By Jeff Sherman OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writer Published Dec 09, 2013 at 1:23 PM

On the day after a snow fall, this is a fitting blog.   

Did you know that Milwaukee was the first city to embrace the modern day snow plow?

Thanks to former East Town Association and Wisconsin State Fair director, Randy Prasse, for sharing this Mental Floss item with me. 

Writes Matt Soniak, "by the mid 1800s, several different inventors had patented their own versions of a horse-drawn snow plow meant for clearing alleys and residential streets that saw more foot traffic than carriages. In 1862, Milwaukee became the first major municipality to try one out, and it was a hit. Over the next few years, the plows hit the streets in cities throughout the Snow Belt."

Wikipedia says the first modern snow plow "ever built specifically for use with motor equipment was in 1913. It was manufactured by Good Roads Machinery in Kennett Square PA. and was designed to meet the exacting requirements outlined by engineers of the New York City Street Cleaning Bureau."

There's lot of cool stuff about snow removal here, so dive in and drive safely, Milwaukee.


Jeff Sherman OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writer

A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.

He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.

Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.  He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.  

He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.

He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.