Pabst Mansion volunteers blend family history and holiday tradition through years of Christmas designs

Holiday traditions at the Pabst Mansion remain rooted not only in Victorian-era grandeur but in the dedication of local volunteers who return each year to reinterpret the historic home for the festive season.

Among them is decorator and docent Roxanne Rhinehart, who has shaped five years of Christmas displays by focusing on the human side of the Pabst family, rather than the elaborate style of the era that is the typical focus of regular mansion tours.

“The holiday time for me is all about family, gathering family near and far, children, grandchildren, just people coming together,” said Rhinehart.

Her work centers on highlighting the people who lived in the mansion rather than the furnishings or the architecture. The Pabsts raised ten children, five of whom survived to adulthood, and maintained extended connections with employees and a wide social circle. Reinforcing those human details has become the foundation of her approach.

“My goals have always been to bring out the history of the family because I feel that’s so important,” she said. “That’s why I’ve incorporated pictures of the Pabst family.”

The mansion itself, completed in 1892 as the third residence of brewing magnate Captain Frederick Pabst, serves as a cherished example of Milwaukee’s Gilded Age domestic architecture.

“To me, the Pabst Mansion is always magical. During Christmastime, that magic transforms into a glowy holiday nostalgia with full glittering trees against rich woods and opulent furnishings,” said Jocelyn Slocum, Museum Director. “I can easily understand why many people have made visiting the Mansion a holiday tradition. It’s grand, while at the same time warm and inviting – just as is often the case with memories of Christmases of the past.”

The mansion’s ornate interiors originally functioned as both a family home and a cultural salon where musicians, performers, and visiting guests gathered for the holidays. Today, volunteers maintain that Christmas tradition by transforming each room with individualized themes that draw from the home’s decades of history.

Decorator Michael McKinley brings a different creative lens to the mansion — one rooted in atmosphere, theatrics, and the emotional memory people attach to the holidays. For him, the season begins the moment the weather shifts.

“The nostalgia that it brings is really powerful. Once the cool, crisp air hits, it’s like I’m ready for that holiday feeling,” he said.

His approach to applying decorations highlights the Pabst legacy. McKinley’s style this year leans into an imaginative reinterpretation by presenting a Christmas fantasy with Mrs. Pabst as the focal point.

“We decided to do a bit of fantasy this year, hence the mannequin being Maria Pabst decorating the tree in her room. It’s a Pabst Christmas fantasy,” said McKinley. “And so in order to execute something like that, there had to be a lot of forethought and planning ahead of time, picking out what ornaments we want and figuring out what we need to special order.”

While some volunteers build their rooms around archival photographs or historical context, McKinley works from months of layered planning that blends costume, sculpture, and ornament selection. The nature of his designs expands the tradition beyond a single decorator’s vision.

Jeff Welk’s path into the mansion’s holiday tradition is a deeply personal thread woven from friendship and memory. His involvement began through the encouragement of someone who saw the joy he brought to his own home during the Christmas season. Welk’s contributions come from honoring that friend’s creative nudge, which turned into nearly a decade of creative stewardship.

“I think this is my eighth year of decorating a room in the Pabst Mansion,” he said. “I managed a hotel for years, and I always decorated the lobby for Christmas. I just like the charm of Christmas.”

For Welk, the challenge is not spectacle but harmony, and building a holiday presence that feels like it belongs inside the walls as the home existed long ago. His approach reflects the same respect for material history that underpins the docent-led interpretation of the family who once lived there.

One of the rooms that Rhinehart has focused on is the space associated with granddaughter Elsbeth Pabst, using photographs and artifacts to give visitors a sense of who the young family members were beyond their place in a family tree.

“I wanted people to know who Elsbeth is instead of them just saying, oh, that’s just the granddaughter,” she said.

Rhinehart’s decorating process begins early each year. She envisions the next holiday season months in advance and then brings family and friends into the work. Her daughter, granddaughter, and church friends often join her, collaborating under her direction while adding their own creative input.

“They share my passion, but follow my vision. I come up with my idea in February for what I want to do that upcoming Christmas,” Rhinehart said. “It’s all about the details for me.”

As the mansion welcomes thousands of visitors during the holiday season, the changes each year reflect the work of volunteers rather than a design staff. Rhinehart considers this an essential part of the experience.

“Nobody is getting paid. It’s just the passion and love for Christmas and the Pabst family that brings folks here to produce the designs they do,” she said.

Her understanding of the mansion also includes an awareness of its often-overlooked social history. While many people associate the Pabst legacy with German-American heritage, she emphasizes the broader, more diverse community connected to the family’s business and household.

“Back in the day, Captain Pabsts did employ people of color,” Rhinehart said. “The key to all of it was you had to be fluent in German to work for them.”

She noted one long-serving employee whose story remains largely unknown to most visitors.

“He had an African American coachman who worked for him for 30 years. And when he and his wife had their first child, a son, they named him Frederick Pabst,” she said.

These details shape how Rhinehart interprets the mansion for guests, framing it as a lived space supported by a diverse set of workers rather than an isolated monument to a single family.

Rhinehart has learned about the Pabst family’s long-term relationships with staff, including employees whose careers extended into the 20th century. Some of those connections continued after the death of Captain Pabst. One of her close friends, now assisting in the decorating process, once worked at Pabst Brewing Company.

“She was in a secretary-type position, and she decided she wanted to go to school to become an educator,” Rhinehart said. “Pabst Brewery paid for it. There was no tuition reimbursement. They just paid for it.”

Understanding of that generosity also shapes the tone of Rhinehart’s holiday tours. She sees it as a reminder that the family’s story, often reduced to wealth and industry, also includes numerous acts of kindness, philanthropy, and personal loyalty.

Rhinehart also views the mansion as part of Milwaukee’s holiday traditions. As other long-standing displays and events have disappeared or changed over time, she believes the Pabst Mansion remains a fixture because of its evolving creativity, rather than nostalgia alone.

The holidays can be an emotional time for visitors, she said, which makes the atmosphere of the mansion especially meaningful. Some arrive coping with grief, loneliness, or the weight of seasonal expectations. The building’s charming and layered decorations provide a temporary refuge.

“It’s a magical moment, the holidays, but it’s also difficult for so many people because there’s that empty spot, that empty chair at the dining room table,” said Rhinehart. “So, the warmth of the mansion – which is such an immersive experience – kind of gives people a way out of that deep funk, and lets us just embrace one another.”

Rhinehart approaches her tours as acts of storytelling, working to convey a fuller picture of the Pabst family. She emphasizes the challenges they faced, the losses they endured, and the determination required to build what became a world-famous brewing enterprise.

“I always look at his story as from rags to riches, because whatever he got, he worked for it,” she said. “No matter how wealthy he became, he never forgot where he came from.”

Her favorite example of the family’s generosity comes from their Christmas giving. Captain Pabst personally provided holiday food baskets to Milwaukee families with limited means, ensuring they had enough for a holiday meal.

“At Christmas time, he would gift one hundred families who were in need with pounds of beef, flour, sugar, lard, fruit, vegetables, and grains,” Rhinehart added. “He felt everybody needed something for the holidays.”