MILWAUKEE — John Gurda, known for his accessible books about Milwaukee history, is signing off from his longtime newspaper column for the final time.
Gurda writes in his monthly Milwaukee Journal Sentinel column on Thursday that for 29 years, he has used the space to share the history of Brew City and build "bridges between past and present."
"I’m sure there will still be occasional essays that demand to be written, but, as any number of aging athletes will tell you, it's best to quit the game while you can still see the ball," Gurda writes.
The 'history column' goes back to 1994, when the Milwaukee Journal launched a feature called 'Our Town.' The editors invited Gurda to file stories about the city's history. Gurda says his first column was about the old Falk brewery. Soon after, the Journal and the Sentinel merged and Gurda established himself as the go-to history guy on the newspaper's pages.
Gurda used Thursday's column to share news about his new book called "Brewtown Tales." Gurda says the book has 80 of his best essays, and not all are from the newspaper. It also contains a number of longer essays and even one story from an airline magazine, Gurda says.
According to Gurda's website, he was born in Milwaukee and has been studying his hometown's history since 1972. He is the author of a whopping 22 books, many about Milwaukee's history. His most famous is titled "The Making of Milwaukee," which Gurda says is the first full-length history of the city since 1948 (there is also a PBS documentary by the same name - narrated by Gurda himself). He has a BA in history from Boston College and an MA from UW-Milwaukee. He also has an honorary doctorate from UWM.
Gurda signs off this way: "It’s been a long journey, and I hope you’ve found it as engaging and even enlightening as I have. Thanks for your company."
