We’re finally getting over our rivalry with Chicago. Like a younger sibling coming into her own, comfortable with herself at last and yet still a little jealous of her big brother, Milwaukee is stepping out from the shadow of Chicago, shaking off that hang-dog feeling of inferiority.
We can’t compete with Chicago. We really never could. Not since the railroads made the Windy City a nationwide crossroads has Milwaukee stood shoulder to shoulder with her sibling to the south. So, as the world gets smaller and borders become irrelevant, rather than compete, we’re learning to appreciate Chicago for what it is – a great city, maddening and self-absorbed yet grand.
We look to Chicago for cosmopolitan flair. Saks, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, the Ritz-Carlton and the Four Seasons, the Hancock and the Sears Tower, the Art Institute and the Goodman, mass transit, two daily newspapers, two baseball teams, Chinatown, Greek Town, Oprah and Spago – such is the stuff of Big City spark and sophistication.
Meanwhile, Chicagoans recognize Milwaukee for what it is – its sister city to the north, modest, by comparison, in size, scope and ambition but engaging and unique, with qualities unlike Chicago’s. Those dreaded “Flatlanders,” those cursed “FIBs” (F—ing Illinois Bastards), they’re now coveted tourists, flocking to Summerfest, to our untrammeled Downtown grid, to our plentiful pastoral retreats. They enjoy traditions we’ve long seen as cliché, whether fish fries, brats, Harley rallies or accordions. And who else can fill Miller Park to capacity except Cubs fans?
Of course, some hard-nosed grudge matches will never die: the source of Lake Michigan pollution, tollways vs. free highways, the Packers vs. the Bears.
It was the railroad, not football, that incited the Milwaukee-Chicago rivalry. At the midpoint of the 18th century, Milwaukee as a port city had an advantage over Chicago because it was slightly closer to eastern ports through the Great Lakes. In 1847, Milwaukee’s population was 14,067, just under Chicago’s 16,859, according to John Gurda’s The Making of Milwaukee.
“If New York has her Boston,” declared Mayor Byron Kilbourn in his inaugural speech, “so Milwaukee has her Chicago, in competition for the rich prize which nature awarded and designed to be hers.”
But as the railroad marched west, Chicago became a cross-country hub. By the 1880s, it had grown into the nation’s second-largest city, five times the size of Milwaukee. Milwaukee’s ambition to become a regional capital was lost.
Today, the enmity is wearing off. The relationship between the two cities has grown symbiotic, synergistic – from commerce to off-hours activities. Most evident is the physical connection between Milwaukee and Chicago. We’re closer than ever. The 100-mile metropolis that futurists predicted decades ago is imminent. Consider:
Chicago’s Metra rail line will extend from Kenosha to Milwaukee. With stops along the way, the Metra will be a 21⁄2-hour trip from Milwaukee to Chicago. A long ride, yes, but the Metra will be a welcome commuter alternative to I-94 traffic for less than half the cost of Amtrak’s $20 one-way ticket.
Milwaukee Port Director Ken Szallai floated the idea recently of shuttling high-speed hovercrafts to and from Chicago. Though still a gleam in Szallai’s eye, the people-only crafts would hover over water and ice at 60 mph, taking Chicago-bound passengers to, say, Navy Pier in 90 minutes.
Most promising is high-speed rail. In just a few years, with the right political and financial backing, the existing infrastructure could be retrofitted to accommodate trains – manufactured right here in our fair city – that go 120 mph, which would put Milwaukeeans in the Loop in less than an hour. From the Downtown train station, Chicago would be as close as Oconomowoc is now by car.
The changes would be enormous. Lines would blur. Business and leisure time would go bi-metro.… Eggs over-easy at George Webb, a sales meeting over lunch on Rush Street, then back to the Wisconsin Avenue office by mid-afternoon. And vice versa: after-work cocktails in Old Town, a Bucks game at the Bradley and home to Hyde Park before midnight.
Eventually, fast rail could connect Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and the Twin Cities. The Upper Midwest would be a true region, like the Eastern seaboard, where fast access binds cities together, pooling their resources while accenting their unique qualities. Such regionalism would diminish our provincialism, our sense of Milwaukee as a fortress not to be corrupted by outsiders. Our lives would be enriched.
The groundwork is already being laid. All of those condos going up along the river and high-rise apartments along the lake will not be occupied just by empty nesters from Waukesha County. Chicago developers are eyeing the Milwaukee real estate market closely, anticipating an interest by deep-pocketed buyers 90 miles to the south. Fed up with high-priced homes and endless traffic jams, Chicagoans see moving to Milwaukee as a favorable lifestyle choice.
And what would Milwaukee get out of it? White-collar workers who would contribute to our economy, possibly generating new businesses one day.
Chicago or Milwaukee, day or night, work or play. These days, identity transcends state lines. FIBs no more, Chicagoans will be our next-door neighbors. And we will be theirs.
