When you find this cache you will be standing across the street from one of the oldest buildings on the south side of Milwaukee. In 1849 Frederick Layton and his father John purchased the farmland north of the Forest Home Cemetery and built a three-story brick building. It was constructed for the purpose of a home as well as a hotel for paying guests traveling the Janesville-Milwaukee Plank Road (now Forest Home Avenue). The Layton House Inn was a popular choice for farmers transporting wheat and visitors riding the stage coaches. “The roads were in such frightful condition that farmers and other travelers welcomed the opportunity to stay overnight, waiting for daylight to continue on the last leg of their journey to Milwaukee” (then just a small city where central downtown stands today). For just $1 you could get lodging, a supper, morning breakfast, feed and bedding for your horses, a cigar and a shot of whiskey.
Frederick also ran a meat market with his father, and later went into partnership with John Plankinton to package beef and pork. Layton became widely known for his generous philanthropy. An avid art collector, he buildt and then later donated the Layton Art Gallery and most of his vast collection to the City of Milwaukee. Frederick Layton died in 1919 and is buried in Forest Home Cemetery.
Another history of MIlwaukee by Marshall, The Closet Historian
Image: Wisconsin Historical Society