Murray Hill National history

The story of what would become Murray Hill dates back to 1815, when Robert Hutchinson was granted 150 acres along the St Johns River to establish a plantation.

By 1836, William McKay owned what had grown to become a 500 acre property called Magnolia Plantation.

In 1838, Jaudon and Peggy (enslaved by Jaudon) became charter members of Baptist denomination in Jacksonville.

In 1850, the plantation was acquired by Elias Jaudon.

Jaudon’s Magnolia Plantation was sold in 1871, becoming several truck farms during the late 19th century.

His industriousness and business skills eventually led him to land development and ownership of an area north of North Avenue known as ”Murray’s Addition”. There was an expansion to this northern area as the population in the City increased in the late 1880’s.

In 1884, a group of northern investors led by James Randall Challen of Cincinnati, OH, William Harksheimer and Union veteran Colonel John Talbott, acquired a portion of the old Jaudon Plantation.

The merger of Milwaukee College with Downer College in 1895 resulted in the formation of Milwaukee-Downer College and the purchase of 43 acres of nearby land.

By 1896, all unsold lots had been acquired by the Jacksonville Suburban Land Company, led by former Edgewood Association Trustee William B. Owen, A.B. Campbell, B.F. Manier Jr.

Edgewood’s fortunes changed as a result of the Great Fire of 1901.

In December 1906, the Jacksonville Suburban Land Company conveyed the northern portion of Edgewood to the Murray Hill Land Company led by Walter C. Brobston.

By the end of 1907, more than half of the development’s lots had been sold for $1,500 each.

The now historic Mitchell Hall on Downer Avenue and Kenwood Blvd. became the campus center in 1909.

The continuous vibrancy of the district is reflected in the Downer Theatre that was built in 1915 and today is the longest continuously running theatre in Milwaukee.

In 1916, Murray Hill was incorporated as its own town with Hugh Lauder serving as its first mayor.

Students were taught in four barracks on Maryland and Hartford Avenues until their main building was completed in 1919.

The Wisconsin State legislature established UW-Milwaukee in 1956 to meet the demand for higher education in Southeastern Wisconsin.

Digging into the past, reveals forgotten neighborhood history. For example, how many people know that Gary Rossington, a founding member of Southern Rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, grew up on Stimson Street or that serial killer Ottis Toole burned down his mother’s house at 708 Day Street following her death in 1981.

With the merger of Columbia Hospital with St Mary Hospital in 2010, the hospital facility has moved nearby to Lake Drive and still serves the neighborhood.

The University, since its first year enrollment of 5,159 students, has developed into a large urban public university with a variety of Ph.D., masters and undergraduate programs and an enrollment in 2012 of 30,502.

Ranked among the top 1% of all realtors nationwide in 2013 in NRT