Everything about Milwaukee Wisconsin totally explained
Milwaukee is the largest city in the state of
Wisconsin and
22nd largest (by population) in the
United States. The city is the
county seat of
Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of
Lake Michigan. As of a revised 2006
U.S. Census estimate, Milwaukee had a population of 602,782. The city is the main cultural and economic center of the
Milwaukee–Racine–Waukesha Metropolitan Area with a population of 1,773,519.
The first Europeans to pass through the area were French missionaries and fur traders. In
1818, the French-Canadian explorer
Solomon Juneau settled in the area, and in
1846 Juneau's town combined with two neighboring towns to incorporate as the City of Milwaukee. Large numbers of
German and other immigrants helped increase the city's population during the
1840s and the following decades.
Once known almost exclusively as a
brewing and
manufacturing powerhouse, Milwaukee has taken steps in recent years to reshape its image. In the past decade, major new additions to the city have included the
Milwaukee Riverwalk, the
Midwest Airlines Center,
Miller Park, an internationally renowned addition to the
Milwaukee Art Museum, and
Pier Wisconsin, as well as major renovations to the
Milwaukee Auditorium and
U.S. Cellular Arena. In addition, many new skyscrapers, condos, lofts, and apartments have been constructed in neighborhoods on and near the lakefront and riverbanks.
History
The Milwaukee area was originally inhabited by the
Fox,
Mascouten,
Potawatomi, and
Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Native American tribes. French missionaries and traders first passed through the area in the late
17th and
18th centuries. The word "Milwaukee" comes from an
Algonquian word
Millioke which means "Good/Beautiful/Pleasant Land",
Potawatomi language minwaking, or
Ojibwe language ominowakiing, "Gathering place [bythe water]". Early explorers called the Milwaukee River and surrounding lands various names: Melleorki, Milwacky, Mahn-a-waukie, Milwarck, and Milwaucki. For many years, printed records gave the name as "Milwaukie". One story of Milwaukee's name says,
» "[O]ne day during the thirties of the last century [1800s] a newspaper calmly changed the name to Milwaukee, and Milwaukee it has remained until this day."
The spelling "Milwaukie" lives on in
Milwaukie, Oregon, named after the Wisconsin city in 1847, before the current spelling was universally accepted.
Milwaukee has three "
founding fathers," of whom French Canadian
Solomon Juneau was first to come to the area, in 1818. The Juneaus founded the town called Juneau's Side, or Juneautown, that began attracting more settlers. However,
Byron Kilbourn was Juneau's equivalent on the west side of the
Milwaukee River. In competition with Juneau, he established Kilbourntown west of the Milwaukee River, and made sure the streets running toward the river didn't join with those on the east side. This accounts for the large number of angled bridges that still exist in Milwaukee today. Further, Kilbourn distributed maps of the area which only showed Kilbourntown, implying Juneautown didn't exist or that the east side of the river was uninhabited and thus undesirable. The third prominent builder was
George H. Walker. He claimed land to the south of the Milwaukee River, along with Juneautown, where he built a log house in 1834. This area grew and became known as Walker's Point.
By the 1840s, the three towns had grown quite a bit, along with their rivalries. The 1840s brought on some intense battles between the towns, mainly Juneautown and Kilbourntown, which culminated with the
Milwaukee Bridge War of 1845. Following the Bridge War, it was decided the best course of action was to officially unite the towns. So on
January 31,
1846 they combined to incorporate as the City of Milwaukee and elected L. Solomon Juneau as Milwaukee's first mayor. A great number of
German immigrants had helped increase the city's population during the 1840s and continued to migrate to the area during the following decades. Milwaukee has even been called "Deutsches Athen" (German Athens), and into the twentieth century, there were more German speakers and German-language newspapers than there were English speakers and English-language newspapers in the city. (To this day, the
Greater Milwaukee phonebook includes more than 40 pages of Schmitts or Schmidts, far more than the pages of Smiths.)
During the middle and late 19th Century, Wisconsin and the Milwaukee area became the final destination of many German immigrants fleeing the
Revolution of 1848 in the various small German states and Austria. In Wisconsin, they found the inexpensive land and the freedoms they sought. The German heritage and influence in the Milwaukee area is widespread. In addition to Germans, Milwaukee saw large influxes of immigrants from
Poland,
Italy and
Ireland, as well as many
Jews from Central and Eastern Europe. By 1910, Milwaukee (along with
New York City) shared the distinction of having the largest percentage of foreign-born residents in the United States.
Furthermore, early in the 20th Century, Milwaukee was home to a number of pioneer
brass era automobile makers, including
Ogren (from 1919 to 1922) and
LaFayette (from 1922 to about 1924).
The late 19th century saw the incorporation of Milwaukee's first suburbs. The aforementioned Bay View existed as an independent village from 1879-1886. In March 1889, that community saw four days of protest and one day of rioting against its Chinese laundrymen. Sparking this city-wide disturbance were allegations of sexual misconduct between two Chinese and a number of underaged white females. The unease and tension in the wake of the riot was assuaged by the direct disciplining of the city's Chinese. In 1892,
Whitefish Bay,
South Milwaukee, and
Wauwatosa each were incorporated. They were followed by
Cudahy (1895), North Milwaukee (1897) and East Milwaukee, later known as
Shorewood, in 1900. The early 20th century saw the additions of
West Allis (1902) and
West Milwaukee (1906), which completed the first generation of "inner-ring" suburbs.
During the first half of the twentieth century, Milwaukee was the hub of the
socialist movement in the United States. Milwaukee elected three socialist mayors during this time:
Emil Seidel (1910-1912),
Daniel Hoan (1916-1940), and
Frank Zeidler (1948-1960). It remains the only major city in the country to have done so. Often referred to as "
Sewer Socialists," the Milwaukee socialists were characterized by their practical approach to government and labor. Also during this time, a small but burgeoning community of
African Americans who emigrated from the south formed a community that would come to be known as Bronzeville.
Milwaukee continued to grow tremendously until the late
1950s. Milwaukee was home to immigrants from Ireland, Germany,
Hungary, Poland and other central European nations. There was also great northward migration of African Americans from the
Southern United States. With the large influx of immigrants, Milwaukee became one of the 15 largest cities in the nation, and by the mid-
1960s, its population reached nearly 750,000. Starting in the late 1960s, however, Milwaukee, like many cities in the "
rust belt," saw its population start to decline due to various factors, including the loss of
blue collar jobs and the phenomenon of "
white flight." Nevertheless, in recent years the city has begun to make strides in improving its economy, neighborhoods, and image, resulting in the revitalization of neighborhoods such as the
Historic Third Ward, the
East Side, and more recently Walker's Point,
Bay View, along with attracting new businesses to its downtown area. The city continues to make plans for increasing its future revitalization through various projects. Largely due to its efforts to preserve its history, in 2006 Milwaukee was named one of the "Dozen Distinctive Destinations" by the
National Trust for Historic Preservation.. In 2007, the Census Bureau released revised population numbers for Milwaukee, that showed the city gained population between 2000 and 2006. This marked the first period of positive population growth since the 1960s.
Geography and climate
Geography
Milwaukee lies along the shores and bluffs of
Lake Michigan at the confluence of three rivers: the
Menomonee, the
Kinnickinnic, and the
Milwaukee. Smaller rivers, such as the
Root River and Lincoln Creek also flow through the city. Because across
Lake Michigan is large enough for water horizon, and the Great Lakes are a major shipping medium, Milwaukee's waterfront resembles that of an ocean more than an inland lakeshore.
Milwaukee's terrain is relatively flat, except for steep bluffs along the lakeshore that begin about one half mile north and four miles south of the downtown.
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 251.0
km² (96.9
square miles). 248.8 km² (96.1 square miles) of it's land, and 0.9 square miles (2.2 km²) of it's water. The total area is 0.88% water.
Climate
| Monthly normal and record high and low temperatures |
| Month |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Year |
| Rec High °F | 63 |
68 |
82 |
91 |
94 |
104 |
105 |
103 |
99 |
89 |
77 |
68 |
86.25
|
| Norm High °F | 28 |
32.5 |
42.6 |
53.9 |
66 |
76.3 |
81.1 |
79.1 |
71.9 |
60.2 |
45.7 |
33.1 |
55.86
|
| Norm Low °F | 13.4 |
18.3 |
27.3 |
36.4 |
46.2 |
56.3 |
62.9 |
62.1 |
54.1 |
42.6 |
31 |
19.4 |
39.16
|
| Rec Low °F | -26 |
-26 |
-10 |
12 |
21 |
33 |
40 |
42 |
28 |
15 |
-14 |
-22 |
9.08
|
| Precip (in) | 1.85 |
1.65 |
2.59 |
3.78 |
3.06 |
3.56 |
3.58 |
4.03 |
3.3 |
2.49 |
2.7 |
2.22 |
34.81
|
| Source: USTravelWeather.com |
Milwaukee's location in the
Great Lakes Region means that it often has rapidly changing weather, and the city experiences the full range of the
seasons throughout the year. The warmest month of the year is July, when the average high temperature is 82°F (28°C), with overnight low temperatures averaging 66°F (19°C); January is the coldest month, with high temperatures averaging 27°F (-3°C), with the overnight low temperatures around 13°F (-11°C). Of the 50 largest cities in the United States, Milwaukee has the second-coldest average annual temperature, next to that of
Minneapolis.
Milwaukee's proximity to
Lake Michigan causes a convection current to form around mid-afternoon in light wind regimes, resulting in the so-called
lake breeze, a smaller scale version of the more common sea breeze. The lake breeze is most common between the months of March and June. This onshore flow causes temperatures to remain milder near the lake compared to inland locations. "Cooler near the lake" or "CNTL" is practically boilerplate language for local meteorologists during the spring and early summer. As the sun sets, the convection current reverses and an offshore flow ensues causing a
land breeze. After a land breeze develops, warmer temperatures surge east toward the lakeshore, sometimes causing high temperatures to be reached during the late evening. The lake breeze isn't a daily occurrence and won't form if southwest to northwest winds generally exceed 15 mph. The lake also acts to moderate cold air outbreaks along the lakeshore during winter months. Despite Lake Michigan, overnight lows in downtown Milwaukee are often much warmer than suburban locations due to the
urban heat island effect. Also, more snow falls in Milwaukee than surrounding areas, due to periodic episodes of
Lake effect snow. Onshore winds cause higher daytime
relative humidity levels in Milwaukee as compared to other cities at the same latitude.
Milwaukee's all-time record high temperature is 105°F (41°C) set on
July 17 1995. The coldest temperature ever experienced by the city was -26°F (-32°C) on both
January 17 1982 and
February 4 1996. The 1982 event, also known as
Cold Sunday, featured temperatures as low as -40°F (-40°C) in some of the
suburbs as little as 10 miles (16km) to the north of Milwaukee, although the city itself didn't approach such cold temperatures.
In Milwaukee, the wettest month is August, due to frequent
thunderstorms. These can at times be dangerous and damaging, bringing
hail and high winds. In rare instances, it can bring a
tornado to the more inland parts of the city. However, almost all summer rainfall in the city is brought by these storms. In spring and fall, longer events of prolonged, lighter rain bring most of the precipitation.
Snow commonly falls in the city from early November until the middle of March, although it has been recorded as early as
September 23, and as late as
May 31. The city receives an average of 47.0 inches (1.19m) of snow in winter, but this number is highly variable. In 2000, 49.5 inches (1.26m) of snow fell solely in the month of December.
Cityscape
The city runs largely on the grid system, although in the far northwest and southwest corners of the city, the grid pattern gives way to a more suburban-style streetscape. This is no coincidence as former mayor
Henry Maier sought to create "suburbs within the city" using recently annexed land to help counteract the urban sprawl that was damaging the city's economy. North-south streets are numbered, and east-west streets are named. However north-south streets east of 1st street are named, like east-west streets. The north-south numbering line is along the Menomonee River (east of Hawley Road) and Fairview Avenue/Golfview Parkway (west of Hawley Road), with the east-west numbering line defined along 1st Street (north of Oklahoma Avenue) and Chase/Howell Avenue (south of Oklahoma Avenue). This numbering system is also used to the north by
Mequon in
Ozaukee County, and by some
Waukesha County communities.
It is crossed by
Interstate 43 and
Interstate 94, which come together downtown at the
Marquette Interchange, which is currently under an extensive construction project set to be completed in 2008.
Interstate 894 bypass runs through portions of the city's southwest side, and
Interstate 794 comes out of the Marquette interchange eastbound, bends south along the lakefront and crosses the harbor over the
Hoan Bridge, then ends near the
Bay View neighborhood and becomes the "Lake Parkway" (
WIS-794).
Neighborhoods
Demographics
Population
As of the
census estimate of 2006, there are 602,782 people residing in Milwaukee
(External Link
). As of 2000, there were 232,188 households, and 135,133 families residing in the city. The
population density is 2,399.5/km² (6,214.3 per square mile). There are 249,225 housing units at an average density of 1,001.7/km² (2,594.4 per square mile).
There are 232,188 households out of which 30.5% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.2% are
married couples living together, 21.1% have a female householder with no husband present, and 41.8% are non-families. 33.5% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.5% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.50 and the average family size is 3.25.
According to the 2000 Census, there were at least 1,408 same-sex households in Milwaukee which accounts for 0.6% of all households in the city. Although this number is slightly lower than other cities in the region such as Chicago and Minneapolis, Milwaukee continues to be noted for its generally accepting attitudes towards the
LGBT community. As a result, many gay-friendly communities have developed in neighborhoods such as
Walker's Point,
Bay View,
Historic Third Ward and
Riverwest. Milwaukee and later the State of Wisconsin became the first in the nation to not discriminate against sexual orientation. In 2001, Milwaukee was named the #1 city for
lesbians by
Girlfriends magazine.
In the city the population is spread out with 28.6% under the age of 18, 12.2% from 18 to 24, 30.2% from 25 to 44, 18.1% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 31 years. For every 100 females there are 91.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 87.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $32,216, and the median income for a family is $37,879. Males have a median income of $32,244 versus $26,013 for females. The
per capita income for the city is $16,181. 21.3% of the population and 17.4% of families are below the
poverty line. Out of the total population, 31.6% of those under the age of 18 and 11.0% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line. At 43% in 2007, Milwaukee has the second highest black male unemployment rate in the country behind
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Race and ethnicity
According to the 2000 census, 39.5% of Milwaukeeans reported having African-American ancestry and 38% reported German ancestry. Other significant population groups include Polish (12.7%), Irish (10%), English (5.1%), Italian (4.4%), French (3.9%), with Hispanic origin totaling 14.9%.
The
metropolitan area was cited as being the most segregated in the U.S. in a Jet Magazine article in 2002. The source of this information was a segregation index developed in the mid 1950s and used since 1964. In 2003, a more detailed study was conducted by researchers at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee which proved that while segregation does run deep in Milwaukee, as in most northern and midwest cities, it isn't "hypersegregated" and actually ranks as the 43rd most integrated city in America. Due to continued dialogue between Milwaukee's citizens, the city is making an effort to reduce racial tensions and reduce the rate of segregation. With demographic changes in the wake of
white flight, segregation in metropolitan Milwaukee is primarily in the suburbs rather than the city as in the era of
Father Groppi.
Religion
Milwaukee is home to the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, the
Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee, the
Greater Milwaukee Synod of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the headquarters of the
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. The
School Sisters of the Third Order of St Francis have their mother house in Milwaukee and several other religious orders have a significant presence in the area, including the
Jesuits and
Franciscans.
The Association of Religion Data Archives reported on the religious composition of the Milwaukee-Racine area
as of 2000. Approximately 55% of residents were adherents to one of the 188 groups included in the data. Of them, 58% were
Catholic, 23%
Lutheran, 3%
Methodist, and 2.5%
Jewish. Others included adherents to other
Protestant denominations, Orthodox churches, and Eastern religions. Historically African-American denominations were not included in the data.
Elmbrook Church, an
evangelical Christian megachurch, is located in the Milwaukee suburb of
Brookfield, and is the largest church in Wisconsin. Also, the
Muslim community has 5 mosques in the area with the biggest being located on S.13th street.
Education
Higher education
While not typically thought of as a "
college town" Milwaukee has one of the highest per capita student populations in
North America. A January 2000 study from
McGill University ranked Milwaukee 6th in a list of U.S. and Canadian cities with the highest number of college students per 100 residents.
The
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is the city's largest higher education institution and the only public university. It is the second largest university of Wisconsin and one of the two public doctoral research institutions of the state. The largest private university of the city is
Marquette University, which is also one of the largest Jesuit universities in the United States and was ranked #82 by U.S. News & World Report in 2007. In addition, Milwaukee is also home to
Alverno College,
Cardinal Stritch University,
Milwaukee Area Technical College,
Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design,
Milwaukee School of Engineering, and
Mount Mary College The campus of two other colleges,
Medical College of Wisconsin and
Wisconsin Lutheran College partially lie within the city's borders. Several other small national clerical and career colleges, such as
Bryant and Stratton and
ITT Technical Institute also maintain campuses in the area.
Primary and secondary schooling
Milwaukee maintains
Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), the largest school district in Wisconsin and
one of the largest in the nation. As of 2006, it has an enrollment of 97,762 students and employs 6,100 full-time and substitute teachers in 223 schools. Milwaukee Public Schools operate as
magnet schools, with individualized specialty areas for interests in academics, or the arts.
Riverside University High School,
Rufus King High School,
Golda Meir School,
Milwaukee School of Languages,
Milwaukee High School of the Arts and
Lynde & Harry Bradley Technology and Trade School are just some examples of the magnet schools in Milwaukee. In addition to its public schools, Milwaukee is home to over two dozen private high schools, such as
Marquette University High School,
Divine Savior Holy Angels High School, and
Pius XI High School among others, and many private and
parochial middle and elementary schools.
Of persons in Milwaukee aged 25 and above, 84.5% have a high school diploma, and 27% have a Bachelor's degree or higher. (2000)
Government and politics
Milwaukee has three state Senate districts, each of which is composed of three Assembly districts. All 12 of the officials representing the city in the State Legislature are
Democrats.
Milwaukee makes up the overwhelming majority of
Wisconsin's 4th congressional district. Because of the district's loyalty to the Democratic Party, the Democratic primary for the seat is often considered more important than the general election. The district is currently represented by Democrat
Gwen Moore. The small portions of the city located in
Washington and
Waukesha counties are in the
5th district, represented by
Republican Jim Sensenbrenner. However, a Republican hasn't represented a significant portion of the city since
1949.
Milwaukee has a
mayor-council form of government with a strong-mayor plan. The mayor oversees a Common Council of elected members, each representing one of 15 districts in the city.
Milwaukee County residents also elect a county executive who oversees the County Board of Supervisors, or representatives from 19 districts of which nine are entirely within the city's borders.
Economy
Milwaukee and its suburbs are the home to the headquarters of 13
Fortune 1000 companies, including
Johnson Controls,
Northwestern Mutual,
Manpower Inc.,
Kohl's,
Harley-Davidson,
Rockwell Automation,
Fiserv,
Marshall & Ilsley Corp.,
Wisconsin Energy,
Briggs & Stratton,
Joy Global,
A.O. Smith, and
MGIC Investments. The Milwaukee metropolitan area ranks fifth in the United States in terms of the number of
Fortune 500 company headquarters as a share of the population.
Brookfield is the leading commercial suburb of Milwaukee. Milwaukee also has a large number of financial service firms, particularly those specializing in mutual funds and transaction processing systems, and a number of publishing and printing companies, including
Quad/Graphics. Milwaukee is also the headquarters of
Midwest Airlines, the
Koss Corporation and
Master Lock.
Service and managerial jobs are the fastest-growing segments of the Milwaukee economy, and
health care alone makes up 27% the jobs in the city. Twenty-two percent of Milwaukee's workforce is involved in manufacturing, second only to
San Jose, California, and far higher than the national average of 16.5%.
Brewing
Milwaukee was once the home to four of the world's largest breweries (
Schlitz,
Blatz,
Pabst, and
Miller), and was the number one beer producing city in the world for many years. Despite the decline in its position as the world's leading beer producer after the loss of three of those breweries, its one remaining major brewery,
Miller Brewing Company, remains a key employer by employing over 1,700 of the city's workers. Due to Miller's solid position as the second-largest beer-maker in the U.S., as well as basing its world headquarters in Milwaukee, the city remains known as a beer town despite now only representing a fraction of its economy. The historic Milwaukee Brewery, located in "Miller Valley" at 4000 West State Street, is the oldest still-functioning major brewery in the United States.
Besides Miller and the heavily-automated
Leinenkugel's brewery in the old
Blatz 10th Street plant, the only other currently operating stand-alone brewery in Milwaukee is
Lakefront Brewery, a
microbrewery located in Riverwest. The suburb of
Glendale is home to
Sprecher Brewery, another locally popular microbrew. Various
brewpubs can also be found throughout the Milwaukee area.
Crime
Violent crime in Milwaukee has declined substantially since the late 1990s: For several years, Milwaukee ranked among the ten most dangerous large cities in the United States, however in recent years, Milwaukee no longer appears among the top 25 most dangerous cities. However, despite its improvement, Milwaukee still fares worse than average when comparing specific crime types to the national average (for example, homicide, rape, robbery); only aggravated assaults occur less frequently in Milwaukee than the national average.
One of Milwaukee's most notorious crimes that came to national media attention was in the summer of 1991.
Jeffrey Dahmer was discovered to be among the nation's worst serial killers, having killed and cannibalized 17 people.
Culture
Museums
Milwaukee's most visually prominent cultural attraction is the
Milwaukee Art Museum, especially its new $100 million wing designed by
Santiago Calatrava in his first American commission. The museum includes a "brise soleil," a moving sunscreen that unfolds like the wing of a bird. Milwaukee is also home to the
America's Black Holocaust Museum. Founded by lynching survivor
James Cameron, the museum features exhibits which chronicle the injustices suffered throughout history by African Americans in the United States. The
Milwaukee Public Museum,
Discovery World Museum, Betty Brinn Children's Museum,
Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, the
Charles Allis Art Museum,
Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory and
Milwaukee County Zoo are also notable public attractions. A
Harley-Davidson Museum is scheduled to open in 2008.
Performing arts
Milwaukee is home to the
Florentine Opera, the
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the
Festival City Symphony, the
Milwaukee Ballet,
Milwaukee Repertory Theatre,
Milwaukee Shakespeare,
Skylight Opera Theatre,
First Stage Children's Theater,
Milwaukee Youth Theatre, and a number of other arts organizations including the
Pioneer Drum and Bugle Corps. Additionally, Milwaukee is home to artistic performance venues such as the
Marcus Center for the Performing Arts,
Pabst Theater,
The Rave/Eagles Ballroom,
Riverside Theater, and
Milwaukee Theatre. The
Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, a first-of-its-kind Arts-in-education facility, is a national model.
Festivals
Milwaukee, "A Great Place on a Great Lake" has also advertised itself as the "City of Festivals," The Milwaukee metropolitan area hosts the
Wisconsin State Fair, as well as an annual lakefront fair called
Summerfest. Listed in the
Guinness Book of World Records as the largest
music festival in the world, Summerfest attracts around 1,000,000 visitors a year to its twelve stages.
Milwaukee is also home to a variety of primarily ethnically themed festivals throughout the summer. Held generally on the lakefront Summerfest grounds, these festivals span several days (typically Friday plus the weekend) and celebrate Milwaukee's history and diversity. In 2008 Riversplash, which markets itself as 'the official opening of summer', kicks off festival season on the last weekend of May. Festivals for the
LGBT (
PrideFest) and
Polish communities follow in June. Summerfest spans 10 days at the end of June and beginning of July. There are
French (
Bastille Day),
Greek,
Italian and
German festivals in July. The
Wisconsin State Fair,
African,
Arab,
Irish,
Mexican and
American Indian festivals wrap it up from August through the first week of September.
Music
Milwaukee has a long history of musical activity. The first organized musical society, called "Milwaukee Beethoven Society" formed in 1843, three years before the city was incorporated. This was later replaced with the Milwaukee Musical Society.
The large concentrations of German immigrants contributed to the musical character of the city. Saengerbund festivals were held regularly. Also notable is the founding of the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in 1899.
More recently, Milwaukee has enjoyed a vibrant history of
rock,
hip hop,
jazz,
soul,
blues,
punk,
ska,
industrial music,
electronica,
world music, and
pop music bands. Venues such as
Pabst Theater, Marcus Amphitheater,
Riverside Theater, The Northern Lights Theater, and The Rave frequently bring internationally-known and critically acclaimed acts to Milwaukee. 'Jazz in the Park', a weekly jazz show held at downtown Cathedral Square Park, has become a summer tradition. They are free, public performances with a kind of picnic environment for the audience.
Municipal wireless
Through its Milwaukee Wireless Initiative, the city has contracted with Midwest Fiber Networks to invest $20 million in setting up
municipal wireless network city-wide. Under the plan, the city will designate numerous government and public service websites for free access, and city residents will be able to access unlimited content for a monthly fee. Full wireless coverage was expected by March 2008, but delays have been reported
The city had previously established free wireless networks in two downtown city parks:
Cathedral Square and
Pere Marquette Park.
Recreation
The
Milwaukee County Parks offer facilities for sunbathing, picnics, grilling,
disc golf and ice skating. The
Milwaukee Community Sailing Center also offers educational and recreational sailing opportunities.
The
U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee (formerly the Greater Milwaukee Open) is a
PGA Tour event held at
Brown Deer Park Golf Course in the bordering suburb of
Brown Deer.
Additional recreational resources include the
Milwaukee County Zoo and the
Boerner Botanical Gardens.
Sports
Milwaukee has a rich history of involvement in professional and nonprofessional sports, going back to the 19th century. Currently, its major sports teams include:
Transportation
Two of Wisconsin's main
Interstate highways intersect in Milwaukee.
Interstate 94 comes north from Chicago to enter Milwaukee and continues west to
Madison.
Interstate 43 enters Milwaukee from the southwest and continues north to
Green Bay. Milwaukee has two branch interstate highways,
Interstate 894 and
Interstate 794. I-894 extends from the western suburbs to the southern suburbs, bypassing downtown. I-794 extends east from the
Marquette Interchange to Lake Michigan before turning south over the
Hoan Bridge toward the
airport, turning into
Highway 794 along the way.
Milwaukee is also served by three
US highways.
U.S. Route 18 provides a link from downtown to points west.
U.S. Route 41 and
U.S. Route 45 both provide north-south freeway transportation on the western side of the city.
U.S. Route 41, connects the city with the
Fox Valley, is being considered for expansion which will qualify it for an upgrade to
Interstate status. The proposed
Interstate 41 would become Milwaukee's third main Interstate.
Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, serves Milwaukee, operating its
Empire Builder daily in both directions between
Chicago Union Station and the Pacific Northwest from the
Milwaukee Intermodal Station, which was remodeled in 2007 and now also houses the city's
Greyhound operations and the traffic management headquarters for the
Wisconsin Department of Transportation. The city is also served by the
Hiawatha Amtrak express service six times daily between Milwaukee and Chicago, and also has a stop at a new
rail station located just west of Mitchell Field which opened in 2005.
The
Milwaukee County Transit System provides a bus transit system. In addition, Milwaukee is home to two airports,
General Mitchell International Airport on the southern edge of the city, and the smaller
Timmerman Field on the north side.
A tram system known as the
Milwaukee Connector was proposed and passed by the common council, but mayor
Tom Barrett vetoed the bill over problems of cost and availability. Currently, a 0.5% sales tax is being proposed for the counties of
Milwaukee,
Racine and
Kenosha by the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority to fund a commuter rail from Kenosha to downtown Milwaukee. The tax would also be used to fund the bus systems in those counties which currently rely on property taxes
(External Link).
In recent years, Milwaukee has become one of the more bicycle friendly cities in the Untied States.
The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin holds an annual Bike to Work Week. The event, held in May each year, has frequently featured a commuter race between a car, a bus, and a bike; and also a morning ride into work with the mayor. In 2006, it obtained bronze-level status from the League of American Bicyclists
(External Link), a rarity for a city its size
(External Link). The city currently has over 65 miles of bicycle lanes and trails, most of which run alongside or near its rivers and
Lake Michigan. The city also has identified over 250 miles of streets on which bike lanes will fit. It has created a plan labeling 145 miles of those as high priority to receive bike lanes. As part of the city's Bicycle and Pedestrain Task Force's mission to "make Milwaukee more bicycle and pedestrian friendly", over 700 bike racks have been installed throughout the city.
Media
Milwaukee's only surviving daily
newspaper is the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The most prominent weekly is
Shepherd Express, a free publication. Other local newspapers, city guides and magazines with large distributions include
M Magazine,
Milwaukee Magazine,
MKE (magazine),
Vital Source, and
Riverwest Currents.
OnMilwaukee.com is an online magazine providing news and events. The
UWM Post is the independent, student-run weekly at the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The Onion, a weekly satirical publication, is distributed free in Milwaukee in addition to nine other U.S. cities.
Milwaukee's major
network television affiliates are
WTMJ 4 (
NBC),
WITI 6 (
Fox),
WISN 12 (
ABC),
WVTV 18 (
CW),
WCGV 24 (
MyNetworkTV), and
WDJT 58 (
CBS). Spanish language programming is on
WBWT 38 (
Azteca America) and
WYTU-LP 63 (
Telemundo). Milwaukee's
public broadcasting stations are
WMVS 10 and
WMVT 36.
Other television stations in the Milwaukee market include
WMKE 7 (
America One),
WVCY 30 (
FN),
WMLW 41 (
Independent),
WJJA 49 (
HSN),
WWRS 52 (
TBN), and
WPXE 55 (
ION)
There are numerous
radio stations throughout Milwaukee and the surrounding area.
Journal Communications (a
NYSE-traded corporation), in addition to owning the
Journal Sentinel, also owns: WTMJ-TV; WTMJ and WKTI radio stations; the weekly
MKE; and well over a dozen local weekly newspapers in the metropolitan area.
See also:
Sister cities
The city of Milwaukee has four
sister cities, while Milwaukee County has two sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc (SCI) and Milwaukee's Sister Cities:
City of Milwaukee
Galway, Republic of Ireland
Nuevitas, Camagüey, Cuba
Schwerin, Germany
Morogoro, Tanzania
Tiberias, Tiberias
Milwaukee County
Białystok, Poland
King William’s Town, South AfricaFurther Information
Get more info on 'Milwaukee Wisconsin'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://milwaukee__wisconsin.totallyexplained.com">Milwaukee, Wisconsin Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
