1950s and '60s

Image 1
A Milwaukee neighborhood watches nervously on a Friday afternoon in July 1955 as police and fire rescuers try to free tile layer John Respondek from a 16-foot deep ditch at 5817 N. 68th St. Respondek was working in the ditch when the walls caved in, burying him to the waist. Three firefighters were lowered headfirst into the ditch so they could clear dirt away from Respondek.

Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Negative No. WhiCF 595 1
Image 2
A woodworker found himself in a tight spot on Oct. 10, 1953, as he inspected the wood structural framing beneath St. Raphael's Cathedral in Madison. The hand-hewn timber had been in place under the cathedral since 1853.

Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Negative No. WhiM99394
Image 3
Turning back the clock. Even history can be altered as construction crews from 20th Century Fox converge on Saxon and nearby Mellen in September and October 1961 to recreate a 1916 set for a new movie. The film, "Adventures of a Young Man," was based on short stories written by Ernest Hemingway and depicted the author's youth in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The film crew chose Wisconsin locations, with altered names, because the towns offered better adaptability.

Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Negative No. WhiPH 2476
Image 4
Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Negative No. WhiPH 2476
Image 5
Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Negative No. WhiPH 2476
Image 6
Officials and children from the Baird Child Care Center in Milwaukee watch construction crews build a new home for the center in October 1957. The Matthew Keenan Memorial Building was built at 2210 W. Beecher St., Milwaukee.

Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Negative No. WhiPH 1000
Image 7
Every project deserves a proper kick off, and that's just what dozens of members of the Mount Carmel Lutheran congregation accomplished in April 1957. The group, dominated by children of the congregation, lends a helping hand pulling an old plow to break ground for a new church near 8430 W. Center St.

Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Negative No. WhiPH 1000
Image 8
The collapse of this 95-foot coal chute on the Northwestern Railroad in Kaukauna might not have seemed significant on this Sunday in 1957, but it marked yet another advancement in American transportation. Demolition crews removed the supports for the chute, built in the early 1890s, because it just wasn't necessary anymore as diesel was quickly replacing coal as fuel for locomotives.

Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Negative No. WhiPH 1000
Image 9
J.H. Findorff & Son does its part to keep the city of Madison thriving, or, in this case, healthy with the 1950 construction of the University of Wisconsin Hospital.

Photo courtesy of J.H. Findorff & Son Inc.

 

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