Milwaukee Bridge War
Encyclopedia
The Milwaukee Bridge War, sometimes simply the Bridge War, was an 1845 conflict between different regions of what is now Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

 over the construction of a bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...

 crossing the Milwaukee River
Milwaukee River
The Milwaukee River is a river in the state of Wisconsin. It is about long.- Description :The river begins in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin and flows south past Grafton to downtown Milwaukee, where it empties into Lake Michigan...

.

By the 1840's, there had grown a great rivalry between Juneautown—east-side Milwaukee—and Kilbourntown—west-side Milwaukee—mostly due to the actions of Byron Kilbourn
Byron Kilbourn
Byron Kilbourn was an American surveyor, railroad executive, and politician who was an important figure in the founding of Milwaukee, Wisconsin....

, Kilbourntown's founder, who had been trying to isolate Juneautown to make it more dependent on Kilbourntown.

In 1840, the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature, finding the ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

system on the Milwaukee River to be "inadequate", ordered the construction of a bridge. Kilbourn and his supporters viewed the bridge as a threat to their plans. Furthermore, the two towns disputed over the funding for the bridge; ultimately, this led to Kilbourn destroying part of the bridge in 1845. Mobs formed on the east side of the river, but further violence was prevented for two more weeks when two smaller bridges were destroyed by men from Juneautown in an attempt to cut Kilbourntown off from the east side.

Eventually, skirmishes broke out between the inhabitants of the two towns; no one was killed, although several people were injured, some seriously.

It was in the aftermath of the Bridge War that Juneautown and Kilbourntown began making greater attempts at cooperation, ultimately resulting in, on January 31, 1846, their unification as the City of Milwaukee.
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