The Milwaukee Press Club is the oldest continuously operating press club in North America,
and possibly the world. After efforts to establish a press club in Milwaukee failed in 1860,
1882, and 1883, four determined journalists formally established the Milwaukee Press Club on
November 1, 1885. The club was to be a means of bringing together members of the newspaper
profession, as well as a way to elevate the profession. Since its founding, the club has
expanded its membership to include journalists working in other types of media, editors,
publishers, and individuals with an interest in the press.
The club also expanded its membership to include women in August 1971, after protests from
female journalists and the general public convinced club members to eliminate its "men only"
rule. Mary Spletter was the first woman to cross the club's threshold after Press Club
members voted to include women, and in addition to having lunch at the club, she was also
asked to sign a plaque in honor of the occasion. Prior to 1971, the only female member of
the club had been Edna Dunlop, who had joined the Press Club near the turn of the
century--prior to the enactment of the no women rule sometime near the turn of the
century.
The first location of the Milwaukee Press Club was in the Herold building, on the corner of
Mason and Broadway. After a short residency in the Herold building, the Club moved several
times in the next nineteen years, before settling into the third floor of the Miller
Building, on the corner of Mason and Water Street, in 1904. In 1914, the Press Club moved
again, this time to the eighth floor of the Jung Building on Water Street. There the club
remained for over 30 years, until 1948, when it relocated to the Fine Arts building on Wells
Street. At sometime during its years in the Fine Arts building, the club established a
separate "corporate" headquarters, where the business of the club was conducted, while the
quarters in the Fine Arts building remained more of a social gathering place for club
members. This separation is continued to this day, with the business of the club transpiring
primarily from the executive director's home or office, while the clubhouse is maintained as
a more social venue.
The club's home in the Fine Arts building served it well for nearly thirty-five years, but
in 1983, the club moved its location to the Marc Plaza Hotel on Wisconsin Avenue. Several
more moves occurred after 1983, and the club resided for various lengths of time in the
Brown Bottle Pub, the Germania building, the Posner building, and the Park East Hotel.
Finally, in May 2000, the club completed the process of negotiating an agreement creating
the "Milwaukee Press Club Bar" back in the Fine Arts building that had served as the club's
home for much of its history.
One of the oldest continuing traditions of the Press Club is an annual picnic, an event
dating back to 1895 when Club members would spend a weekend out on Pewaukee Lake. Over the
years, other social activities included an annual theater event, which was eventually
replaced by a formal dinner and awards ceremony. At the annual Gridiron Dinner, first held
in 1917, and annually since 1957, the Press Club honors prominent Wisconsinites with its
Headliner Award, and prominent members of both the local and national press with its Sacred
Cat award. In 1980, the Press Club also began inducting members of the press into its Hall
of Fame, honoring the recipients at an annual dinner of the same name.
In addition to the Sacred Cat, the Headliner and the Hall of Fame awards, the Press Club
also holds an annual statewide contest to recognize excellence in journalism and the media.
These Journalistic Excellence awards include recognition in sixty-seven different areas,
such as best documentary, best sports feature, best editorial, etc., for print, radio, TV,
and photographic journalism. Entries for the annual Journalistic Excellence awards are
judged by out-of-state journalists, and the winners are honored at the Club's yearly
Gridiron Dinner.
Since 1895, the Milwaukee Press Club has published Once A
Year on an annual basis. Initially, Once A Year
served as both a program and an advertising vehicle for the club's annual theater benefit.
Over time, it came to serve as more of a yearbook for the club itself and also as an annual
summation of the major events of the year in both Milwaukee and the world.
Milwaukee Press Club Presidents
| 1885-1887 |
James Langland
|
| 1888 |
Jerome A. Watrous
|
| 1889-1890 |
H.P. Myrick
|
| 1891 |
George H. Yenowine
|
| 1892 |
James W. Bannen
|
| 1893 |
Herman Bleyer
|
| 1894 |
William A. Rublee
|
| 1895 |
Julius Bleyer
|
| 1896 |
C.W. Emerson
|
| 1897 |
John G. Gregory
|
| 1898 |
Arthur Weld
|
| 1899 |
John J. Hannan
|
| 1900 |
George F. Kerr
|
| 1901-1902 |
William A. Bowdish
|
| 1903 |
Dan B. Starkey
|
| 1904 |
Galbraith Miller, Jr.
|
| 1905-1906 |
Malcolm C. Douglas
|
| 1907 |
John S. Gannaway
|
| 1908-1909 |
Oliver E. Remey
|
| 1910 |
George C. Nuesse
|
| 1911 |
George F. Lounsbury
|
| 1912 |
Oscar H. Morris
|
| 1913-1914 |
Charles Dean
|
| 1915 |
Walter L. Distelhorst
|
| 1916 |
John R. Wolf
|
| 1917 |
Jas. A. Skewes
|
| 1918 |
Jules Liebman
|
| 1919-1920 |
Ben Fuelleman
|
| 1921 |
Claude C. Manly
|
| 1922-1923 |
Charles H. Kelsey
|
| 1924 |
Paul Kayser
|
| 1925-1928 |
Manning Vaughan
|
| 1929 |
Edwin C. Hart
|
| 1930-1931 |
Walter Wyrick
|
| 1932 |
William S. Broker
|
| 1933 |
H.L. Ashworth
|
| 1934-1935 |
John R. Wolf
|
| 1936-1939 |
Arville Schaleben
|
| 1940-1943 |
Lloyd Gladfelter
|
| 1944-1946 |
Harvey W. Schwandner
|
| 1947-1948 |
H. Russell Austin
|
| 1949-1950 |
Ross M. Dick
|
| 1951-1952 |
Everett B. Swingle
|
| 1953-1954 |
Perry C. Hill
|
| 1955-1959 |
Frank J. Marasco
|
| 1960-1961 |
Harry L. Sonneborn
|
| 1962 |
Walter G. Wegner
|
| 1963 |
Jack E. Krueger
|
| 1964 |
Richard H. Leonard
|
| 1965 |
Trueman Farris
|
| 1966-1968 |
Bennett F. Waxse
|
| 1969 |
D. Raymond Kenney
|
| 1970 |
Frank J. Marasco, Jr.
|
| 1971 |
Mark Ashley
|
| 1972-1973 |
Chuck Johnson
|
| 1974-1975 |
Dion Henderson
|
| 1976-1977 |
John H. Thompson
|
| 1978 |
Leo Kissel
|
| 1979 |
Beth Slocum
|
| 1980-1981 |
Roger A. Stafford
|
| 1982 |
Joanne Williams
|
| 1983 |
Ray Doherty
|
| 1984 |
Scott J. Feldmeyer
|
| 1985-1986 |
Laurie Van Dyke
|
| 1987 |
Ronald L. Irwin
|
| 1988 |
Robert M. Dye
|
| 1989 |
Jayne Jeffery
|
| 1990 |
Tom Heinen
|
| 1991 |
Kenneth Roesslein
|
| 1992 |
Kay Magowan
|
| 1993 |
Ed Hinshaw
|
| 1994 |
Joe Smith
|
| 1995-1996 |
Kevin Fischer
|
| 1997 |
James Auer
|
| 1998 |
Wayne Youngquist
|
| 1999 |
Roseann St. Aubin
|
| 2000 |
Mark Zoromski
|
| 2001 |
Felicia Thomas-Lynn
|
| 2002-2004 |
David Niles
|
| 2005 |
Roger Stafford
|
| 2006 |
Steve Jagler
|
| 2007 |
Jon Anne Willow
|
| 2008-2009 |
Marilyn Krause
|
| 2010 |
Jim Nelson
|
| 2011 |
Kathy Mykleby
|
