How the 2 streets we are located on got their names…
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Greetings all, interesting tidbits on the 2 streets that we are located on and how they got their names…
The "Otjen" brothers were born on a farm in Michigan. After their mother died the boys lived with the Eber Ward family near Detroit. Ward was the (co)founder of the rolling mills in Bay View. Christian Otjen was made foreman at the mills at age 22 and Theobald became foreman at age 19. E. Otjen St. was named after Theo Otjen, the first alderman Bay View into Milwaukee. Also he was our Representative in Congress from the 4th district and sent Douglas MacArther to West Point and was the father of Great Lakes Naval Base. He and his son Henry, who founded the PTA at Trowbridge St. School, had a lawyer practice in Bay View. After the Herman Mann family named seven Bay View streets for states and territories around 1880, and Thomas Kennan named seven more by 1890, Theobald Otjen added two more in 1891. One "Rhode Island Ave" the other was "Vermont".
Lenox. That's a strange one. Joseph Williams subdivided his farm in 1870 and named a street Lenox. "Lenox" can be traced to Scotland but the reason Williams used that name is unknown.
For more info go to https://www.facebook.com/notes/bay-view-town-hall/the-history-of-bay-view-street-names/490393907696830/
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