Locksmith in South Milwaukee, WI

Locksmith in South Milwaukee, at home or at work

A locksmith in South Milwaukee is a short drive down the lakeshore from the rest of our area: the city sits about 9 miles south of downtown Milwaukee, between Cudahy and Oak Creek. We come with the tools and keys in the vehicle. Opening a locked house or car usually takes a few minutes once we arrive, and a rekey, a lock change, or a car key takes 15 to 60 minutes. We answer day and night.

A factory town planned from the start

South Milwaukee did not grow by accident. In 1891 the South Milwaukee Company laid out the town on the shore of Lake Michigan and the banks of the Oak Creek as an industrial rival to Milwaukee, and went looking for factories to fill it. The biggest catch came from Ohio: the Bucyrus company agreed to move in 1891 and began operations here in 1893, building steam shovels and later giant mining machines, including Big Muskie, known as the largest mobile earth-moving machine in the world. South Milwaukee became a village in 1892 and a city in 1897. Caterpillar bought Bucyrus in 2011, and the Bucyrus Museum keeps the history.

Today about 20,800 people live in South Milwaukee, many in houses built when it was a streetcar suburb five miles from Milwaukee.

Older houses, older keys

Houses from the streetcar years have seen a lot of owners and a lot of keys. When you buy one, assume that neighbors, relatives, and past contractors still hold keys. We rekey the front, back, and side doors to one new key, and the old ones stop working. A first lock rekey starts at $59, and each additional lock on the same visit starts at $20 (rekeying).

Old cylinders also wear, and a worn key can snap inside the lock in cold weather. When that happens, we pull the broken piece out and cut you a new key from the code or from the lock. Removing a broken key from a house door starts at $99 (broken key in a door).

Milwaukee Avenue and local business

Downtown South Milwaukee runs along Milwaukee Avenue, known locally as "The Avenue," and the downtown district now holds more than 100 businesses. New businesses keep moving into the city's shops and former factory buildings. For a business, we rekey after staff changes, replace storefront cylinders, install keypad locks so employees use codes instead of keys, and set up master key systems. A business lockout starts at $89, and keypad access installation starts at $149 (access control).

Safes at home and in the shop

Shops, offices, and families in South Milwaukee keep cash, documents, and firearms in safes, and a lost combination or a dead keypad battery can lock them out. We open safes without drilling when the method allows it, and change the combination or replace the lock afterward. Safe opening starts at $149, and drilling, when it is the only way, starts at $249 (safe opening).

Grant Park and the lakeshore

About a fourth of South Milwaukee is parkland, and most of that is Grant Park, the first park in the Milwaukee County system. It has a beach, an 18-hole golf course, the Oak Leaf Trail, and the Seven Bridges Trail along the bluffs. Golf bags, beach towels, and trail runs are where keys get locked in cars or lost in the grass. Tell us the lot, and we open the car or make a new key at it. If a key went missing on the golf course, we can make the new one in the lot before the round is over. A car lockout starts at $69, and a key when all are lost starts at $119 (lost car keys).

South Milwaukee and its neighbors

Cudahy is directly north and Oak Creek wraps around the south and west, with St. Francis a little further up the shore. We work in all of them at the same prices.