The Geology of Terra-Cotta, Part 4: A Tale of Two TCs; Cudahy Tower, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA (southern section, 1909; northern tower section, 1925)

Looking north on a generally clear and blue-skied day when, it just so happened, a Lake Michigan fog bank was drifting ashore. It creates a nice effect above and behind the featured building.

The lower and southern portion of this large residential complex is closest to the camera. Originally known as Buena Vista Flats, it was later combined with the newer tower section.

By the late 1800s and early 1900s, many Milwaukee buildings were clad in terra-cotta manufactured by firms situated in Chicago, rural northeastern Illinois, or St. Louis. But the striking glazed exterior of the Buena Vista Flats section comes from another, more distant source—the Atlantic Terra-Cotta Company of Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Atlantic's factories mostly used clays derived from its local Upper Cretaceous Raritan Formation.

The Raritan is one of those still-unllthified geologic formations of the Eastern Seaboard that was deposited on what had become the passive margin (trailing edge) of the North American continent. This occurred following the breakup of Pangaea and the early phase of formation of the Atlantic Ocean.

In contrast, the tower section in the background, while also clad in white, is an example of the work of Chicago's own industry giant, the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company. Its main source of clay came instead from Pennsylvanian (Upper Carboniferous) marine shales and underclays (ancient coal-swamp soils) of the Illinois Basin. At that time, what are now the Milwaukee and Chicago urban regions lay close to the Equator, in the deep interior of the Pangaean supercontinent.

This site, and many others in Milwaukee County, will be discussed at greater length in my forthcoming book Milwaukee in Stone and Clay (NIU Imprint of Cornell University Press, scheduled for release in early 2024). Stay tuned!

And to see the other photos and descriptions of this series, visit my Terra-Cottalogy album.

Taken in: United States / Wisconsin / Milwaukee / Milwaukee (show map)

Taken on: March 15, 2022

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Camera: Canon PowerShot SX530 HS, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon PowerShot SX530 HS
ISO:	100
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
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