Lost Markers - Nicholas Senn, M.D.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Historical Society marker for Dr. Nicholas Senn had a short life. The idea of the marker was first conceived in 1958, a marker was installed two years later, and eight years after that the marker was stolen, never to be recovered and never to be replaced. A life of only ten years. The memory of the marker occasionally surfaced when the Nicholas Senn building became a community issue, but that memory has been further buried with the demolition of the building in 2012. Now, this Wisconsin Official Historic Marker, which was similar to the many state markers you find around Wisconsin, may only be remembered when seekers of historical markers ask, “What happened to No. 96 of the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Official List of Wisconsin’s State Historic Markers?”

Speaking to the State Medical Society of Wisconsin at their annual meeting on May 5, 1958, incoming president Dr. J.W. Fons proposed a suitable marker at the Nicholas Senn building “so that all who pass by might know the works of one of our great colleagues.” The Society adopted his proposal, and almost exactly two years later on May 4, 1960, Dr. Ulrich Senn (the nephew of Dr. Nicholas Senn) unveiled a Wisconsin state historic marker at the corner of W. Juneau Avenue and N. 3rd Street in Milwaukee.[1] The marker was mounted on the Senn building on the wall facing Juneau Avenue and commemorated Nicholas Senn at the site of his office and laboratory.