Milwaukee Ski Jumping poster, North Shore Line – Willard Frederick Elmes

Milwaukee Ski Jumping poster, North Shore Line

Racine is a small town 10 miles south of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which once had several ski jumping hills. It was serviced by The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad,  known as the North Shore Line which brought skiers into the area from New York and further afield.

The vintage Ski Jumping poster was created by Willard Frederick Elmes to advertise rail travel to the town. Elmes image features a ski jumper in full flight having taken off from Racine’s second ski jump, aptly named Windy Knoll jump. Over the years the resort would build several jumps including the Mt Tom jump that was constructed in 1946. The Washington Park Hill and Lake Michigan jumps were built in 1948.

Sadly today the jumps no longer exist having been demolished in the late 1960s. This poster now seems to be the only reminder of the Golden era of ski jumping in the Milwaukee town of Racine.

Milwaukee Ski Jumping poster artist Willard Frederick Elmes

Willard Frederick Elmes was born in 1900 is a highly respected artist who is probably best-known for his landscape paintings of native Indian tribes. He is also known for his poster artwork for the Santa Fe railroad and created several inspirational and motivational poster through the Mather Work Incentive.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as a fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and frame for a great price.