Walter Schroeder

Walter Schroeder (May 19, 1878 – July 18, 1967) was an American hotel and insurance magnate, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Early life Schroeder was born in Milwaukee, the son of German immigrant Christian Schroeder, who founded the insurance company Chris. Schroder & Son in 1888. Walter 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. Shortly after beginning work at the deed office, Schroeder also began working as a staff member of the Milwaukee Daily Reporter. Schroeder launched a competing paper two years later, the Daily Abstract, and later bought out the Reporter. When Walter's older brother, William, died unexpectedly in 1899, he gradually left the newspaper business to join his father's company in his place.

Hotelier Potscard showing the various Schroeder hotels in Wisconsin and Minnesota, c. 1930s In 1912, Chris. Schroeder & Son was asked to help finance construction of the Hotel Wisconsin, the largest of its kind in the state at that time, upon which Walter Schroeder decided to enter the hotel business. After relocating his father's insurance firm relocated to offices in the State Bank of Wisconsin building in 1913, and following Christian Schroeder's death two years later, Schroeder took the reins of the company and branched off into hotel management. The Hotel Duluth in Duluth, Minnesota, Hotel Wausau in Wausau, Wisconsin, and Hotel Northland in Green Bay, all opened in 1925.

The Hotel Schroeder, was completed at the corner of 5th and Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, in 1928, becoming the largest hotel property operated by the firm and the largest hotel in the city. In addition, Schroeder purchased and renovated existing hotels, including the Hotel Calumet in Fond du Lac and Hotel Vincent in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The Hotel Wisconsin was also brought under the direct management of Schroeder through the Hotel Wisconsin Reality Company in the early 1920s and would remain in his possession for the following decades despite an operating deficit, suspicion of illegal transactions, and allegations of tax evasion made by the IRS in 1930.

Many of Schroeder's hotels were designed by architects Martin Tullgren and his son Herbert W. Tullgren (Astor, Retlaw, Loraine, Northland), while the Chicago-based firm Holabird & Roche was responsible for designing hotels Wausau and Schroeder.

Philanthropy Schroeder's foundation provided a $3 million grant to help fund the Milwaukee School of Engineering's Walter Schroeder Library in 1978. He was also a Marquette University benefactor and seven-year member of the Board of Governors. The Schroeder Hall dormitory is named for him, opening in 1957 and renovated in 1992. Initially a men’s residence hall, it became coed in 1973.

Ghost Schroeder's ghost is said to haunt several locations, including the Hotel Retlaw, Aquatic Center, Hilton Milwaukee, and Schroeder Hall at Marquette University.