Glad You Asked: What's on top of Milwaukee City Hall?

 

Our viewer Dick, from Hartford, wrote in and asked:

"I've heard rumors that there's a museum or something pretty interesting on top of city hall. I'd like to know what's up there."

Dick, we're Glad You Asked!

We went to the top of Milwaukee City Hall with our chaperone, City Clerk Jim Owczarski.

"Well, we don't have a museum. We're hoping to have a historical display one day. We've worked on that. But, we do have a lot to see. We have the apartments that are below us. We have one of the most spectacular views of the heart of downtown Milwaukee right here, and one floor above us is the Solomon Juneau." said Owczarski from one of the open spaces in the bell tower. The Solomon Juneau is the name of the bell on top of the building.

A family actually lived in city hall, on the ninth floor. It was apartment 901A.

City hall wasn't electrified until 1920 and as a result, they had a bell ringer. An individual whose responsibility it was to toll the Solomon Juneau. And so he lived in those apartments." Owczarski said. "According to the history, which has been passed down to me, there was a family that lived there and even a child that was born right below where we're standing."

CBS 58 Morning Anchor Mike Curkov explored more of the top of Milwaukee City Hall in a recent CBS 58 Sunday Morning feature. You can watch that here.

Do you have a curious question you'd like answered on a future Glad You Asked segment? Ask Mike Curkov on Facebook, on Twitter or at [email protected].