Hay Market Square (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

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n the days before the advent of the automobile, Haymarket Square was truly a hay market. Farmers from the surrounding counties brought wagon loads of hay to the square, located at N. 6th and W. Poplar (McKinley) Sts., for the breweries, dairies and tanneries of the city. While their horses rested, protected from the insects by blankets for fly netting (and munched at some of the hay from the wagon) the men swapped farm talk and news of births, deaths, marriages and other tidbits and enjoyed a glass or two of Milwaukee's famous brew. In these early days hay, grain, and cord wood were the main products sold in the square, but around 1912, when the automobile began to take over, the need for hay diminished and produce and cut flowers began to appear in the stalls.