“They all have personalities, and they’re 80 to 100 years old, but they’re pretty good at doing their job.”

Bay View Printing Company is a local letterpress printing company that has been around for 106 years.Their building was originally a church, and they started out as a newspaper printing company. Nowadays, they do design and letterpress printing for many local companies. All of their printing is done on antique, century-old printing presses and that’s the way they like it! Bay View Printing Company is also solar powered, women-owned, and donates to several local organizations. The company offers tours of their century-old building, and classes where visitors can learn first-hand how to use an antique printing press. Bay View Printing Company is owned by Ashley Town; her husband, Scott, works with customers.

Cael Byrne: What’s your name, and what do you do for Bay View Printing Company?

Scott Town: My name is Scott Town, and for Bay View Printing Company I do a little bit of front end customer management, so if we have a job going forward I usually do the interface with the people. I also do some of our facilities maintenance, and our workshops where people can learn how to use printing presses.

Cael Byrne: Tell me about the history of this building before Bay View Printing Company took over.

Scott Town: So the history as we know it is the building was originally built as a church. Some records say 1880s, some records say 1917. But this area of the city was absorbed into Bay View around 1917, so a lot of records got updated then. So the space up here was the church, and Bay View Printing Company started moving into the basement of the church in around 1940. It stayed a church until 1959 when they moved into a bigger place, and then Bay View Printing Company bought the whole building.

Cael Byrne: So besides the printing presses, is there anything else original to the building?

Scott Town: The main wood structure of the building is all original still, but the foundation it sits on is younger than the building itself. The original building was built right out on Howell on the ground, and then, when the City of Milwaukee wanted to put a pass through, they built the foundation and put the building on top of it. Some of our presses were delivered new here, but not many of them. Most of them are a little bit older, and have a long-recorded history in the building.

Cael Byrne: Tell me about how this Printing Company Began.

Scott Town: We were founded by somebody that worked at Milwaukee Journal at the time, and we were founded to be a newspaper printer for the local newspaper. We also did lots of other forms for local businesses at the time; bank forms, funeral forms, and legal forms. For most of our history we’ve been a commercial letterpress printing company. In the mid-80s we added offset printing to our portfolio. Then about nine years ago, when Ashley bought it, we started transitioning out of offset, and back into letterpress printing.

Cael Byrne: So what services does Bay View Printing Company offer?

Scott Town: We are a design and letterpress print shop, so we do design services for our clients. We design everything with the intent to letterpress print it, and then all of that letterpress printing we can do here. Occasionally there are digital elements that need to be included, so then we do that printing with digital printing partners in the area.

Cael Byrne: Is there any maintenance required to use these machines?

Scott Town: There is, but most of it is preventative maintenance. We do not often have big maintenance events that have to happen. But we keep the machines oiled. Lucas does printing full time, and he does all of that maintenance for us.It’s just oil every week or every day depending on how often we’re using them.Then it’s simple things like the paper cutter’s blades have to be sharpened. We just have to make sure we do it, because if we don’t then the machine starts making other noises and then you have other problems to deal with.

Cael Byrne: Would you say they are easier than modern printing presses?

Scott Town: Like all presses there is a learning curve. I think it’s easier to troubleshoot, because you’re mixing the ink. You’re not dealing with a toner situation or anything else, so you’re in charge of changing the color. But it’s only going to print one color at a time, so if it’s a four color job you have a lot of work ahead of you.

Cael Byrne: Would you say that they’re better than modern printing presses?

Scott Town: They’re certainly better for our application, and we think they print beautifully. But everything’s a different aesthetic, so it depends on what you’re looking for out of it. They all have personalities, and they’re 80 to 100 years old, but they’re pretty good at doing their job.

Cael Byrne: Why do you choose to use these machines instead of upgrading to modern presses?

Scott Town: For the design and the style of printing, there isn’t anything modern that would actually be an upgrade. We prefer the aesthetics of the way we do printing on these machines.

Cael Byrne: So you think that for as long as you’re in business, you’ll be using these machines?

Scott Town: The company is 106 years old, so who knows what 50 years from now looks like. But the intent would be that we keep designing to print with these presses, and welcome whatever change comes.

Cael Byrne: When did you switch over to using solar power, and how has that affected the business?

Scott Town: We went solar just about two years ago now. We kicked off the project, and then had to make a bunch of changes to the roof before the solar panels could go in. We were going to start offering products for retail sale, which we had never done before. As we were changing from a local printing company to having more of a global impact, we wanted to do something to offset our energy use. We were intending to use a lot more energy by shipping around the world, so how can we be more conscious about that decision.

Cael Byrne: Tell me about the local organizations and charities that Bay View Printing Company donates to.

Scott Town: I would say our biggest financial partners are the Urban Ecology Center, the Zoological Society, and Wisconsin Bike Fed. For some of our workshops, we specifically work with youth-focused organizations like Courage MKE. Over the years Bay View Printing has donated to a lot of organizations, and we’re trying to be a little more intentional about the audience that’s going to be receiving the money. So Ashley has put a lot of time into who we partner with, and we’re also part of 1% for the planet.

Cael Byrne: Why should people choose Bay View Printing Company over bigger printing companies?

Scott Town: It depends on if we are a good fit. If you are looking for any design services, we are a full design team. So we know if we’re a good fit for a project when we first talk it through. But there are lots of great artists, so it all depends on who is a better fit for your project. But also if you live in Milwaukee, we’re a local company and your money stays here. It makes a big difference in your community if you can be intentional with your spending in that way. If it fits your budget, then you know you’re benefiting your community.