What's a city bong, and why's it so cheap?

One of my favorite, lesser-known features of OnMilwaukee.com is a widget we call "This Day in Milwaukee History."

We programmed this little application several years ago, I'm guessing around 2001. You can find it on the lower-left section of the OnMilwaukee.com homepage, and it's pretty straight forward -- just a little blurb about something that happened on, you guessed it, this day in Milwaukee history.

TDIMH has been a long-time work in progress, culled from many sources by many people. Which is why I have no idea what today's event from 1858 could possible mean:

"As city bongs fall to half value, reform groups gather in Albany Hall to unite on a political ticket that will grant tax relief."

I can't possibly imagine what a city bong was, but if they were half price, you think people would be gathering to celebrate instead of rallying for tax relief. Regardless, I think this installment of TDIMH is even funnier than co-worker Bobby Tanzilo's favorite of June 10, 1910:

"For the first time, chlorine is used in the Milwaukee Water System and the public drinking cup is done away with."

Ah, history. It's funny because it's true.

Update: Apparently and unfortunately, it was just a typo. One meticulous reader found the correct anecdote in Laurence Marcellus Larson's thrilling work, "A Financial and Administrative History of Milwaukee." The word "bong" was supposed to be "bond." A hilarious mistake ... and probably the reason we fired the intern who entered it way back then. Clearly, his mind was elsewhere.