Talk:Custer High School (Milwaukee)

School Namesake

I dispute that the School was named for Harvey Custer and not General George Custer. Most of the material that follows was from sources supplied by MPL (Milwaukee Public Library} and are reference to sources noted at the end of this discourse. But lets put first things first. The original school at 5372 N. 37th Street was built in 1924, then located in the Village of North Milwaukee and known as North Milwaukee High School. (6) The name was changed to Custer High in 1929 after the Village was incorporated into the City of Milwaukee. (2) This was most likely done to prevent confusion with the then existing North Division High School. An April 26, 1972 edition of the Milwaukee Journal reports: “The (Appointment and Instruction) committee (of the school board) adopted a statement saying that Custer High was named after early Granville settler, Harvey Custer, instead of Gen. George Custer. The committee had been asked by the American Indian Movement to rename the high school. … Richard P. Gousha, superintendent of schools, said there was “no conclusive evidence that the school was named after Gen. George Custer.” (3)

However on page 123 of Eighty Fourth Annual Report of the Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools …. June 1943, “Our Roots Run Deep”. It reads in part: “By 1929 there was further need for renaming schools and a committee consisting of Principals Colbert and Walsh and Assistant Superintendent Ruhnke, at the request of the Instruction Committee of the Board, drew up a list of suggested available names. In the past twenty years street names have begun to yield to names of persons. The meaning of personal and geographic names of Milwaukee may have some interest.” Included in that list of then present schools was:

    [Name of School           Explanation of Name

Custer, George Famous Cavalry Commander] (4)

The newspaper report further states: Gousha said the original Custer building was named after Custer Ave …. and then transferred to the new building at 5073 N, Sherman Blvd. Gousha said the street was named after Harvey Custer, a constable in the old town of Granville in the 1800’s.” (3)

But published in the January 11, 1993 Milwaukee Journal My Opinion section, Carl Baehr, librarian at St. Francis Public Library, writes: “Custer High School (then relocated to 5075 N. Sherman Blvd.) was named for Custer Ave., the street on which it was located. In spite of the high school’s claim that it was named for someone else, the street was named for George Armstrong Custer – Civil War hero, Indian fighter, and no friend of the African-Americans. …. Tradition and recent histories say that the street was named for Harvey Custer, an early settler of the Town of Granville. The problem is there was no Harvey Custer. The source of the Harvey Custer legend seems to be an 1876 history, “The Illustrated Historical Atlas of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.” It lists the officers elected in the first Granville town meeting in 1842, and Harvey Custer is named as being elected constable. (The street and high school are located in the former town of Granville.) The constable’s name was really Harvey Carter. Misinterpretation of the town clerk’s handwriting was probably the source of the error. Carter is named in the Town Board’s minutes and his presence is supported in the 1842 Wisconsin census. There is no mention of Harvey Custer in either.” (5)

Mr. Baehr writes further: “In 1892, as an investor in North Milwaukee, (Henry Clay) Payne named at least two streets in his subdivision for Civil War Generals. Besides Custer there was Sheridan Ave. (one block north of Custer Ave,) Payne also named Wallace and Hammond Aves. using names of other generals associated with the conflict. These two streets were subsequently renamed.” (5)

Based on this information one only conclude that the school was indeed named for General George Armstrong Custer.

(1) Old North Milwaukee History www.neighborhoodsinmilwaukee.org › Old North Milwaukee (2)Date of Name Change from MPL\ “While I don't have the exact date, North Milwaukee was annexed in 1929, and the first mention I could find of Custer High School (as the former North Milwaukee High) in the local newspapers is in the fall of 1929.” (3)Milwaukee Journal April 26,1972 Article https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jTgdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zCgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3447%2C4018807 (4)Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools 1943 Annual Report (5)January 11, 1993 Milwaukee Journal Opinion Column (6)The old North Milwaukee/Custer High School at 5372 N. 37th St. was built in 1924. https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI237839

TennBadger (talk) 16:00, 21 September 2019 (UTC) Jim Schroeder, 1951 Custer Graduate