About her father, Franz Joseph Uhrig:

Uhrig (? – July 2, 1874) was said to have been a river raftsman in his native Bavaria and continued in this occupation on the Susquehanna River when he settled in Baltimore, Maryland in 1836. Uhrig eventually operated a packet board "Pearl" on the Ohio River between St. Louis and Louisville. When a debt of $1,500 was repaid t him with a brewery instead of cash, Uhrig took on this new challenge and began producing beer in St. Louis. He began making trips to Milwaukee Allegedly to buy barley, but may have had relatives here as well. Another Uhrig family was settled in Milwaukee by the 1850's and may have been related. Uhrig's wife, Walburga, was related to the Uihlein family and may have also been related to August Krug, who founded in the late 1940's what would become Schlitz Brewery. We know that Krug was the Uihleins' maternal uncle and we know that as the various Uihlein brothers began emigrating to the United States in the 1850's and 1860's they spent time working at Uhrig's brewery before joining the Jos. Schlitz Brewery in 1971, which they later acquired. Franz Joseph Uhrig purchased his 9-acre tract in what was then the Town of Wauwatosa for $1,550 in 1853. He subsequently added a strip of land approximately 377 by 275 feet in dimension to the east of his estate purchased from Frederica and Charles J. Kern for $1,225 in 1863.

While the Uhrigs would continue to operate their brewery in St. Louis and have their primary residence there, they would summer at the Villa Uhrig here each year. It is thought that the present brick house was constructed shortly after the purchase of the land in 1853 although perhaps this residence replaced an earlier temporary structure on the site. Uhrig is said to have patterned the house after his residence in St. Louis while the grounds were patterned after a villa he had seen in Germany.


While today only the main residence survives, the estate once contained a stable-barn, garden pavilion, brick gardener's residence, and "eagle house" outhouse, along with a chicken house, a pheasant house, and a 3-story pump house with a windmill on top. A gravel road led from Lisbon Plank Road to a circular drive in front of the house and there was a brick footpath as well as a 20-foot tall iron fountain. Apple orchards, lilac bushes, an alee of poplars, and other gardens studded the bountiful grounds.

Living on the premises were Franz Joseph and his wife, Walburga, and their daughter, Josephine, and her husband Otto C. Lademann, a Civil War veteran, along with various grandchildren. It is not certain whether or not the Uhrig's son, August (1850-1878) and his wife and family also summered at the Lisbon Avenue estate.


Franz Joseph Uhrig died while summering here on July 2, 1878, and his body was shipped back to St. Louis for burial. That he associated with associated with other Milwaukee brewers and prominent families is indicated by the procession that accompanied Uhrig's remains from the Best family burial vault to the railroad depot, which included Judge Mallory, Col. Jacobs, Sheriff McDonald and Messrs. Ehlers, Schoeffler, Deuster, Brand, Pritzlaff, Auer and other. Uhrig's will left Walburga the Milwaukee estate, the proceeds from the insurance policies, all household and kitchen furnishings, and an annual stipend of $6,000 to be paid out in four installments each year. She was also given rights to occupy the family homestead in St. Louis until her death although real estate was conveyed to Uhrig's daughter, Josephine Lademann and son, August. The children were likewise given joint ownership of all the brewery malt houses, the ice house, the Beer Cave (a public beer garden constructed atop storage caves), the brewery manufacturing equipment, the malt and hops in storage, as well as the horses, wagons, and beer on the premises. The only condition set was that they would pay the quarterly installments of the stipend. One interesting result of the probate proceedings was the discovery that her son, August, was actually an adopted child, surreptitiously substituted for her natural child, who died shortly after birth after Walburga herself hovered near death. The family physician had recommended to Franz Joseph that a newborn infant would be the only way to save his wife's life, and Franz Joseph complied out of deep love for his wife, choosing a newborn boy at a foundling home. Although a child of Irish parents, the Evening Wisconsin newspaper marveled at how August's Irish "social traits" had been obliterated by his German upbringing and how he learned to speak German and even married a German woman. Walburga found the news hard to accept, and it was reported she never quite got over the shock. August's early death at the age of 28 in 1878 probably accounts for the absence of his name in relation to Villa Uhrig.


The Lademanns and Walburga Uhrig continued to use Villa Uhrig as their summer home until around 1890 when the Lademanns made Milwaukee their permanent home. Josephine's son, Joseph U., became employed the Second Ward Savings Bank, a financial institution nicknamed the "Brewers' Bank" since many of the directors including the Uihleins were involved in the brewing industry. Joseph U. eventually became a vice president and was in charge of the bank's Ninth Ward branch. Son Otto T., shown now and then in the directories, worked for the Wisconsin National Bank. Oscar E. Lademann (b. 1876) was a physician who trained at Washington University in St. Louis. He graduated in1 897 and then worked for the Milwaukee County Insane Asylum for two years before taking postgraduate courses in Berlin and Vienna for four years. He returned to Milwaukee and served as an instructor at the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons, edited the Medical Fortnightly, retained memberships in the St. Louis Medical Association, the Milwaukee Medical Society, and the Wisconsin State and American Medical Associations as well as membership in the American Association of Medical Editors. Oscar lived at Villa Uhrig and sometimes had his practice out of the west wing of the house and sometimes downtown, with offices on East Wisconsin Avenue. William F. Lademann (sometimes F. William) lived at Villa Uhrig also and worked for his relatives at the Schlitz Brewery. An Arnold Lademann, presumably another son, was a dentist; he is shown briefly living on the premises. Matriarch Walburga Uhrig retired permanently to Villa Uhrig in 1892.


The family by this time had sold off their holdings and business in St. Louis. The old homestead at 18th and Market Street in St. Louis became the site of the Union Depot built in 1894. Walburga died on March 26, 1897 at the age of 77 of bronchitis. Her remains were interred at the family plot in Bellefontaine in the St. Louis area. Her Milwaukee estate was appraised at $50,000 and, besides the villa, included household goods valued at $250, two horses valued at $25, on cow valued at $35, one carriage valued at $25, and one buggy valued at $50. The land now consisted of a 7 38/100 acre tract, two parcels having been sold off to Frederick Loenig, one in 1881 consisting of a 377 foot by 275 foot parcel and a 10-rod-wide strip in 1882, both at the east end the Uhrig estate. Interestingly, the property here went entirely to Josephine Lademann, Walburga's sole surviving child. Walburga's son's family in St. Louis must have been provided for out of the family's holdings there.


As Josephine and her husband grew older and development pressures began encroaching around the old estate, they decided to subdivide their property. The first parcel, Uhrig's Subdivision, was platted in 1903 with 31 lots and extended along the east side of North 35th Street and around to West Lisbon Avenue to a point midway between North 32nd and North 33rd Streets. Uhrig's Subdivision No. 2 was platted in 1905 and consisted of 12 lots on either side of North 33rd Street in mid-block. The family then incorporated the Villa Realty and Investment Company to which Josephine was assigned the remaining 2-023/1000 acres of the estate, which made up the land surrounding the house. This small plot was finally subdivided in September of 1910 into the 14 lot Lademann's Subdivision, and land was deeded to the City of Milwaukee for the cutting through of North 34th Street. Josephine's husband, Otto c. Lademann, died at the age of 72 on March 21, 1914, and Josephine herself passed away in 1921 or 1922.


Two Lademann sons, Oscar F. and Joseph U., became the officers of the Villa Realty and Investment Company and transferred lots 5, 6 and 7 and the south 35 feet of lot 4 in Lademann's Subdivision to their own ownership in 1924 and continued living on the premises. They eventually sold their homestead to the Universal Spiritual Alliance Church in June of 1943 and moved to 1961 North Summit Avenue. The house went through a succession of owners in the intervening decades and has been divided into apartments although the major interior spaces remain intact. The new owner, Mr. David Boucher, Jr., is interested in restoring Villa Uhrig.

Villa Uhlrik:

1727 North 34th Street (Located on North 34 th Street south of West Lisbon Avenue between Lisbon and West Walnut Street)

Tax Key Number: 349-1405-000

Legal Property Description: LADEMANN'S SUBD IN NE ¼ SEC 24-7-21 BLOCK 1 LOTS 6-7 & S 35' LOT 5

Among the larger parcels was a 9-acre tract sold to St. Louis, Missouri brewer Franz Joseph Uhrig in 1853 and located at the very southwest corner of the quarter section on land with frontage on the new plank road.