The Court of Honor is a series of statues, most honoring military figures, that line the median strip in West Wisconsin Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets. But, while the name is well suited to public art that pays tribute to American veterans, that’s not where the name comes from.

Instead, the collection of sculpture became known as the Court of Honor because it was the site of the annual crowning of the Rex (or king) of the Milwaukee Midsummer Carnival Festival, which began in 1898 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Wisconsin’s birth as a state.

The carnival only endured for four years, but it must have been a fun event, because it drew visitors from across the state. And Rex, by the way, was no solemn figure. No, Rex was the "Ruler of the Kingdom of Pleasure."

So, in a sense you can say that the Court of Honor is something of a remnant of an early predecessor to Summerfest.

The festival was the idea of Mayor David Rose, whose nickname "all the time Rosy" derived from his inclination to let the city revel in fun of all kinds.

Each year, for the carnival, the association that organized the week-long event would build temporary classical wood and plaster colonnades. Two years in, it commissioned architect Alfred Clas to design a Corinthian column – the Midsummer Carnival Shaft – that would be constructed of Bedford limestone to serve as a permanent centerpiece for the event.

The 65-foot column, atop a limestone base – with a time capsule buried beneath it – was dedicated on June 26, 1900 and was decorated with lights. A metal eagle was perched atop the ball that caps the column, but it was removed in 1942 for fear that it would topple down and cause injury. The eagle's whereabouts are, apparently, an ongoing mystery.

The bird was a nod to some of the decorations on the facade of the library across the street that Ferry & Clas also designed. The same firm also designed the St. James Court apartments that opened in 1903 facing the Court of Honor and Clas lived in a first floor apartment there for a while.

The city’s annual holiday tree celebration also used to take place in the Court of Honor, but that has long since moved east, to Red Arrow Park, and now the Court of Honor – which hasn’t changed much in the past half century of more – is a pretty quiet place, except for the whoosh of traffic zipping past.

Clas’ towering column isn’t the only sculpture in the court.

The oldest is sculptor Richard Henry Park’s statue of George Washington, which faces due east, looking down Wisconsin Avenue toward Lake Michigan.

The 10-6 tall bronze Washington stands atop a 13-6 granite base perched atop four granite stairs. On the top two stairs is a pair of life-sized bronze sculptures depicting a woman – perhaps a mother or a teacher – pointing out the Washington statue to a young boy, who holds a book.

Those figures were suggested by Elizabeth Plankinton who donated the statue to the city in 1885. It was the city’s first civic monument and its unveiling drew a crowd in the thousands.

The front of the pedestal bears Washington’s surname in bold capital letters. On the reverse are the words: "The gift of Elizabeth A. Plankinton to the City of Milwaukee 1885." The statue includes Park’s signature and the phrase "F. Galli Fusero."

Park had a studio in Florence, Italy, which explains the reference to Florence-based firm Fratelli Galli Fusero, which also cast monuments that still stand in Denver and Newport, R.I.

When Clas’ monument was added John Severino Conway’s "The Victorious Charge" had already been in place for two years.

The evocative Civil War monument shows a quartet of soldiers, three upright and one who has fallen. Beneath this scene, on the pedestal, are etched the words: "To those who fought in the war for the union. 1861-1865. Erected 1898."

Conway has signed the work, which also bears the name of the studio that did the casting: Fond. Crescenzi, Roma.

"The Victorious Charge" was initially funded by Alexander Mitchell, in front of whose house is was erected, but he died before a design was chosen and his son, Sen. John Mitchell, took up the cause. When the 1893 depression caused Mitchell to rescind his commitment, Lydia Ely – who had been involved in raising money to fund the Soldier’s Home in Milwaukee – stepped in, vowing to raise the $30,000 required to make "The Victorious Charge" a reality.

One of the means she used was to send off thousands of slips of paper to famous and notable people of all stripes, all across the globe, asking for signatures. More than 2,000 slips of paper came back, from nearly every member of the executive branch, including President McKinley, dozens of famous authors and artists and musicians, many of whom wrote bars of music, drew sketches and offered quotations.

The slips were pasted into an enormous book that was purchased for $800 by Capt. Frederick Pabst to complete Ely’s commitment to gather the money for the statue. That book is on view in the Krug Rare Books Room at the Milwaukee Public Library.

The last monument to be erected was the "Spanish-American War Soldier," popularly believed to be the work of German-born sculptor Ferdinand Koenig.

This more than 7-foot-tall bronze soldier stands atop a tiered granite pedestal. One of the tiers is rusticated. After nearly a decade of fundraising, it was dedicated on Aug. 21, 1932 during an encampment in Milwaukee of the Veterans of the Spanish-American War.

The base bears the shield of the Veterans of the Spanish-American War and the words: "To those who served in the war with Spain 1898-1902."

Though no monuments have been erected since in the Court of Honor, there is a small stone on the ground near this sculpture that bears an oxidized bronze plaque that reads, "Lest We Forget. Service Star Legion Milwaukee Chapter."