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Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center

Author: James Marten
Photograph of the historic main building of Milwaukee's National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, built in 1869.
The Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center is the direct descendant of the Northwestern Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS), established by Congress in 1865 to care for Union soldiers who had suffered disabling wounds or illnesses due to their service in the Civil War. The home was funded partly by… Read More

Cryptosporidium

Author: Michael Pulido
In the spring of 1993, approximately 400,000 people fell victim to what Milwaukeeans have since referred to as “Crypto.” At least sixty-nine people—mostly people suffering from AIDS—died in this Cryptosporidium outbreak, which would become country’s largest waterborne disease epidemic on record. These numbers do not include those who visited Milwaukee and drank the water before… Read More

Johnston Emergency Hospital

Author: Michael Pulido
Photograph of the entrance of Johnston Emergency Hospital. This building was used from 1894 until 1931, when the hospital moved to a new location on the south side of Milwaukee.
Johnston Emergency Hospital, established by the city of Milwaukee, opened in its permanent location on the corner of Third and Sycamore (now Michigan) Street in 1894. It provided emergency medical care in a twenty-four-bed facility. The hospital earned a place in history on October 14, 1912, when a would-be assassin shot presidential candidate Teddy Roosevelt… Read More

Mount Sinai Hospital

Author: Michele Radi
Postcard created between 1907 and 1930 featuring Mount Sinai Hospital in Milwaukee.
The only Wisconsin Jewish hospital opened in Milwaukee in June 1903. It was founded as a nonsectarian hospital at a time when most private religious hospitals established hospitals for their religious communities. Although the Jewish community in Milwaukee opened the hospital to treat the large Jewish immigrant population, many of whom arrived with very little… Read More

Sexual Health

Author: Matthew J. Prigge
In 1916 Milwaukee Health Department inspectors posted this notice in factory toilets and public toilets to offer “advice” on treating or avoiding sexually transmitted diseases.
The World Health Organization defines sexual health as “a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality” and emphasizes “it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity.” In the context of Milwaukee’s history, the main focus of policies and practices surrounding sexual health, however, concerns the prevention and… Read More

Wisconsin Soldiers’ Aid Fair

Author: Karen Kehoe
Photograph of the wooden building constructed for the Wisconsin Soldiers' Aid Fair held in 1865.
Milwaukee was buzzing with activity in late June and July of 1865, as the month-long fair to raise money for the local soldiers’ home packed Main Street with crowds of fairgoers. The event was an extension of work undertaken early in the Civil War by women from the west side of the Milwaukee River who… Read More