The history of the Garibaldi Society

Italians began arriving in Milwaukee before the Civil War. While most southern Italians settled on the east side, some moved to Bay View, making their homes in the area bounded by Russell, Superior and St. Clair Streets. Each liked to refer to their communities as “Little Italy,” though the 1900 census shows Bay View’s began with just two Italians! However, it wasn’t long before more paisans joined them. Many came from the Piedmont and La Marche regions of Italy—miners working in Northern Michigan and Wisconsin, moving to Milwaukee to seek work in the rapidly expanding industrial base here. The Illinois Steel Company, Vilter, Nash and the Rolling Mill on Jones Island employed many of these new Americans. The census also lists quite a few single men living in rooming houses, working and saving money to bring their families here.

Like immigrant groups everywhere, Milwaukee’s Italians created societies— clubs really—to provide communal support to help its members adapt to their new country. The first of these was the Galileo Galilei Society in 1883. The Garibaldi Society came later and was initially named the “Societa Di Mutu Soccorso Giuseppe Garibaldi.” It held its first meeting at a rooming house— the current Cactus Club—in 1908 with 40 members. They even wore dark uniforms with red hats and carried ceremonial swords, just like Giuseppe Garibaldi did, though that uniform is long gone. Today there are 117 members, with more joining every year. In 1939, the society changed its name to the “Italian American Mutual Aid Society Giuseppe Garibaldi,” reflecting its “Americanization” since now English and Italian could be spoken at meetings!

Soon the Society began to take on its character and function. Joe Gardetto and Frank Barbieri ran popular taverns featuring bocce courts. The club’s meetings were often held there, naturally! The Annual Picnic became a much-anticipated event, as it is today. Members would march in a parade, accompanied by a band, to Timmerman Park. That function has been replaced by our march in the annual procession at Festa Italiana. Those earlier members also participated in erecting a monument to two Italian-American soldiers killed in World War I. The monument still stands on the triangle at the intersection of St. Clair and Potter Streets.

Pietro Negronida often gave eulogies at the funerals of deceased members. The emotional support for grieving families was perhaps even more important than the sickness and death benefits provided to members. Sevino Gardetto assisted in helping men get jobs at the Rolling Mill, while Peter Giaudrone and Joe Lupini helped their neighbors become Americans by guiding them through the business of citizenship. Some of those surnames are on its rolls today even though it is Milwaukee’s oldest Italian organization.

In 1929 the Italian women of Bay View formed the Anita Garibaldi Society. This group offered benefits similar to the men’s and prospered for many years before disbanding in 1965. In 1934 they also formed a religious society, Our Lady of Lourdes, at Immaculate Conception Church so they could have a priest hear confessions in Italian.

The Italian American Mutual Aid Society Giuseppe Garibaldi remains a source of fellowship and camaraderie, just as it was for our ancestors. The fraternal spirit that was characteristic of Bay View’s Little Italy is the driving force of the Garibaldi Society.