Note: The small roads showing on the map off 27th Street no longer exist.
When you sign this log look around. Imagine you are back in the 1800’s. This is a time when 27th Street was the only dirt road around and was called Kilbourn Road and you are standing in the far Southern suburbs about five miles from the small town of Milwaukee. The building you see towards the street was built by Jacob Nunnemacher, a Swiss born butcher who came to Milwaukee when he was just 23 (in 1842). In the early years (1855) he ran the Kinnickinnic distillery on this site, and the following year (1856) he built his home here. The building still stands today and is one of the oldest buildings in the metro Milwaukee area.
The buildings changed hands many times following Nunnemacher’s death in 1876. Once the distillery came down a series of cabins were built behind the main building and the Evergreen Camp on Highway 41 started. In 1954 Edward Wildenberg bought the motel and the cabins were removed. A trailer park sprang up in their place and rooms were also rented in the main building. In 2013 (157 years after it was built) the city took over the site and condemned the trailer homes. The field has been cleared and the main building stands vacant waiting for the next chapter to be written. Enjoy this bit of history. -The closet historian (Marshall)
For more information visit: http://onmilwaukee.com/buzz/articles/nunnemacherspelunking.html
