You’ve heard of Cream City brick, but how about Wauwatosa dolostone, crossville sandstone, or Larvikite monzonite? While not receiving the same notoriety as Cream City bricks, these stone types are found in Milwaukee buildings.
Raymond Wiggers is a geologist, science writer and author of the new book Milwaukee in Stone and Clay, which chronicles dozens of different types of rocks that buildings in our city are made of and how they got here.
Wiggers grew up halfway between Milwaukee and Chicago and spent a lot of time in both cities. After 20 years of teaching college, he entered into the space of geological writing. This book is the second in a series detailing the bricks and rocks from buildings across Wisconsin and Illinois.
Once he began the fieldwork here in the city, Wiggers quickly discovered the architectural excellence that Milwaukee has to offer. "I just fell madly in love with Milwaukee. It is such a wonderful city for any geologist to spend years in and just study the different geologic materials in it. And also the architectural history is amazing. People just don't realize outside of Milwaukee," he says. "A lot of people in Milwaukee are very proud of and very cognizant of the great historical tradition we have with Milwaukee architecture. But it doesn't get enough attention outside."
He continues, "When you get on the ground, as you say in Milwaukee, the architecture is fabulous. It's world-class, and you have it in just a short span. Just walking down the street, you can see all the great American architectural styles and very high-quality versions of them."
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