This wooden house is typical of the homes built in Milwaukee in the middle of the 19th century. They were put up rapidly to cope with the influx of immigrants and were usually divided into several flats.
At the time of the 1900 census, Jan Wittak rented the front flat to the Hauta family and the upstairs flat to the Hesse family while he and his family and his tailoring business occupied the bungalow in the rear. The house to the left was the Powondra Funeral Home. Also on this block were two bowling alleys, a bakery, a knitting works, a cigar factory, a drug store and a steam laundry. They lived blocks away from the Schlitz Brewing factory and close to Schlitz Park, a beer garden that provided entertainment for the whole family.
This picture was taken during World War I; the star in the window indicated a member of the family (Frank Wittak) was serving in the military. At this time, his older brother George was living in the upstairs flat with his wife, young children (shown on the porch) and his mother-in-law. Marie, who was one of these children, remembers being shushed a lot. She wrote: “Living downstairs with my grandmother were my dad’s three brothers and two sisters, who I surmise were not too tolerant of the noise of young ones.”
After George bought his own house a few blocks away, his sister, Helen and her new husband, Joe Fridl lived in the upstairs flat. Caroline, Jan's widow, lived in the house, with stepson, Joe, until her death in 1933.
