For more than a century, Milwaukee marked Memorial Day with a downtown parade

Memorial Day is about remembering those who died in the service of the U.S. armed forces.

The Milwaukee area has numerous events on Memorial Day weekends to encourage that remembering. But for more than a century and a half, Milwaukee's biggest way of remembering those soldiers' sacrifices was the Memorial Day parade down Wisconsin Avenue.

First called Decoration Day, Memorial Day was born in the wake of the Civil War. But it didn't take long before Milwaukee's Memorial Day parades honored those lost in other wars.

In 1919, the city's Memorial Day parade down Grand Avenue (now Wisconsin Avenue) included veterans of the Civil War; soldiers who fought in the first World War, which had ended only six months earlier; veterans of the Spanish-American War; Gold Star Mothers, whose sons had died fighting for their country; and even members of the Salvation Army, whose female members in particular received a huge ovation from veterans lining the route.

"The many overseas men who lined the streets came to a rigid salute as this army passed, and not until the last lassie had gone by did they come to ease," the Milwaukee Sentinel reported on May 31, 1919. "The statement of one soldier, as he wiped a tear from his eye, was: 'They were with us at all times. Their lives were nothing to them if they could make us happy.'"

Milwaukee Journal photos from the 1930s to the '50s show parade-watchers lining Wisconsin Avenue four deep along much of the route, watching as 50 units or more marched down the avenue.

About 150,000 people came out to see the 1945 Memorial Day parade, which took place less than three weeks after the surrender of Germany and four months before the surrender of Japan in World War II. Among the 5,000 marchers was a unit of soldiers discharged from the still-ongoing war, some in uniform and some in civilian garb.

"Applause rippled all along the route as the World War II heroes came into sight," The Milwaukee Journal reported.

As the years wore on — and attitudes about wars changed — not everyone who came out was there to watch. At the 1969 Memorial Day parade, a group of Vietnam War protesters marched through the crowd of onlookers, carrying signs with slogans such as "The Rich Get Richer, the Poor Get Drafted."

The parade continued, through both Gulf Wars and the war on terror, although the crowds that turned out to see it began to diminish.

The 2019 Memorial Day parade — which, like many before it, went on despite steady rain — was referred to as the city's 154th annual Memorial Day parade.

It also turned out to be the last.

With the COVID-19 pandemic in its early stages in May 2020, organizers had no choice but to make that year's event virtual.

"Anytime you have to cancel something pertaining to veterans, it's hard," Milwaukee Memorial Day Parade President Karen Armstrong told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Meg Jones. "But due to the safety of everyone, it was a decision we just had to make."

Then the 2021 parade was called off, too. In April 2022, organizers, citing dwindling interest and rising costs, announced that the downtown Milwaukee Memorial Day parade was done for good.

"The volunteers whom have run the parade for some 30 years have tried their best to maintain such an important event for our community but have exhausted the options available to try and keep it running," Armstrong said in a statement.

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Each week, From the Archives dips into the files of The Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee Sentinel and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to retell stories about memorable places, people and moments from years past. The stories will often include an array of additional photos online.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: For decades, Milwaukee marked Memorial Day with a downtown parade