Widely considered to be one of the most haunted hotels in Milwaukee’s Juneau Town neighborhood, the Hilton Garden Inn has undergone several transformations and rebrandings to become what it is today: a landmark of grandiose architecture, design, and elegance.
But behind this idyllic facade lies a gruesome history that dates back to the mid-19th century, a history that cannot be hidden behind a few layers of fresh paint. Join Brew City Ghosts and travel back in time to a dark era in Milwaukee’s history while learning about the not-so-secret horrors and real-life tragedies that plague this seemingly cursed site.
QUICK FACTS:
- The Loyalty Building was originally constructed in 1886 by architect S.S. Beman
- It was built as the home office of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company
- In 2012, the Loyalty Building was transformed into the Hilton Garden Inn, as seen today
BEER, IRON, AND GRAIN PRODUCTION BRING IMMIGRANTS TO MILWAUKEE
Milwaukee is Wisconsin’s most populous city today, but it wasn’t always that way. Before industrialization came to the central United States, what’s known as current-day Wisconsin remained relatively uninhabited. Fur trading was an especially lucrative industry around the Great Lakes in the 1700s, but the city wasn’t officially founded until 1846.
Thanks to its position on Lake Michigan, Milwaukee had the potential to become a significant port city for shipping and transporting goods throughout the region—which it did, thanks to its biggest, drinkable export.
Milwaukee wouldn’t become a “boom town” until the 1840s when hundreds of German immigrants headed west to the new state of Wisconsin after they were forced to flee their home country after facing religious and political persecution. With this new wave of German immigrants came the start of a particularly German industry in Milwaukee: beer.
The Germans wasted no time in setting up breweries after they arrived, thus establishing companies such as Pabst, Miller, Schlitz, and Blatz. This came to define Milwaukee, making the city synonymous with beer. By 1856, there were more than two dozen breweries in town, making it one of the most profitable industries next to iron, steel, and grain. With more money pouring into this once-quiet town, Milwaukee had to grow, creating homes, businesses, and hotels.
THE NEWHALL HOUSE TRAGEDY
Long before it was the Hilton Garden Inn, a devastating catastrophe rocked 611 North Broadway, then known as the Newhall House. A prominent hotel in the heart of downtown Milwaukee, the Newhall House was built by merchant Daniel Newhall in 1856 as one of the nation’s most magnificent premier hotels. At the time of its construction, it was among the tallest buildings in the country, with 300 rooms and towering six stories high.
However, its luxurious status proved to be the very same thing that brought about its downfall. The hotel faced financial turmoil within its first few years of business, leaving Daniel Newhall tens of thousands of dollars in debt. It closed and re-opened several times but continued to draw guests until its sudden and shocking destruction.
On January 10, 1883, hundreds of Milwaukee residents and visitors would be forever changed after a deadly fire broke out at the Newhall House. There were roughly 180 staff and guests in the house on that fateful night when a fire started at the base of the hotel’s elevator shaft. The flames spread at an alarming speed, with firefighter Sam McDowell recalling the incident: “The building was like a flaming straw stack. Men and women could be seen at their windows, shouting for help, screaming in despair.”
Strangely, hotel employees neglected to call the fire department until 15 minutes after the flames began spreading, leaving slumbering guests completely unaware of the impending danger. Sadly, the result was a long-lasting blaze that left 75 dead, with many of those lives lost being people leaping from their room windows in desperation. This shocking event left an irreversible legacy of pain, suffering, and death on this site, leaving a dark energy that can still be felt and experienced to this day— no matter how many times the building changes its name.