A PreWar scrap yards: not in my back yard?

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Two photographs, both dated 1936 and taken in Milwaukee by photojournalist Carl Mydans, who was working for Life magazine at the time. They show scrapyards filled with old cars and parts, but what struck us as perhaps most remarkable is that these yards were located in such a suburban setting.

Do we know more about them? We do. The first photograph is clearly identified as having been taken at 1535 N. 10th Street in Milwaukee. We also discovered that this location no longer exists in its original form, having been cleared during the urban renewal projects connected to the construction of the interstate in the 1960s. Before that, the area was known as a German brewery neighborhood, with several breweries nearby, most of them founded by German immigrants. The exact location of the second photograph is described in slightly less detail, but is believed to have been “north and west of the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company.”

That is interesting. The owners of Schlitz, the Uihlein family, lived just around the corner in an almost neo-Gothic mansion, one that would not have looked out of place in The Addams Family. And at least one member of the Uihlein family was a passionate motoring enthusiast who even built his own racing Special. This was David Uihlein, “who restored many important racing cars, from Indy 500 winners to a sports car special bearing his name. He was also the founder of the Harry A. Miller Club.” Adding another layer to the story: his wife was the daughter of pioneering automaker and carburetor manufacturer George Holley.

So while these scrapyards may have seemed a blot on the landscape to the owners of nearby mansions such as the Uihleins’—the “not in my backyard” reflex clearly at play—they may just as well have been a convenient resource for David Uihlein when searching for parts for his Special.

Words: Jeroen Booij; picture: Carl Mydans / Library of Congress

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