The Stone Masons Laid the Foundation
Kinn Bay View offers a unique history. The three-story Queen Anne style building was built in 1887 by Bay View Freemason member Gustave Kuehnel. Kuehnel was a druggist and operated his drug store on the first floor and lived on the second, and used the third floor of the building for meetings of Lake Lodge #189 – the third noted Freemason group in Milwaukee, which was established in September of 1872. The group met there for 20 years, until a new located was built in 1908.
For the next 100+ years, the building took on many different lives. From a pool hall with a Chinese restaurant to a brew pub and live music venue, the majestic building has had live many lives. And now we continue adding to the building’s history as a place gather, where people come from all over the country to experience the guesthouse that now resides within these walls and to takeaway a bit of the history that Gustave started all those years ago.
