Two of the 19th century Gettelman Brewery buildings in the small but historic complex at 4400 W. State St. are now gone, fallen to the wrecking ball, but the Schweichart/Gettelman farmhouse remains standing.
And now, MillerCoors, which owns the site, says it’s reversing its plan to move the building to across the street. The brewer had planned to move the farmhouse, built in 1856, to a spot adjacent to its Visitors Center parking lot this month.
"It’s staying where it is," said MillerCoors Manager of Media Relations Marty Maloney in an email late Thursday. "While we previously planned to move the Schweichart/Gettelman farmhouse to a different location on campus, it has ultimately been decided that the building can remain in its original location.
"This decision, which has been shared with Historic Preservation Commission staff and city officials, was made after additional study by brewery and project leaders."
(PHOTO: City of Milwaukee)
Miller bought Gettelman Brewing in 1961 and ran it for another nine years. The former brewery buildings housed offices until the 1990s. There's more about the history here.
The farmhouse received permanent historic designation by the Common Council in May 2017 after having first gotten emergency temporary designation a month earlier.
A few months later, the council approved plans to raze part of the complex.
Maloney says the building will remain in place and will be renovated.
"The exterior of the farmhouse will also be renovated to include new windows, doors and the addition of a porch, and a grass buffer zone will be established around the building," he said.
Maloney confirmed that the 19th century lagering caves — which had been among the city’s oldest surviving examples — at the site have been demolished.
"Those caves were positioned under parts of buildings that were demolished, so they had to be removed as well," he said.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
