Wildenberg
redevelop a site that has long been part of Milwaukee’s history.
The Cream City brick Wildenberg building was originally constructed as a home for Jacob Nunnemacher, who immigrated to Milwaukee from Switzerland in 1843 — three years before the city was incorporated. Nunnemacher, a butcher, operated a public market meat stall and used the profits to buy real estate. That included a farm on what was then known as Kilbourn Road, in the Town of Lake, where he raised beef cattle and opened a distillery.
The Italianate mansion, Nunnemacher’s home, was built in 1854. The building was sold after Nunnemacher’s death, in 1876, and it later became the Evergreen Hotel, which included a campground.
It was sold in 1947 to Ed Wildenberg, who replaced the campsites with mobile homes. The hotel eventually became a rooming house, with a tavern that served as a community center for Wildenberg’s tenants.
The city acquired the Wildenberg property through property tax foreclosure in 2013. The mobile home court closed in 2014, and the dilapidated mobile homes were demolished in 2015.
The Department of City Development has marketed the Wildenberg site for sale, with a listing price of $400,000.
Along with the historic 4,400square-foot building, the property includes a parcel of nearly 2 acres.