Transportation, City Building, and Financial Crisis:Milwaukee, 1852-1868
Abstract
TRANSPORTATION, CITY BUILDING, AND FINANCIAL CRISIS Milwaukee, 1852-1868 DOUGLAS E. BOOTH Marquette University The 1850s was perhaps one of the most interesting and dramatic periods in the history of Milwaukee's municipal finances. Mil- waukee was on the leading edge of the mid-century boom in westward expansion. Speculator-promoters held economic and political sway over the city's development and encouraged the city to lend its credit to railroads and undertake large expenditures on harbor development and other municipal improvements. These measures were perceived as necessary for Milwaukee to achieve success against its rivals in a competitive struggle against Great Lakes cities for dominance of the region's agricultural and whole- sale goods trade. In different historical epochs, cities face different barriers to capital accumulation. ' In the commercial era in this country, the critical barrier to overcome was inadequate transportation. Cities that successfully developed efficient transportation linkages to their local hinterlands as well as distant markets prospered, while those that failed to do so faced economic stagnation.2 Govern- ment institutions, including Milwaukee city government in the 1850s, often played an important role in providing such prerequi- sites for economic development. JOURNAL OF URBAN HISTORY, Vol. 9 No. 3, May 1983 335-363