Walter Schroeder (May 19, 1878 – July 18, 1967) was a Wisconsin hotel and insurance magnate.

Early life

Schroeder's formal education ended with the eighth grade and he began working at age 14 as a clerk in the Office of the Milwaukee Register of Deeds. There he learned about mortgages, deeds, and other legal instruments related to real estate. Shortly after beginning work at the deed office, Schroeder also began working as a staff member of the Milwaukee ''Daily Reporter.'' Schroeder began his own paper only two years later, the ''Daily Abstractor'', captured most of the ''Reporters readers, and then bought out the ''Reporter.''"Biography of Walter Schroeder", Milwaukee School of Engineering
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Hotelier

In Chris. Schroeder & Son was asked to refinance a bond issue for the Wisconsin Hotel, the largest hotel in the state at that time. Schroeder saw that the hotel industry lacked competent management skills, and so decided to enter the hotel business. In the 1920s Schroeder opened the: * Schroeder Hotel, now the

Hilton Milwaukee City Center The Hilton Milwaukee City Center is a historic Art Deco-style hotel opened in 1928 and located in the Westown neighborhood of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is owned by the Marcus Corporation, which also owns the Pfister Hotel and the Saint ...

, a 25-story landmark at 5th and Wisconsin Avenue in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

, Wisconsin * Astor Hotel (now the

Astor on the Lake The Astor on the Lake (also Astor Hotel) is a low-rise apartment/hotel building located in the Yankee Hill (East Town) neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (Am ...

) in Milwaukee * Hotel Northland in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

* The

Hotel Loraine Hotel Loraine, also known as The Loraine, is a ten-story hi-rise built as a hotel in 1924 a block southwest of the capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. It was the city's leading hotel from the time of construction to 1968. In 2002 it was added to the N ...

on Capitol Square in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

- now The Loraine Condominiums * Retlaw Hotel (Ramada Plaza Hotel) in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin - now the Hotel Retlaw * Wausau Hotel in Wausau, Wisconsin - now The Landmark apartments * Duluth Hotel in

Duluth, Minnesota , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

He also acquired the: * Calumet Hotel in Fond du Lac * Vincent Hotel in Benton Harbor, Michigan

Legacy

Schroeder was a generous philanthropist. His foundation provided a $3 million grant to help fund the Milwaukee School of Engineering's Walter Schroeder Library in 1978. Other facilities named after Schroeder include the Walter Schroeder Lounge at the Humphrey Scottish Rite Masonic Center, and the Olympic-size Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center of the Metro Milwaukee

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

. He was also a benefactor of

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

Ghost

Schroeder's ghost is said to haunt the Hotel Retlaw in Fond du Lac, the Aquatic Center, and the Schroeder Hall."283: Remember Me"
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This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internation ...

,''

WBEZ WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the Chicago metropolitan area. Financed by corporate underwriting, government funding and lis ...

(

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

), February 25, 2005

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schroeder, Walter 1878 births 1967 deaths American hoteliers Insurance agents American financial businesspeople Businesspeople from Milwaukee