View source for Emil Wallber

{{Short description|American lawyer and judge, 27th Mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = The Honorable
| name            = Emil Wallber
| image           = Emil Wallber.png
| alt             =
| caption         =
|order            = 27th
|office           = Mayor of Milwaukee
| term_start      = April 1884
| term_end        = April 1888
| predecessor     = [[John M. Stowell]]
| successor       = [[Thomas H. Brown (mayor)|Thomas H. Brown]]
|state1           = Wisconsin
|state_assembly1  = Wisconsin
|district1        = [[Milwaukee County, Wisconsin|Milwaukee]] 6th
| term_start1     = January 1, 1872
| term_end1       = January 6, 1873
| predecessor1    = [[Daniel H. Richards]]
| successor1      = [[Casper Sanger]]
|party            = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|birth_date       = {{Birth date|1841|5|1}}
|birth_place      = [[Berlin]], [[Prussia]]
|death_date       = {{Death date and age|1923|6|2|1841|5|1}}
|death_place      = [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]], U.S.
|restingplace     = [[Forest Home Cemetery]], Milwaukee
|spouse           = {{marriage|Minna Wallber||1914|end=died}}
|children         = {{unbulleted list 
 | Emma Henriette Wallber
 | (b. 1876; died 1881)
}}
|mother          = Henrietta (Krohn) Wallber
|father          = Julius Wallber
|relatives       = 
|education       = 
|alma_mater      =
|profession      = Lawyer, judge
|awards          =
|signature       = Signature of Emil Wallber (1841–1923).png
}}
'''Emil Wallber''' (April 1, 1841{{spaced ndash}}June 2, 1923) was a [[German Americans|German American]] lawyer and judge.  He was the [[List of mayors of Milwaukee|Mayor]] of [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]], at the time of the [[Bay View massacre]] and labor strike, and adopted the city's first ordinance on an [[Eight hour day|eight-hour work day]].

==Early life and career==

Born in [[Berlin]], [[Prussia]], Wallber immigrated to the [[United States]] with his family in 1850.<ref name="1872bio">{{cite report|url= http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk1872  |title= The Legislative Manual of the State of Wisconsin |year= 1872 |publisher= State of Wisconsin |editor-last= Turner |editor-first= A. J. |editor-link= Andrew Jackson Turner |chapter-url= https://images.library.wisc.edu/WI/EFacs/WIBlueBks/BlueBks/WIBlueBk1872/reference/wi.wibluebk1872.i0021.pdf |chapter= Official Directory |page= 452 |accessdate= December 27, 2021 }}</ref>  He is the son of Julius and Henrietta Krohn Wallber, both of whom had also been born in Berlin.  They settled in [[New York City]], where he was educated in the public schools and the New York free academy.<ref name="bench">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbenchba02berr/ |title=History of the Bench and Bar of Wisconsin |publisher= H. C. Cooper, Jr. |year= 1898 |location= [[Chicago]] |editor-last= Berryman |editor-first= John R. |pages= 69–70 |accessdate= January 25, 2020 }}</ref><ref name="progress">{{cite book |url= http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/lhbum.19127 |title= Men of progress, Wisconsin |publisher= The Evening Wisconsin Company |year= 1897  |location = [[Milwaukee]] |editor-last1= Aikens |editor-first1= Andrew J. |editor-last2= Proctor |editor-first2= Lewis A. |pages= 40– | accessdate= January 25, 2020}}</ref>

At age 14, Wallber moved to [[Milwaukee]], intent on studying law.  He first took a position as a clerk for Charles F. Bode, who was then justice of the peace.  He then went to study in the law offices of [[Edward Salomon]] and [[Winfield Smith]], who would later become the [[Governor of Wisconsin|governor]] and [[Attorney General of Wisconsin]], respectively.  Salomon was elected lieutenant governor in 1861, and became governor on the death of Governor Harvey in April 1862.  On ascending to the governorship, Salomon hired Wallber as his chief clerk.  Wallber served with Governor Salomon until the end of his term in January 1864.  Wallber meanwhile continued his study of the law and was admitted to the [[State Bar of Wisconsin]] later that year.  He then returned to the service of Winfield Smith as an assistant attorney general and remained in that role until the end of Smith's term in 1866.<ref name="bench"/><ref name="progress"/>

==Elected office==
Wallber then returned to Milwaukee and practiced law.  He was elected as a school commissioner, and served as president of the school board from 1871 to 1873.  He was elected to serve in the [[Wisconsin State Assembly]] for the [[25th Wisconsin Legislature|1872 session]], and served as Milwaukee City Attorney from 1873 to 1878.  He was County court commissioner for ten years, and from 1883 to 1890 was a regent of the state [[normal school]]s.<ref name="bench"/><ref name="progress"/>

He was elected Mayor of Milwaukee in 1884 and was re-elected in 1886.<ref name="bench"/><ref name="progress"/>  During his second term as mayor, there was a major labor walkout during agitation for the [[Eight-hour day|eight-hour workday]].  The strikes closed virtually every business in Milwaukee, starting on May Day, May 1, 1886.  At Wallber's request, the Governor, [[Jeremiah McLain Rusk]], called up the [[Wisconsin National Guard]].<ref name="wihist">{{cite web|url= https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS14054| title= Wallber, Emil 1841 - 1923 | date= August 8, 2017 |publisher= [[Wisconsin Historical Society]] |accessdate= January 25, 2020 }}</ref>  In what's now known as the [[Bay View massacre]], on May 5, the national guard fired into the protesters as they marched on the North Chicago Rolling Mills in Bay View.  Seven people died as a result, including a thirteen year old boy.<ref name="bayview">{{cite news | author1 = Anonymous |author2=Emil Wallber | title = Bay View Labor Riot of 1886  | newspaper= Milwaukee Free Press  | date = 3 July 1910  | url = http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=933   | accessdate =October 8, 2006 }}</ref>

In April 1889, the year after he left the Mayors office, Wallber was elected judge of the municipal court.<ref name="bench"/>  He was re-elected in 1895 and left office in 1902.  In his later life, he served as a German consular agent in Milwaukee from 1906 to his retirement in 1917.<ref name="wihist"/>

Wallber is buried at [[Forest Home Cemetery]] in Milwaukee.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.foresthomecemetery.com/what-makes-fhc-unique/people/|title= Historical People|publisher= Forest Home Cemetery|accessdate= May 16, 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160403200220/http://www.foresthomecemetery.com/what-makes-fhc-unique/people/|archive-date= April 3, 2016|url-status= dead}}</ref>

==Electoral history==
===Wisconsin Assembly (1871)===
{{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin Assembly, Milwaukee 6th District Election, 1871<ref name="1872bio"/>}}
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| '''General Election, November 7, 1871'''
{{Election box winning candidate with party link|
  |party      = Republican Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Emil Wallber
  |votes      = 305
  |percentage = 52.68%
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |candidate  = [[Daniel H. Richards]] (incumbent)
  |votes      = 274
  |percentage = 47.32%
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box plurality
  |votes      = 31
  |percentage = 5.35%
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box total
  |votes      = 579
  |percentage = 100.0%
  |change     = -2.36%
}}
{{Election box gain with party link no swing 
 |winner = Republican Party (United States)
 |loser  = Democratic Party (United States)
}}
{{Election box end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Find a Grave|9513796| L. Emil Wallber }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-wi-hs}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Daniel H. Richards]] }}
{{s-ttl|title  = {{nobreak|Member of the [[Wisconsin State Assembly]]}} {{nobreak|from the [[Milwaukee County, Wisconsin|Milwaukee]] 6th district}} |years= January 1, 1872{{spaced ndash}}January 6, 1873 }}
{{s-aft|after  = [[Casper Sanger]] }}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before = [[John M. Stowell]]| }}
{{s-ttl|title  = {{nobreak|[[List of mayors of Milwaukee|Mayor]] of [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]]}}|years=April 1884{{spaced ndash}}April 1888}}
{{s-aft|after  = [[Thomas H. Brown (mayor)|Thomas H. Brown]] }}
{{S-end}}
{{Mayors of the City of Milwaukee}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallber, Emil}}
[[Category:19th-century mayors of places in Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Prussian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Mayors of Milwaukee]]
[[Category:Lawyers from Milwaukee]]
[[Category:Wisconsin lawyers]]
[[Category:Wisconsin state court judges]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly]]
[[Category:1841 births]]
[[Category:1923 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Forest Home Cemetery]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature]]