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From the Local History File
By Wauwatosa Public Library
Wednesday, Sep 5 2007, 10:39 AM
Wauwatosa has a national treasure right in its midst – it is the Schoonmaker Reef. A National Historic Landmark since 1998, the Schoonmaker Reef is located on the bluff that rises above the businesses from the 6200 to 6800 block of West State Street. At this site, fossils that are more than 4 million years old were found.
According to Wauwatosa Historical Society records, a geologist was summoned to the Schoonmaker quarry in 1862 after digging there led to the discovery of an unusual rock mound. The site was studied by geologists for decades and is listed as the first discovered geologically significant site in the Midwest.
Wauwatosa’s first physician, Dr. Fisk Holbrook Day, obtained some of the fossils from the reef. His collection today sits on display in the halls of Harvard University.
