Listener Rick Fuhry was researching his ancestry when he discovered a fascinating family connection to Milwaukee’s German history.
“I found an old article in the Milwaukee Journal about a bookstore in Milwaukee, which was established by my great-great-great-grandfather, called J.B. Hoeger and Sons,” says Fuhry.
John Hoeger founded the shop in 1847, soon after he moved here from Germany. The shop became the largest of its kind in the region, with the Milwaukee Sentinel describing Hoeger and Sons as “the premier German bookstore in America.” The building still stands on the 700 block of North Water Street, just two blocks away from WUWM’s downtown office…