Yellowstone National Park 1912

Yellowstone National Park, famous for its hot springs and geysers.

Memorial Day Motorcycle Races

Every Memorial Day, thousands of motorcyclists came to Cedarburg for the annual dirt track races at Firemen's Park. Due to problem with some of the "bikers' the races were discontinued in 1966. The Fire Department then started the Maxwell Street events that are now held four times each year.

Wirth’s Department Store, Ozaukee County

Wirth’s Department Store was said to be the largest department store in Ozaukee County. This building was erected in 1870 and a large addition was built in about 1948. The store was operated by the third generation of the Wirth family. Village Furniture now occupies this building.

Besides shoes, dry goods and groceries, Wirth’s Department Store also sold appliances and farm implements. Edgar Wirth was in charge of the service department and is pictured at the left of other department employees.

The Interurban Station

The Interurban Railroad provided passenger service between Port Washington and Milwaukee for over 40 years.  The station on Center Street became the Colonial Photography Studio after service was discontinued and functioned as such until recently.

The Interurban ran along the western edge of Cedarburg until 1948. The first major subdivision, Westlawn, was built in the field to the right in 1953 and 1954.

The Interurban provided a popular method of traveling to and from Milwaukee. Trains composed of one, two or three cars were used, depending upon the number of passengers expected. Even so, some riders occasionally had to stand, as shown in this photograph taken on one of the train’s last trips before service was discontinued on March 31, 1948.

Washington Avenue, Cedarburg in 1940s

At the time this photograph was taken, every other store along this segment of Washington Avenue was a hardware store. A Studebaker automobile/Ford Tractor dealership occupied the building between two of the hardware stores. This building later became the City Hall and is now the Washington Avenue Shoppes.

The view from the steeple of St. Francis Borgia church looking north along Washington Avenue has not changed significantly over the years, as attested by the similarity between this image and a photograph from the early 1940’s in the Edward A. Rappold Collection.

Washington Avenue north of the Columbia Road intersection has also remained relatively unchanged from the 1940s to the present. Here, only the style of the automobiles parked along either side of the street suggests the date of the photograph.

Washington Avenue north of Mill Street had a slightly different look in the 1940s and 1950s than it does today, however, Pate gasoline was then sold at Rick Chevrolet, located on the northwest corner of the intersection.  Pate gasoline is no longer available, and Rick Chevrolet has since become Newman Chevrolet and is located just north of Cedarburg.

[Source: Cedarburg 1946-1964 Photographs]

Marie-Claire (1937-38)

Big snow struck in 1946

During this blizzard, plows buried some cars in front of the old Post Office and Mueller's Barber Shop. At another time, a grader was used to plow snow on Washington Avenue at Spring Street.