William George Bruce, whose many civic involvements earned him the title “Mr. Milwaukee,” was born in Milwaukee on March 17, 1856, to Augustus F. and Appolonia Becker Bruce. Crippled as a boy, much of Bruce's early education was received from private tutors. By age eleven, however, he was sufficiently improved that he could go to work as a cigarmaker's apprentice. Bruce began his career in journalism in the business office of the Milwaukee Daily News in 1874, where he remained until going to the Milwaukee Sentinel in 1885 as assistant business manager. In 1891 he established the Bruce Publishing Company, for which he founded and published the American School Board Journal. To this he eventually added the Industrial Arts Magazine in 1914, Hospital Progress in 1919, and the Catholic School Journal, which he acquired in 1929. In addition, the company published a long list of religious works and high school textbooks. Related to these business activities was Bruce's presidency of the American State Bank (formerly the German-American Bank) and his leadership in the Milwaukee Association of Commerce.
Bruce was very active in civic and religious affairs in Milwaukee, especially activities related to the field of education. From 1889 to 1894 he was a member of the school board. In 1893 Milwaukee chose him to manage its educational exhibit at the Chicago Exposition; for the 1904 St. Louis Exposition he served as chairman of the Wisconsin Educational Committee. From 1930 to 1947 he was a member of the board of curators of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Throughout his adult life he was a member of the Holy Name Union, often acting in an official capacity at banquets and religious celebrations. In honor of his fundraising activities for Catholic charities Bruce was awarded the Cross of the Knighthood of St. Gregory the Great.
Bruce was also very active in Democratic Party matters, serving as a mayoral candidate in 1905 and a candidate for U.S. senator in 1925. In 1906 he was chairman of the Democratic city and county committees. Despite his many years of public service, his only paid public office was as county tax commissioner, 1904-1906. Bruce was also intimately connected with the Milwaukee Auditorium, serving as a member of the planning board and as president from 1912 to 1914 and again from 1936 to 1945.
Bruce was nationally known as an expert on Great Lakes shipping matters. He was president of the Milwaukee Harbor Commission, 1913-1945, and a member of the Wisconsin Deep Waterways Commission from 1919 to 1935. In addition, he was one of the leading promoters of the St. Lawrence Seaway, an organizer of the Great Lakes Harbor Association, and a director of both the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Tidewater Association and the Rivers and Harbors Congress.
In 1933 Milwaukee sent him as a delegate to the Wisconsin Constitutional Convention for the Repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment. In the same year he was a member of the Federal Emergency Board of Public Works for Wisconsin.
Complementing his business, civic, religious, and political activities are the many books and pamphlets he wrote. His books include Bruce's School Administration (1904), Manual on School Administration (1904), School Architecture (1903-1910), School Board Manual (1904, 1907), Commercial Organizations (1920), Commercial Secretary: Self-training, Functions, and Relations (1923), and Commercial Secretaries (1922). Bruce was greatly interested in the history of Milwaukee and he wrote several volumes on the topic including History of Milwaukee, City and County (1922), A Short History of Milwaukee (1936), and Builders of Milwaukee (1946). In 1937 he published his autobiography, I Was Born in America.
Bruce married Monica Moehring in 1880, and they had three children: William Conrad, Frank Milton, and Monica Maria. Mrs. Bruce died in 1938; Bruce died on August 13, 1949, at the age of ninety-three.
