scale, or relative distance. Instead it documents the city in a late 20th century pop-art caricature style.…

Waukesha public and private high schools have experienced outstanding success in sports competitions. Boys and girls teams have participated in an astounding number of state championships. Each championship was celebrated in different ways through…

The Waukesha Civic Theatre (WCT) has a long and colorful history. Irvin Ware contacted local actors including Harold Brierton, Bill Broomall, Mickey Elger, and Conne Smith. When a board of directors was formed in the summer of 1957, the Waukesha…

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…

Kerri Vitale wore this uniform and joined the ranks of thousands of young girls across the world when she joined her local girl scout troop. According to a 1962 report, the city of Waukesha was home to 1,019 Scouts who formed some 66 troops in…

“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…

The license plates displayed here represent a century of automobiles in the city. The earliest from 1912 was the first plate on Chester Wilson’s 1911 Model T Torpedo Roadster. At the time only one plate was required of motorists. Recognizing the need…

The Waukesha Aviation Club - Wisconsin’s First flying club - held its first meeting at the Avalon Hotel in the fall of 1930. About 15 people showed up to hear the Racine airport manager speak and see the aerial motion photographs taken by Warren…