The Milwaukee Iron Company Rolled
Its First Rail in 1868.

The United States was intent on expanding its borders from coast to coast. Trains were crucial, both to transport settlers to the West and to move lumber to build new cities. The Transcontinental railroad was under construction and when completed in May 1869 it replaced a long and perilous trek in a covered wagon with a train ride of about a week.

Seeing an opportunity, the investors in the Milwaukee Iron Company built a rolling mill just south of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1868. The iron and steel works at first re-rolled old rails, later adding a blasting furnace to smelt ore to manufacture new track. It was soon manufacturing and re-rolling 45,000 tons of rail a year. As a result of the industry's explosive growth, the mill became the second largest of its type in the nation. And the fortunes of the community of Bay View were intertwined with those of the mill.