The BMO Bank Steiff animal holiday displays have found a new home – at least temporarily. After being left to meet their likely demise in a Northwest Side warehouse, many of the stuffed animals that had long been part of a beloved holiday exhibit at the Downtown BMO Bank were quietly rescued a year ago by a Walker’s Point youth development organization.
Bill Nimke, executive director of All Hands Boatworks, said the nonprofit group took possession of many of the themed displays by pure happenstance last year.
“At the time, we were picking up some donated equipment from a warehouse,” Nimke says. “While there, we noticed the huge Steiff displays that were shrink-wrapped on many moving stands. We were told that everything was about to be thrown away but once we learned their history, we didn’t want to let that happen.”
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All Hands Boatworks jobs skills director Will Francis first discovered the Steiff displays at the warehouse and inquired about their fate.
Francis says he was informed that BMO employees had the opportunity to take home some of the larger stuffed figures that had been part of the holiday exhibit but the large motorized displays and the smaller Steiff stuffed animals were left in the warehouse.
“I knew [the holiday display] was a big deal every year,” Francis says. “It triggered in me that the displays probably shouldn’t go away.”
Nimke says that he, too, knew that the organization needed to take action. “Somebody had made the decision that the warehouse would be emptied and the displays were going to go,” he says. “That’s where we came along.”
Nimke and his staff did some research and learned more about the storied history of the displays. “We decided that we can’t let this happen. It doesn’t seem right,” Nimke says. “On top of that, I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for all things Christmas.”
After the unexpected discovery, Nimke says All Hands Boatworks rented a box truck and, with a BMO representative’s approval, moved the items to the organization’s South 12th Street boat shop. “We decided to bring it all down by us and deal with it after,” Nimke says.
On Wednesday, one of the displays was stationed in the corner of the main shop floor at the All Hands Boatworks factory. The rest remained shrink-wrapped on pallets out of view in a lower-level storage area.
For more than 50 years, the Steiff displays had been part of a holiday-themed arrangement at BMO Bank, and Marshall & Isley Bank before that, in the banks’ buildings along North Water Street.
The tradition began in 1972 when M&I purchased 30 life-sized stuffed animals from FAO Schwartz in New York City. The collection grew to include more than 150 Steiff animals, which are rare collectors’ items originally made in Germany. The world-renowned Steiff Co. made the first teddy bear in 1903. German seamstress Margarete Steiff, who founded the company, began the business by hand-stitching a tiny elephant from a pattern and stuffing it with straw.
The treasured collection had been displayed in elaborately designed vignettes. Over the years, the whimsical arrangements included pieces such as a fishing tugboat, a Victorian park, an igloo at the North Pole, a Yukon train, a snow queen palace, a candy factory, antique motorcycles, and a holiday town featuring well-known characters from illustrated children’s books by Richard Scarry.
“These displays are kind of anachronistic in this digital age of ours,” Nimke says. “When you look at these things with all the mechanics, it’s kind of weird but really cool.”
For years, the displays had been set up on the ground floor space in the building at 770-780 N. Water Street that served as M&I’s headquarters. Visitors were able to enter the building to view the displays. The tradition continued after BMO Financial purchased M&I in a deal that closed in 2011.
The beloved holiday display eventually expanded into the first-floor space of the 25-story BMO tower, which opened in April 2020 at 790 N. Water St.
Milwaukee Magazine reached out to BMO Bank for an explanation as to why the holiday display came to an end and was told by a spokesperson that recent changes to the lobby of the BMO Tower meant that there was no longer space for it, but no mention of the fate of the stuffed toys and other items was made.
BMO said in a statement to Milwaukee Magazine last week that is shifted its holiday focus in Milwaukee to a “significant” five-year sponsorship, which began last year, of the Milwaukee Ballet’s holiday performance of The Nutcracker.
The news of the ending of the bank’s holiday-themed display didn’t sit well with some Milwaukee area residents. Replying to a social media post of Milwaukee Magazine’s original story, one reader wrote: “Boo! The least a massive bank could do is keep up a super cool holiday tradition and do something fun and good for the community. A sponsorship of the ballet is not equivalent.”
When contacted again this week about the fate of the Steiff displays and stuffed animal collection, a company spokesman initially didn’t return a message seeking comment. Milwaukee Magazine reached out to BMO again on Wednesday to offer an opportunity to comment.
“We were successful in finding homes for the vast majority of the stuffed animals with private collections and with local not-for-profit organizations,” BMO spokesman Scott Doll said. “Due to their size, the mechanical displays were placed in storage for safekeeping. When representatives from All Hands Boatworks inquired about them, we were pleased to donate them along with a large table saw that the organization was eager to incorporate in its programming.”
Doll went on to say that BMO appreciates “the history of the BMO holiday display and the Steiff stuffed animals. … We know they held a special place for many in the community.”
Founded in 2013, All Hands Boatworks, which is influenced by Outward Bound and other experiential education practices, teaches boat-building to young people, with a goal to “inspire, educate and empower.”
Nimke says the organization has no plans to keep the Steiff displays long term. “But it would be great to find another home for them with someone who appreciates the Steiff history,” he says. “Whether it’s a museum or another company that would have an interest in them. It’s not something we have any plans for. It didn’t cost us anything to save them other than a little bit of time.”
Nimke says he hasn’t given much thought to possibly auctioning off the displays for charity or to support his own organization’s work. “I don’t know, maybe I should,” he says.
Some of the displays will be set up for viewing on Friday, Dec. 6, as part of the organization’s St. Nick’s craft sale at the All Hands Boatworks shop (621 S. 12th St.), which is open to the public. The sale runs from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
“When the whole display is set up, it takes hours and hours to get all the motors running and all of that,” Nimke says.
Any person or organization interested in acquiring the displays should contact Nimke at bill@allhandsboatworks.org or call the All Hands Boatworks shop at 414-404-8213, ext. 1.
Correction: BMO Bank said in a press release in November 2023 that they were retiring the holiday display. An earlier version of this story said no formal announcement was made.
