More details on the event, set for 4 to 7 p.m. on December 6 at the Bucyrus Club, here.
I first met Ben when I was mayor, and I’m excited to see his vision and years of work paying off with the release of this book — one that will memorialize an important (and often untold) part of South Milwaukee’s history story. Congratulations, Ben!
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article …
After nearly 30 years of research, three authors ― including a local tile-maker ― are releasing a new book that tells the story of one Belgian immigrant and his connection to a South Milwaukee-based tile company working to stay in business through the middle of the 20th century.
The book, titled “Carl Bergmans and the Continental Faience & Tile Co.,” will make its debut during a special event from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6, at the Bucyrus Club, 1919 12th Ave., South Milwaukee. It will sell for $60.
Ben Tyjeski, an art teacher at Garland Elementary in Milwaukee, has been working on this book along with Phoenix, Arizona-based tile collectors Kelly Dudley and Kathy Roberts for many years.
Continental Faience and Tile Company operated in South Milwaukee from 1925 to 1943, according to Tyjeski. Tiles made there can be found throughout Wisconsin and in buildings in Minnesota, Ohio and Florida, he said.
The 272-page hardcover book covers the company’s history along with the life of Belgian immigrant Carl Bergmans, who Tyjeski said kept the business going through the difficult years when many tile companies were closing.
It contains 1,200 color photos and 75 black-and-white pictures documenting many tile designs, the factory itself and more. The narrative portion contains comments from Bergmans’ own letters ― including some to famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
After the company revamped the factory to produce pottery during its last few years in operation, the business closed in 1943 due to a worker shortage caused by World War II, Tyjeski said. The building at 909 Menomonee Ave. was torn down in 2008.
For those who can’t attend the launch event, the book will be available for purchase at the Bucyrus Museum, at Historic Milwaukee, Inc. in downtown Milwaukee, and at the Urban Milwaukee store.
Also, the South Milwaukee Historical Society also put together a display in one of the cases at the Bucyrus Club to go with the book launch. Check it out!
South Milwaukee Blog 
I have saved the article from the Milwaukee Journal as a remembrance of the time I lived in the 1940s in the house at the corner of 9th and Marshall Avenues. I remember walking around the factory and picking up pieces of tile. As I remember, the factory originally built airplanes long before I was born. Sorry that I will not be able to come to the book unveiling.
Karl