Changing addresses: social conflict, civic culture, and the politics of house numbering reform in Milwaukee, 1913–1931

House numbering systems are way-finding systems with cultural significance not only by virtue of their quantification of space but because large centralized systems define a center and axes which have symbolic potential. The article briefly traces house numbering systems in American cities, then analyzes the evolution of Milwaukee's system, beginning with rudimentary numbering of a few business and upper-middle class streets, moving to a number of systems, one for each side of town, after prodding by the Post Office, and then to their unification, 1913–1931. It shows how the interests of large citywide businesses and government promoted reform efforts, while the public was largely uninterested and localistic. Reformers concerned about class and ethnic cleavages favored a unified, centralized numbering scheme symbolically centered on downtown business and a new civic center, conferring enhanced legitimacy on business and law; but this was politically unpopular because it required renaming streets on which a majority of voters lived. But the public acquiesced to the idea of reform, and an alternative unified scheme was adopted in the end. This article provides a detailed analysis of the practical interests underlying house numbering and explores the surprising symbolic potential of house numbers.