For more than a century, famous Milwaukee
visitors have signed in at the Milwaukee Press

MILWAUKEE has many historic buildings in its downtown area, but only one offers a written record of every famous visitor to set foot in the city since the late 1800s.

Presidents Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt; Yankee greats Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle; basketball playmakers Bob Cousy and Oscar Robertson; actresses Lillian Russell and Bette Davis; aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and poet Carl Sandburg – all of their names and many others that are quickly recognized hang on the walls of the Newsroom Pub, home of the Milwaukee Press Club in the heart of the city’s downtown.

Located at 137 E. Wells St., the Newsroom Pub has been the official home of the club since 2000. The club is the oldest continuously operating press club in North America and its signature collection dates back almost to its founding in 1885. Nearly all of the signatures were gathered during appearances by the famous visitors at club functions, a tradition that continues to this day.

In the early years, the dignitaries actually signed on the walls of the club, requiring members to cut out the signatures when the club moved to new quarters. Wooden signature plaques at the pub include those of actress Lillian Russell, bare-knuckle boxer John L. Sullivan, presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan and Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and his successor, William Howard Taft. Later in the 20th century, the club began gathering its chalk signatures on black cardboard plaques.

Three hundred of more than 1,500 signatures in the club’s unique collection now hang on the walls of the Newsroom Pub, along with historic pictures and original copies of significant newspaper front pages. And the club continues to add to its collection as it regularly hosts local, state and national dignitaries at meetings and press conferences that are open to the public.

Signatures that are not displayed at the Newsroom Pub are part of the Press Club archives at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee library.

Regular hours of the Newsroom Pub currently are from 4:30 p.m. until bar closing Wednesdays through Saturdays, with sandwiches and appetizers available from 5-9 p.m. The club can also be entered during off hours through the adjacent Safe House, Milwaukee’s popular spy-themed restaurant whose owner renovated and now operates the Newsroom Pub.

For additional information on the club’s activities, visit www.milwaukeepressclub.org. To learn more about the Safe House, visit www.safe-house.com.