Abner Kirby

19th century American politician

Abner Kirby, Jr., (April 11, 1818September 23, 1893) was an American businessman, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was the 16th mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and played an important role in the early growth and economic development of southeast Wisconsin.

Abner Kirby, Jr., was born in the town of Starks, Maine, when that area was still part of the state of Massachusetts. Kirby was raised on his father's farm and was educated in the district schools. At age 14, he spent his winters in logging camps, working as a cook because he was too young to chop wood, then bringing the logs down the river in the spring. He also used a portion of his lumber to establish a match factory in Milwaukee. For the needs of his lumber business, he also became involved in shipping, and manufactured large wooden ships for moving his products on Lake Michigan. He was the first to manufacture steam barges for use on Lake Michigan, naming his first steam ship the Cream City. Kirby was often described as "eccentric" or a "live wire". While operating his hotel, he took on the slogan "Wake me up when Kirby dies! "—an old theater joke referring to the dramatic death scenes of actor J. Hudson Kirby—and had the slogan painted in large gold letters behind the hotel welcome desk.

Kirby was always a member of the Democratic Party, but was a well known and vocal War Democrat during the American Civil War. He attempted to enlist in the Union Army but was supposedly refused because of his old age. He is said to have spent $12,000 to support the families of 40 men who he had solicited to enlist as a company for the war effort, and spent more of his own fortune for wounded and sick veterans. Throughout the war, his hotel was a gathering place for Union organizers in a city that was somewhat ambivalent to the war and hostile to the draft. text= The joy of the nation is turned into mourning! The Chief Magistrate of our country is reported to have been slain at the hands of an assassin, and the life of our Secretary of Slate taken by a still more infamous hind. Therefore, I, Abner Kirby, Mayor of Milwaukee, do hereby recommend that all the dwellings and business places of our city forthwith be clad in mourning, as a token of the deep and common sorrow that prevails; and that the people, abstaining from all excitement improper for such solemn occasion, postpone their ordinary business duties today, and that in all the churches, tomorrow, such services be performed as will duly express the great and general grief.

Abner Kirby, Jr., was a son of Abner Kirby of Westport, Massachusetts, and his second wife Nancy Crosby ( Hume). The Kirby House hotel was demolished in 1929 and replaced with the First Wisconsin Bank Building.