Blast Furnace - Bay View

Edmund Lewandowski’s early work, much of it in watercolor, focused on nautical themes. However, there are some notable examples of industrial scenes along Milwaukee’s lakeshore, such as Gas Company, 1937, and this painting of the Bay View Rolling Mill (formally known as Milwaukee Iron Company’s North Chicago Rolling Mill). The Mill was opened in 1868 to accommodate the abundance of ore found in Dodge County (WI) as well as that from the Lake Superior area.

In 1886, the mill was the site of the Bay View Massacre, a major labor disturbance, with striking workers
demanding an 8-hour workday. Fourteen thousand workers from all trades descended on the Mill on May 3rd of that year. They were met by 250 members of the Wisconsin National Guard, sent by Republican
Governor Jeremiah Rusk to quell the disturbance. The next day, the guard was joined by the local Kosciuszko Militia. Orders were given that if any workers tried to enter the Mill, they would shoot to kill. These directives were passed down to a captain who instead ordered the soldiers to pick out a man and shoot when orders were given—as a display of their might. Early on the morning of May 5th, seven individuals, including a 13-year-old boy, perished when fired upon as they approached the scene. It was but the first in a long line of labor strikes across the country, culminating in the Homestead Strike of Pittsburgh in 1892, where another seven people lost their lives demonstrating for fair labor practices.
The mill closed in 1929 and all of its structures were demolished a decade later, but not before Lewandowski could capture the last vestiges of the once-thriving enterprise.