CREAM CITY
Type at Loss: bark, wood, 3-mast
Built: 1862, B.B. Joes, Sheboygan (fitted out at Milwaukee)
Specs: 174x34x13 629 t (767 t old measure)
Enrollment:
Official No.: 4579
Date of Loss: Nov. 22, 1869
Place of Loss: Drummond Isl., 6 mi E of Detour
Lake Lost: Huron
Type/Cause: storm
Lives Lost: none
Cargo: wheat
Details: Lost her way in a gale and went ashore. She appeared to be only slightly damaged, but several large pumps were unable to lower the water in her hull. Abandoned as a total wreck on Dec 8. Owned by Fitzgerald & Page of Milwaukee. Ashore near Milwaukee in April, 1864. *Built as a "steam bark" with an engine capable of pushing her at five or six miles per hour. After two months of contant minor disaster, this was considered an unsuccessful experiment and the engine was removed.
Detroit Free Press, 14 May 1862
THE NEW STEAM BARK CREAM CITY. - This monster steam craft arrived here yesterday afternoon shortly after five o'clock, and came alongside the dock foot of Bates street, where a large number of citizens, including many of our first and best mechanics, availed themselves of the opportunity to pay her a visit. She has on board 30,000 bushels of wheat, taken on at Milwaukee, and is by far the largest vessel afloat on our western waters. In attempting to wood at Forestville, on Lake Huron, on Saturday last, she got aground, which delayed her on the passage 24 hours. The steamer Magnet, Captain Smith, which was at hand, assisted in getting her afloat, when shortly after, the engine getting disabled by a rope getting in the wheel, she was taken in tow by the Magnet and brought to this city, arriving here as above stated. She will proceed immediately on to Buffalo, under her own steam and sail. In addition to the novelty of being propelled by sail and steam, she presents a majestic appearance, sits gracefully on the water, and has as fine a model as any vessel afloat. Her engines and machinery, which are placed directly in her stern, have been got up and placed in position on the best principles, and are capable of moving her, independent of canvas, from five to six miles an hour. The Cream City was built at Sheboygan, but fitted out at Milwaukee by B. B. Jones, Esq., who has very successfully been building both steam and sail craft for nearly thirty years. The City is commanded by Captain Johnson, a gentleman of good, practical experience, and well qualified to fill so important a post. We wish her safe and prosperous voyages, and trust her owner may be well rewarded in his new enterprise.
Detroit Free Press, 27 Jun 1862
THE BARK CREAM CITY. - The steam bark Cream City, now due on her third trip from Milwaukee, will, it is stated, on her return to that port, be relieved of her steam propelling power, which is to be taken out of her, and in the future she is to rely solely on the use of her sails. Her machinery has from the first proved more of a detriment than a benefit to her, moving her along at the rate of only 4 1/2 miles per hour in the smoothest of weather.
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore-and-aft.
Etymology
The word barque entered English via French, which in turn came from the Latin barca by way of Occitan, Spanish or Italian. The Latin barca may stem from Celtic "barc" (per Thurneysen) or Greek "baris" (per Diez), a term for an Egyptian boat. The Oxford English Dictionary, however, considers the latter improbable.[1]
The word barc appears to have come from Celtic languages. The form adopted by English, perhaps from Irish, was bark, while that adopted by Latin as barca very early, which gave rise to the French barge and barque. In Latin, Spanish and Italian the term barca refers to a small boat, not a full-size ship. French influence in England led to the use in English of both words, although their meanings now are not the same. Well before the 19th century a barge had become interpreted as a small vessel of coastal or inland waters. Somewhat later, a bark became a sailing vessel of a distinctive rig as detailed below. In Britain, by the mid-19th century, the spelling had taken on the French form of barque. Although Francis Bacon used this form of the word as early as 1592,[2] Shakespeare still used the spelling "barke" in Sonnet 116 in 1609. Throughout the period of sail, the word was used also as a shortening of the barca-longa of the Mediterranean Sea.[citation needed]
The usual convention is that spelling barque refers to a ship and bark to tree hide, to distinguish the homophones.[citation needed]
"Barcarole" in music shares the same etymology, being originally a folk song sung by Venetian gondolier and derived from barca - boat in Italian.[citation needed]
Bark
Four-masted barque Nippon Maru II
In the 18th century, the British Royal Navy used the term bark for a nondescript vessel that did not fit any of its usual categories. Thus, when the British Admiralty purchased a collier for use by James Cook in his journey of exploration, she was registered as HM Bark Endeavour to distinguish her from another Endeavour, a sloop already in service at the time. She happened to be a ship-rigged sailing vessel with a plain bluff bow and a full stern with windows.
William Falconer's Dictionary of the Marine defined "bark", as "A general name given to small ships: it is however peculiarly appropriated by seamen to those which carry three masts without a mizzen topsail. Our Northern Mariners, who are trained in the coal-trade, apply this distinction to a broad-sterned ship, which carries no ornamental figure on the stem or prow."[3]
The UK's National Archives states[citation needed] that there is a paper document surviving from the 16th century in the Cheshire and Chester Archives and Local Studies Service, which notes the names of Robert Ratclyfe, owner of the bark "Sunday" and 10 Mariners appointed to serve under Rt. Hon. the Earl of Sussex, Lord Deputy of Ireland.
Barque rig
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Rigging of a three-masted barque
By the end of the 18th century,[citation needed] the term barque (sometimes, particularly in the US, spelled bark) came to refer to any vessel with a particular type of sail-plan. This comprises three (or more) masts, fore-and-aft sails on the aftermost mast and square sails on all other masts. Barques were the workhorse of the golden age of sail in the mid-19th century as they attained passages that nearly matched full rigged ships but could operate with smaller crews.
The advantage of these rigs was that they needed smaller (therefore cheaper) crews than a comparable full-rigged ship or brig-rigged vessel as there were fewer of the labour-intensive square sails, and the rig itself is cheaper.[citation needed] Conversely, the ship rig tended to be retained for training vessels where the larger the crew, the more seamen were trained.
Another advantage is that a barque can outperform a schooner or barkentine, and is both easier to handle and better at going to windward than a full-rigged ship. While a full-rigged ship is the best runner available, and while fore-and-aft rigged vessels are the best at going to windward, the barque is often the best compromise,[citation needed] and combines the best elements of these two.
Most ocean-going windjammers were four-masted barques, since the four-masted barque is considered the most efficient rig available because of its ease of handling, small need of manpower, good running capabilities, and good capabilities of rising toward wind. Usually the main mast was the tallest; that of Moshulu extends to 58 m off the deck. The four-masted barque can be handled with a surprisingly small crew—at minimum, ten—and while the usual crew was around thirty, almost half of them could be apprentices.
Five-masted barque Potosi (ca. 1895-1920)
Today many sailing school ships are barques.[citation needed]
A well-preserved example of a commercial barque is the Pommern, the only windjammer in original condition. Its home is in Mariehamn outside the Åland maritime museum. The wooden barque Sigyn, built in Gothenburg 1887, is now a museum ship in Turku. The wooden whaling barque Charles W. Morgan, launched 1841, taken out of service 1921,[4] is now a museum ship at Mystic Seaport[5] in Connecticut. The Charles W. Morgan has recently been refit and is currently (Summer, 2014) sailing the New England coast. The United States Coast Guard still has an operational barque, built in Germany in 1936 and captured as a war prize, the USCGC Eagle, which the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut uses as a training vessel. The Sydney Heritage Fleet restored an iron-hulled three-masted barque, the James Craig, originally constructed as "Clan Macleod" in 1874 and sailing at sea fortnightly. The oldest active sailing vessel in the world, the Star of India, was built in 1863 as a full-rigged ship, then converted into a barque in 1901.
It was this type of ship that inspired the French composer Maurice Ravel to write his famous piece, Une Barque sur l'ocean, originally composed for piano, in 1905, then orchestrated in 1906.
Barques and barque shrines in Ancient Egypt
Barque used by Hatshepsut during expedition to Punt during her reign as pharaoh in the eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt
In Ancient Egypt barques, referred to using the French word as Egyptian hieroglyphs were first translated by the Frenchman Jean-François Champollion, were a type of boat used from Egypt's earliest recorded times and are depicted in many drawings, paintings, and reliefs that document the culture. Transportation to the afterlife was believed to be accomplished by way of barques as well, and the image is used in many of the religious murals and carvings in temples and tombs.
The most important Egyptian barque carried the dead pharaoh to become a deity. Great care was taken to provide a beautiful barque to the pharaoh for this journey, and models of the boats were placed in their tombs. Many models of these boats, that range from tiny to huge in size, have been found. Wealthy and royal members of the culture also provided barques for their final journey. The type of vessel depicted in Egyptian images remains quite similar throughout the thousands of years the culture persisted.
Barques were important religious artifacts and since the deities were thought to travel in this fashion in the sky—the Milky Way was seen as a great waterway that was as important as the Nile on Earth—cult statues of the deities traveled by boats on water and ritual boats were carried about by the priests during festival ceremonies. Temples included barque shrines, sometimes more than one in a temple, in which the sacred barques rested when a procession was not in progress.[6][7] In these stations the boats would be watched over and cared for by the priests.
Barque of St. Peter
A stained glass window depicting the Barque of Saint Peter in Holy Trinity Catholic Church (Trinity, Indiana)
The Barque of St. Peter, or the Barque of Peter, is a reference to the Roman Catholic Church. The term refers to Peter, the first pope, who was a fisherman before becoming an apostle of Jesus. The pope is often said to be steering the Barque of St. Peter.[8]
See also
Barquentine (three masts, foremast square-rigged)
Brigantine (two masts, foremast square-rigged)
Jackass-barque (three masts, foremast and upper part of mizzen mast square rigged)
Schooner
Windjammer
List of large sailing vessels
Cream City brick is a cream or light yellow-colored brick made from a clay found around Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the Menomonee River Valley and on the western banks of Lake Michigan. These bricks were one of the most common building materials used in Milwaukee during the mid and late 19th century, giving the city the nickname "Cream City" and the bricks the name "Cream City bricks".[1]
Characteristics
Cottage in Racine, Wisconsin, 1910
Cream City bricks are made from a red clay containing elevated amounts of lime and sulfur;[2] this clay is common in regions of Wisconsin, especially near Milwaukee. When the bricks are fired, they become creamy-yellow in color.[1]
Although light-colored when first made, Cream City bricks are porous, causing them to absorb dirt and other pollutants; this tends to make structures constructed out of them dark-colored as time passes. Once Cream City bricks absorb pollutants, they are difficult to clean, a problem which restoration experts in Milwaukee have been facing since the 1970s. Initially, sandblasting was attempted; however, it not only proved to be ineffective, but damaged the bricks. Currently, chemical washes are accepted as the most effective method of cleaning Cream City bricks.[2] The historic Trimborn Farmhouse in Greendale, Wisconsin is an example of brick that has been cleaned to reveal its original color.
Structures built with Cream City brick
Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is an example of a building constructed with Cream City brick, though its cream color has been darkened by the elements.
Cream City bricks are well known for their durability; many buildings constructed with them in the 19th century still stand today. An example of the durability of Cream City brick is Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, which was built more than 125 years ago. However, since there were numerous brickmakers in the area, brick quality varied and some of the bricks were not manufactured properly: the Big Sable Point Lighthouse was constructed of Cream City brick, but it had degraded so much in 35 years that it had to be encased in iron plating.[1] See also, Grosse Point Light, which had to be encased in concrete.[3]
Because the regional headquarters of the United States Lighthouse Board responsible for building lighthouses around Lake Michigan was located in Milwaukee, many of them are built with Cream City bricks, including Kenosha Light, the Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, the McGulpin Point Light, the Old Mackinac Point Light, and many others.[1]
Cream City bricks were widely exported, making their way not only to American cities such as Chicago and New York, but also to western Europe, including Hamburg, Germany.[2]
Sports
A National League baseball team which played in Milwaukee in 1878 was commonly known as the Cream Citys.[2]
Milwaukee (/mɪlˈwɔːki/, locally /məˈ-/)[6] is the largest city in the state of Wisconsin and the fifth-largest city in the Midwestern United States. The county seat of Milwaukee County, it is on Lake Michigan's western shore. Ranked by estimated 2014 population, Milwaukee was the 31st largest city in the United States.[7] The city's estimated population in 2017 was 595,351.[8] Milwaukee is the main cultural and economic center of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. It is also part of the larger Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha combined statistical area, which had an estimated population of 2,026,243 in the 2010 census. Milwaukee is the second-most densely populated metropolitan area in the Midwest, surpassed only by Chicago.[9]
The first Europeans to pass through the area were French Catholic Jesuit missionaries, who were ministering to Native Americans, 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 immigrants arrived during the late 1840s, after the German revolutions, with Poles and other eastern European immigrants arriving in the following decades. Milwaukee is known for its brewing traditions, begun with the German immigrants.
In the early 21st century, the city is undergoing its largest construction boom since the 1960s.[10] Major new additions to the city in the past two decades include the Milwaukee Riverwalk, the Wisconsin Center, Miller Park, an expansion to the Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and Pier Wisconsin, as well as major renovations to the UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena. The Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center is scheduled to open in 2018.
History
Main article: History of Milwaukee
Name
The name "Milwaukee" comes from an Algonquian word millioke, meaning "good", "beautiful" and "pleasant land" (compare Potawatomi: minwaking, Ojibwe: ominowakiing) or "gathering place [by the water]" (compare Potawatomi: manwaking, Ojibwe: omaniwakiing).[11][12]
Native American Milwaukee
Indigenous cultures lived along the waterways for thousands of years. The first recorded inhabitants of the Milwaukee area are the historic Menominee, Fox, Mascouten, Sauk, Potawatomi, and Ojibwe (all Algic/Algonquian peoples); and Ho-Chunk (Winnebago, a Siouan people) Native American tribes. Many of these people had lived around Green Bay[13] before migrating to the Milwaukee area around the time of European contact.
In the second half of the 18th century, the Native Americans living near Milwaukee played a role in all the major European wars on the American continent. During the French and Indian War, a group of "Ojibwas and Pottawattamies from the far [Lake] Michigan" (i.e., the area from Milwaukee to Green Bay) joined the French-Canadian Daniel Liénard de Beaujeu at the Battle of the Monongahela.[14] In the American Revolutionary War, the Native Americans around Milwaukee were some of the few groups to ally with the rebel Continentals.[15]
After the Revolutionary War, the Native Americans fought the United States in the Northwest Indian War as part of the Council of Three Fires. During the War of 1812, they held a council in Milwaukee in June 1812, which resulted in their decision to attack Chicago[16] in retaliation against American expansion. This resulted in the Battle of Fort Dearborn on August 15, 1812, the only known armed conflict in the Chicago area. This battle convinced the American government that the Native Americans had to be removed from their land. After being attacked in the Black Hawk War in 1832, the Native Americans in Milwaukee signed the Treaty of Chicago with the United States in 1833. In exchange for their ceding their lands in the area, they were to receive monetary payments and lands west of the Mississippi in Indian Territory.
Milwaukee since European settlement
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Statue of Solomon Juneau, who helped establish the city of Milwaukee
Europeans had arrived in the Milwaukee area prior to the 1833 Treaty of Chicago. French missionaries and traders first passed through the area in the late 17th and 18th centuries. Alexis Laframboise, in 1785, coming from Michilimackinac (now in Michigan) settled a trading post; and is considered the first resident of European descent in the Milwaukee region.[17] Early explorers called the Milwaukee River and surrounding lands various names: Melleorki, Milwacky, Mahn-a-waukie, Milwarck, and Milwaucki, in efforts to transliterate the native terms. 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.[18]
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": Solomon Juneau, Byron Kilbourn, and George H. Walker. Solomon Juneau was the first of the three to come to the area, in 1818. He founded a town called Juneau's Side, or Juneautown, that began attracting more settlers. In competition with Juneau, Byron Kilbourn established Kilbourntown west of the Milwaukee River. He ensured the roads running toward the river did not 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 did not exist or the river's east side was uninhabited and thus undesirable. The third prominent developer 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.
The first large wave of settlement to the areas that would later become Milwaukee County and the City of Milwaukee began in 1835, following removal of the tribes in the Council of Three Fires. Early that year it became known Juneau and Kilbourn intended to lay out competing town-sites. By the year's end both had purchased their lands from the government and made their first sales. There were perhaps 100 new settlers in this year, mostly from New England and other Eastern states. On September 17, 1835, the first election was held in Milwaukee; the number of votes cast was 39.[19]
By 1840, the three towns had grown, along with their rivalries. There were intense battles between the towns, mainly Juneautown and Kilbourntown, which culminated with the Milwaukee Bridge War of 1845. Following the Bridge War, town leaders 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 Solomon Juneau as Milwaukee's first mayor.[20]
Illustrated map of Milwaukee in 1872
Milwaukee began to grow as a city as high numbers of immigrants, mainly German, made their way to Wisconsin during the 1840s and 1850s. Scholars classify German immigration to the United States in three major waves, and Wisconsin received a significant number of immigrants from all three. The first wave from 1845 to 1855 consisted mainly of people from Southwestern Germany, the second wave from 1865 to 1873 concerned primarily Northwestern Germany, while the third wave from 1880 to 1893 came from Northeastern Germany.[21] In the 1840s, the number of people who left German-speaking lands was 385,434, in the 1850s it reached 976,072, and an all-time high of 1.4 million immigrated in the 1880s. In 1890, the 2.78 million first-generation German Americans represented the second-largest foreign-born group in the United States. Of all those who left the German lands between 1835 and 1910, 90 percent went to the United States, most of them traveling to the Mid-Atlantic states and the Midwest.[21]
By 1900 34 percent of Milwaukee's population was of German background.[21] The largest number of German immigrants to Milwaukee came from Prussia, followed by Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, and Hesse-Darmstadt. Milwaukee gained its reputation as the most German of American cities not just from the large number of German immigrants it received, but for the sense of community which the immigrants established here.[22]
Most German immigrants came to Wisconsin in search of inexpensive farmland.[22] However, immigration began to change in character and size in the late 1840s and early 1850s, due to the 1848 revolutionary movements in Europe.[23] After 1848, hopes for a united Germany had failed, and revolutionary and radical Germans, known as the "Forty-Eighters", turned their attention to the United States.
One of the most famous "liberal revolutionaries" of 1848 was Carl Schurz. He later explained in 1854 why he came to Milwaukee,
"It is true, similar things [cultural events and societies] were done in other cities where the Forty-eighters [sic] had congregated. But so far as I know, nowhere did their influence so quickly impress itself upon the whole social atmosphere as in 'German Athens of America' as Milwaukee was called at the time."[24]
Schurz was referring to the various clubs and societies Germans developed in Milwaukee. The pattern of German immigrants to settle near each other encouraged the continuation of German lifestyle and customs. This resulted in German language organizations that encompassed all aspects of life; for example, singing societies and gymnastics clubs. Germans also had a lasting influence on the American school system. Kindergarten was created as a pre-school for children, and sports programs of all levels, as well as music and art were incorporated as elements of the regular school curriculum. These ideas were first introduced by radical-democratic German groups, such as the Socialist Turner Societies, known today as the American Turners. Specifically in Milwaukee, the American Turners established its own Normal College for teachers of physical education and a German-English Academy.[25]
Milwaukee's German element is still strongly present today. The city celebrates its German culture by annually hosting a German Fest in July and an Oktoberfest in October. Milwaukee boasts a number of German restaurants, as well as a traditional German beer hall. A German language immersion school is offered for children in grades K-5.[26] Germans were, and still are, an important component of life in Wisconsin and Milwaukee.
Milwaukee's Lake Front Depot in 1898
Although the German presence in Milwaukee after the Civil War remained strong and their largest wave of immigrants had yet to land, other groups also made their way to the city. Foremost among these were Polish immigrants. The Poles had many reasons for leaving their homeland, mainly poverty and political oppression. Because Milwaukee offered the Polish immigrants an abundance of low-paying entry level jobs, it became one of the largest Polish settlements in the USA.
Wisconsin Street with Pabst Building, Milwaukee, 1900
For many residents, Milwaukee's South Side is synonymous with the Polish community that developed here. The group's proud ethnicity maintained a high profile here for decades, and it was not until the 1950s and 1960s that families began to disperse to the southern suburbs.
By 1850, there were seventy-five Poles in Milwaukee County and the US Census shows they had a variety of occupations: grocers, blacksmiths, tavernkeepers, coopers, butchers, broommakers, shoemakers, draymen, laborers, and farmers. Three distinct Polish communities evolved in Milwaukee, with the majority settling in the area south of Greenfield Avenue. Milwaukee County's Polish population of 30,000 in 1890 rose to 100,000 by 1915. Poles historically have had a strong national cultural and social identity, maintained through the Catholic Church. A view of Milwaukee's South Side skyline is replete with the steeples of the many churches these immigrants built that are still vital centers of the community.
St. Stanislaus Catholic Church and the surrounding neighborhood was the center of Polish life in Milwaukee. As the Polish community surrounding St. Stanislaus continued to grow, Mitchell Street became known as the "Polish Grand Avenue". As Mitchell Street grew more dense, the Polish population started moving south to the Lincoln Village neighborhood, home to the Basilica of St. Josaphat and Kosciuszko Park. Other Polish communities started on the east side of Milwaukee. Jones Island was a major commercial fishing center settled mostly by Poles from around the Baltic Sea.
Milwaukee has the fifth-largest Polish population in the U.S. at 45,467, ranking behind New York City (211,203), Chicago (165,784), Los Angeles (60,316) and Philadelphia (52,648).[27] The city holds Polish Fest, an annual celebration of Polish culture and cuisine.
In addition to the Germans and Poles, Milwaukee received a large influx of other European immigrants from Lithuania, Italy, Ireland, France, Russia, Bohemia and Sweden, who included Jews, Lutherans, and Catholics. Italian Americans total 16,992 in the city, but in Milwaukee County, they number at 38,286.[27] The largest Italian-American festival in the area, Festa Italiana, is held in the city.[28] By 1910, Milwaukee shared the distinction with New York City of having the largest percentage of foreign-born residents in the United States.[29] In 1910, whites represented 99.7% of the city's total population of 373,857.[30] Milwaukee has a strong Greek Orthodox Community, many of whom attend the Greek Orthodox Church on Milwaukee's northwest side, designed by Wisconsin-born architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Milwaukee has a sizable Croatian population, with Croatian churches and their own historic and successful soccer club The Croatian Eagles at the 30-acre Croatian Park in Franklin, Wisconsin.
Milwaukee also has a large Serbian population, who have developed Serbian restaurants, a Serbian K-8 School, and Serbian churches, along with an American Serb Hall. The American Serb Hall in Milwaukee is known for its Friday fish fries and popular events. Many U.S. presidents have visited Milwaukee's Serb Hall in the past. The Bosnian population is growing in Milwaukee as well due to late-20th century immigration after the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
During this time, a small community of African Americans migrated from the South in the Great Migration. They settled near each other, forming a community that came to be known as Bronzeville. As industry boomed, more migrants came and African-American influence grew in Milwaukee.
By 1925, around 9,000 Mexicans lived in Milwaukee, but the Great Depression forced many of them to move back home. In the 1950s, the Hispanic community was beginning to emerge. They arrived for jobs, filling positions in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. During this time there were labor shortages due to the immigration laws that had reduced immigration from eastern and southern Europe. Additionally, strikes contributed to the labor shortages.[31]
During the first sixty years of the 20th century, Milwaukee was the major city in which the Socialist Party of America earned the highest votes. Milwaukee elected three mayors who ran on the ticket of the Socialist Party: Emil Seidel (1910–1912), Daniel Hoan (1916–1940), and Frank Zeidler (1948–1960). Often referred to as "Sewer Socialists", the Milwaukee Socialists were characterized by their practical approach to government and labor.
Historic neighborhoods
Main article: Neighborhoods of Milwaukee
The historic Third Ward
In 1892, Whitefish Bay, South Milwaukee, and Wauwatosa were incorporated. They were followed by Cudahy (1895), North Milwaukee (1897) and East Milwaukee, later known as Shorewood, in 1900. In the early 20th century West Allis (1902), and West Milwaukee (1906) were added, which completed the first generation of "inner-ring" suburbs.
In the 1920s Chicago gangster activity came north to Milwaukee during the Prohibition era. Al Capone, noted Chicago mobster, owned a home in the Milwaukee suburb Brookfield, where moonshine was made. The house still stands on a street named after Capone.[32]
By 1960, Milwaukee had grown to become one of the largest cities in the United States. Its population peaked at 741,324. In 1960, the Census Bureau reported city's population as 91.1% white and 8.4% black.[33]
By the late 1960s, Milwaukee's population had started to decline as people moved to suburbs, aided by federal subsidies of highways. They moved to take advantage of new housing.[34] Milwaukee had a population of 636,212 by 1980, while the population of the overall metropolitan area increased. Given its large immigrant population and historic neighborhoods, Milwaukee avoided the severe declines of some of its fellow "rust belt" cities.
Brady Street, Milwaukee
Since the 1980s, 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, Lincoln Village, the East Side, and more recently Walker's Point and Bay View, along with attracting new businesses to its downtown area. These efforts have substantially slowed the population decline and have stabilized many parts of Milwaukee.
Milwaukee's European history is evident today. Largely through its efforts to preserve its history, in 2006 Milwaukee was named one of the "Dozen Distinctive Destinations" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.[35]
In 2010, the Census Bureau released revised population numbers for Milwaukee that showed the city gained population, growing by 1.3%, between 2000 and 2009. This was the first population increase the city of Milwaukee has seen since the 1960 census.
Historic Milwaukee walking tours provide a guided tour of Milwaukee's historic districts, including topics on Milwaukee's architectural heritage, its glass skywalk system, and the Milwaukee Riverwalk.
Panorama map of Milwaukee, with a view of the City Hall tower, c. 1898
Geography
Downtown Milwaukee from the Milwaukee River
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.
Milwaukee's terrain is sculpted by the glacier path and includes steep bluffs along Lake Michigan that begin about a mile (1.6 km) north of downtown. In addition, 30 miles (48 km) southwest of Milwaukee is the Kettle Moraine and lake country that provides an industrial landscape combined with inland lakes.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 96.80 square miles (250.71 km2), of which, 96.12 square miles (248.95 km2) is land and 0.68 square miles (1.76 km2) is water.[36] The city is overwhelmingly (99.89% of its area) in Milwaukee County, but there are two tiny unpopulated parts of it that extend into neighboring counties. The part in Washington County is bordered by the southeast corner of Germantown, while the part in Waukesha County is bordered by the southeast corner of Menomonee Falls, north of the village of Butler.
Cityscape
See also: List of tallest buildings in Milwaukee
Downtown Milwaukee from E. State St., 2008. Yankee Hill Apartments are near left, Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist near left-center, the Pfister Hotel right-center, and Milwaukee City Hall far right.
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.
Milwaukee is crossed by Interstate 43 and Interstate 94, which come together downtown at the Marquette Interchange. The Interstate 894 bypass (which as of May 2015 also contains Interstate 41) 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).
One of the distinctive traits of Milwaukee's residential areas are the neighborhoods full of so-called Polish flats. These are two-family homes with separate entrances, but with the units stacked one on top of another instead of side-by-side. This arrangement enables a family of limited means to purchase both a home and a modestly priced rental apartment unit. Since Polish-American immigrants to the area prized land ownership, this solution, which was prominent in their areas of settlement within the city, came to be associated with them.
The tallest building in the city is the U.S. Bank Center.
Climate
Milwaukee's location in the Great Lakes Region often has rapidly changing weather, producing a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa), with cold, windy, snowy winters, and warm, humid summers. The warmest month of the year is July, when the 24-hour average is 71.8 °F (22.1 °C), while January is the coldest month, with a 24-hour average of 22.3 °F (−5.4 °C).[37]
Because of Milwaukee's proximity to Lake Michigan, a convection current forms around mid-afternoon in light wind, 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 July. This onshore flow causes cooler temperatures to move inland usually 5 to 15 miles (8 to 24 km), with much warmer conditions persisting further inland. Because Milwaukee's official climate site, General Mitchell International Airport, is only 3 miles (4.8 km) from the lake, seasonal temperature variations are less extreme than in many other locations of the Milwaukee metropolitan area.
As the sun sets, the convection current reverses and an offshore flow ensues causing a land breeze. After a land breeze develops, warmer temperatures flow east toward the lakeshore, sometimes causing high temperatures during the late evening. The lake breeze is not a daily occurrence and will not usually form if a southwest, west, or northwest wind generally exceeds 15 mph (24 km/h). The lake moderates cold air outbreaks along the lakeshore during winter months.
Aside from the lake's influence, overnight lows in downtown Milwaukee year-round are often much warmer than suburban locations because of the urban heat island effect. Onshore winds elevate daytime relative humidity levels in Milwaukee as compared to inland locations nearby.
Thunderstorms in the region can be dangerous and damaging, bringing hail and high winds. In rare instances, they can bring a tornado. 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. A moderate snow cover can be seen on or linger for many winter days, but even during meteorological winter, on average, over 40% of days see less than 1 inch (2.5 cm) on the ground.[38]
Milwaukee tends to experience highs that are 90 °F (32 °C) on or above 7 days per year, and lows at or below 0 °F (−18 °C) on 6–7 nights.[38] Extremes range from 105 °F (41 °C) set on July 24, 1934 down to −26 °F (−32 °C) on both January 17, 1982 and February 4, 1996.[39] 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 (16 km) to the north of Milwaukee.
Climate data for Milwaukee (General Mitchell International Airport), 1981–2010 normals,[a] extremes 1871–present[b]
Water
In the 1990s and 2000s, Lake Michigan experienced large algae blooms, which can threaten marine life. Responding to this problem, in 2009 the city became an "Innovating City" in the Global Compact Cities Program. The Milwaukee Water Council was also formed in 2009.[42] Its objectives were to "better understand the processes related to freshwater systems dynamics" and to develop "a policy and management program aimed at balancing the protection and utilization of freshwater". The strategy used the Circles of Sustainability method. Instead of treating the water quality problem as a single environmental issue, the Water Council draws on the Circles method to analyze the interconnection among ecological, economic, political and cultural factors.[43] This holistic water treatment helped Milwaukee win the US Water Alliance's 2012 US Water Prize.[44]
Demographics
Historical population
Census Pop. %±
1840 1,700 —
1850 20,061 1,080.1%
1860 45,246 125.5%
1870 71,440 57.9%
1880 115,587 61.8%
1890 204,468 76.9%
1900 285,315 39.5%
1910 373,857 31.0%
1920 457,147 22.3%
1930 578,249 26.5%
1940 587,472 1.6%
1950 637,392 8.5%
1960 741,324 16.3%
1970 717,099 −3.3%
1980 636,212 −11.3%
1990 628,088 −1.3%
2000 596,974 −5.0%
2010 594,833 −0.4%
Est. 2017 595,351 [3] 0.1%
U.S. Decennial Census[45]
2013 Estimate[46]
599,164 people live in Milwaukee, according to the 2013 U.S. Census estimate.[46] As of 2000, 135,133 families resided in 232,188 Milwaukee households. 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).
Milwaukee is the 31st most populous city in the United States, and anchors the 39th most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area in the United States. Its combined statistical area population makes it the 29th most populous Combined Statistical Area of the United States. In 2012, Milwaukee was listed as a gamma global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.
2010 Census
About 30.5% of households in 2000 had children under the age of 18 living with them. 32.2% of households were married couples living together, 21.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.8% were non-families. 33.5% of all households were single individuals, and 9.5% had someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 people per household, with the average family size at 3.25 people per family.
In 2000, the Census estimated at least 1,408 same-sex households in Milwaukee, or about 0.6% of all households in the city.[47] Gay-friendly communities have developed primarily in Walker's Point, but also in Bay View, Historic Third Ward, Washington Heights, Riverwest, and the East Side. In 2001, Milwaukee was named the #1 city for lesbians by Girlfriends magazine.[48]
The city's 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. In 2010, rent increased an averaged 3% for home renters in Milwaukee.[49] 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.
Ethnic groups
Map of racial distribution in Milwaukee, 2010 U.S. Census. Each dot is 25 people: White, Black, Asian, Hispanic or Other (yellow)
Racial composition 2010 2000 1990 1980
White (Non-Hispanic) 37.0% 45.5% 60.8% 71.4%
Black or African American 40.0% 36.9% 30.2% 22.9%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 17.3% 12.0% 6.3% 4.2%
Asian 3.5% 2.9% 1.8% 0.7%
According to the 2010 Census, 44.8% of the population was White (37.0% non-Hispanic white), 40.0% was Black or African American, 0.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 3.5% Asian, 3.4% from two or more races. 17.3% of Milwaukee's population was of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin (they may be of any race) (11.7% Mexican, 4.1% Puerto Rican).[50]
According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, 38.3% of Milwaukee's residents reported having African American ancestry and 20.8% reported German ancestry. Other significant population groups include Polish (8.8%), Irish (6.5%), Italian (3.6%), English (2.8%), and French (1.7%). According to the 2010 United States Census, the largest Hispanic backgrounds in Milwaukee as of 2010 were: Mexican (69,680), Puerto Rican (24,672), Other Hispanic or Latino (3,808), Central American (1,962), South American (1,299), Cuban (866) and Dominican (720).[51]
The Milwaukee metropolitan area was cited as being the most segregated in the U.S. in a Jet Magazine article in 2002.[52] The source of this information was a segregation index developed in the mid-1950s and used since 1964. In 2003, a non-peer reviewed study was conducted by hired researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee which claimed Milwaukee is not "hypersegregated" and instead ranks as the 43rd most integrated city in America.[53] In 2011, according to an article by Daniel Denvir at www.salon.org, John Paul Dewitt of censusscope.org and the University of Michigan's Social Science Data Analysis Network looks at census data and finds Milwaukee to be the most segregated urban area in the US.[54] Through continued dialogue between Milwaukee's citizens, the city is trying to reduce racial tensions and the rate of segregation.[55] 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.[56][57]
In 2015 Milwaukee was rated as the "worst city for black Americans" based on disparities in employment and income levels.[58] The city's black population experiences disproportionately high levels of incarceration and a severe educational achievement gap.[59]
In 2013 Mark Pfeifer, the editor of the Hmong Studies Journal, stated Hmong in Milwaukee had recently been moving to the northwest side of Milwaukee; they historically lived in the north and south areas of Milwaukee.[60] The Hmong American Peace Academy/International Peace Academy, a K-12 school system in Milwaukee centered on the Hmong community, opened in 2004.[60]
Religion
St. Josaphat Basilica, in Milwaukee's historic Lincoln Village.
As of 2010, approximately 51.8% of residents in the Milwaukee area said they regularly attended religious services. 24.6% of the Milwaukee area population identified as Catholic, 10.8% as Lutheran, 1.6% as Methodist, and 0.6% as Jewish.[61]
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee are headquartered in Milwaukee. 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. Milwaukee, where Father Josef Kentenich was exiled for 14 years from 1952 to 1965, is also the center for the Schoenstatt Movement in the United States. St. Joan of Arc Chapel, the oldest church in Milwaukee, is on the Marquette University campus. St. Josaphat Basilica was the first church to be given the Basilica honor in Wisconsin and the third in the United States. Holy Hill National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians, northwest of Milwaukee, in Hubertus, Wisconsin, was also made a Basilica in 2006.
Milwaukee is home for several Lutheran synods, including the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), which operates Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon and Milwaukee Lutheran High School, the nation's oldest Lutheran high school; and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), which was founded in 1850 in Milwaukee and maintains its national headquarters there.
The St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Cathedral is a landmark of the Serbian community in Milwaukee, located by the American Serb hall.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a presence in the Milwaukee area. The Milwaukee area has two stakes, with fourteen wards and four branches among them. The closest temple is the Chicago Illinois Temple. The area is part of the Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission.[62]
Economy
Early economy
Milwaukee's founding fathers had a vision for the city: they knew it was perfectly situated as a port city, a center for collecting and distributing produce. Many of the new immigrants who were pouring into the new state of Wisconsin during the middle of the 19th century were wheat farmers. By 1860, Wisconsin was the second ranked wheat-growing state in the country and Milwaukee shipped more wheat than any place in the world. Railroads were needed to transport all this grain from the wheat fields of Wisconsin to Milwaukee's harbor. Improvements in railways at the time made this possible.
There was intense competition for markets with Chicago, and to a lesser degree, with Racine and Kenosha. Eventually Chicago won out due to its superior financial and transposition status, as well as being a hub on major railroad lines throughout the United States. Milwaukee did solidify its place as the commercial capital of Wisconsin and an important market in the Midwest.[63]
Rail tracks along the industrial Menomonee Valley, ancestral home of the Menominee Indians
Because of its easy access to Lake Michigan and other waterways, Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley has historically been home to manufacturing, stockyards, rendering plants, shipping, and other heavy industry.
Reshaping of the valley began with the railroads built by city co-founder Byron Kilbourn to bring product from Wisconsin's farm interior to the port. By 1862 Milwaukee was the largest shipper of wheat on the planet, and related industry developed. Grain elevators were built and, due to Milwaukee's dominant German immigrant population, breweries sprang up around the processing of barley and hops. A number of tanneries were constructed, of which the Pfister & Vogel tannery grew to become the largest in America.
In 1843 George Burnham and his brother Jonathan opened a brickyard near 16th Street. When a durable and distinct cream-colored brick came out of the clay beds, other brickyards sprang up to take advantage of this resource. Because many of the city's buildings were built using this material it earned the nickname "Cream City", and consequently the brick was called Cream City brick. By 1881 the Burnham brickyard, which employed 200 men and peaked at 15 million bricks a year, was the largest in the world.
Flour mills, packing plants, breweries, railways and tanneries further industrialized the valley. With the marshlands drained and the Kinnickinnic and Milwaukee Rivers dredged, attention turned to the valley.
Along with the processing industries, bulk commodity storage and machining and manufacturing entered the scene. The valley was home to the Milwaukee Road, Falk Corporation, Cutler-Hammer, Harnischfeger Corporation, Chain Belt Company, Nordberg Manufacturing Company and other industry giants.
Early in the 20th century, Milwaukee was home to several pioneer brass era automobile makers, including Ogren (from 1919 to 1922).[64]
Brewing
Milwaukee became synonymous with Germans and beer beginning in the 1850s. The Germans had long enjoyed beer and set up breweries when they arrived in Milwaukee. By 1856, there were more than two dozen breweries in Milwaukee, most of them owned and operated by Germans. Besides making beer for the rest of the nation, Milwaukeeans enjoyed consuming the various beers produced in the city's breweries. As early as 1843, pioneer historian James Buck recorded 138 taverns in Milwaukee, an average of one per forty residents. Today, beer halls and taverns are abundant in the city, but only one of the major breweries—Miller—remains in Milwaukee.[63]
Entrance to Miller Brewery in Milwaukee
The Pabst Brewery Complex, closed in 1997, before its redevelopment
Milwaukee was once the home to four of the world's largest beer 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 two of those breweries, Miller Brewing Company remains a key employer by employing over 2,200 of the city's workers.[65] Because of Miller's position as the second-largest beer-maker in the U.S., the city remains known as a beer town. The city and surrounding areas are seeing a resurgence in microbreweries, nanobreweries and brewpubs with the craft beer movement.[66]
The historic Milwaukee Brewery in "Miller Valley" at 4000 West State Street, is the oldest functioning major brewery in the United States. In 2008, Coors beer also began to be brewed in Miller Valley. This created additional brewery jobs in Milwaukee, but the company's world headquarters moved from Milwaukee to Chicago.
In addition to Miller and the heavily automated Leinenkugel's brewery in the old Blatz 10th Street plant, other stand-alone breweries in Milwaukee include Milwaukee Brewing Company, a microbrewery in Walker's Point neighborhood; Lakefront Brewery, a microbrewery in Brewers Hill; Sprecher Brewery, a German brewery that also brews craft sodas; Enlightened Brewing Company, a nanobrewery in Walker's Point; and Brenner Brewing, also in Walker's Point.
Three beer brewers with Wisconsin operations made the 2009 list of the 50 largest beermakers in the United States, based on beer sales volume. Making the latest big-breweries list from Wisconsin is MillerCoors at No. 2. MillerCoors is a joint venture formed in 2008 by Milwaukee-based Miller Brewing Co. and Golden, Colorado-based Molson Coors Brewing Company. The Minhas Craft Brewery in Monroe, Wisconsin, which brews Huber, Rhinelander and Mountain Crest brands, ranked No. 14 and New Glarus Brewing Company, New Glarus, Wisconsin, whose brands include Spotted Cow, Fat Squirrel and Uff-da, ranked No. 32.[67]
Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley, two sitcoms that aired on ABC in the 1970s and 1980s, were set in Milwaukee, and often used the Milwaukee breweries as a backdrop for the storyline.
Milwaukee's economy today
In 2007, three Milwaukee-area companies were among nine firms honored for manufacturing excellence in the Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year competition. Astronautics Corporation of America and Brady Corporation, both of which have headquarters in Milwaukee, and Wisconsin Plating Works Inc., Racine, each received special awards. Privately held Astronautics, a major supplier of government and commercial avionics, was honored for its high-technology research and development program. Brady, a publicly owned manufacturer of signs, labels and other identification and security products, received an award for corporate excellence. Privately owned Wisconsin Plating Works, which provides metal finishing services, received an award for employee and environmental stewardship. Nominated companies were evaluated in areas such as financial growth or consistency, technological advances, product development, environmental solutions, operational excellence/continuous improvement, commitment to employees, and effective research and development.[68]
Rockwell Automation Headquarters and Allen-Bradley Clock Tower
Milwaukee is the home to the international headquarters of six Fortune 500 companies: Johnson Controls, Northwestern Mutual, Manpower, Rockwell Automation, Harley-Davidson and Joy Global.[69] Other companies based in Milwaukee include Briggs & Stratton, Marshall & Ilsley (acquired by BMO Harris Bank in 2010),[70] Hal Leonard, Wisconsin Energy, the American Society for Quality, A. O. Smith, Rexnord, Master Lock, American Signal Corporation,[71] GE Healthcare Diagnostic Imaging and Clinical Systems 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. 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.
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.[72]
In 2009, five Milwaukee-area companies were selected as leaders in their industries as Fortune magazine recognized "The World's Most-Admired Companies." Two Milwaukee companies ranked second in their field: Manpower Inc. in the temporary help industry and Northwestern Mutual in life and health insurance. Johnson Controls Inc., Glendale, placed fourth among motor-vehicle parts firms. Ranked fifth were Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, in financial data services and Kohl's Corp., Menomonee Falls, among general merchandisers.[73]
Culture
Milwaukee's skyline visible from a sailboat out on Lake Michigan
Milwaukee Art Museum
Milwaukee is a popular venue for Lake Michigan sailing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, ethnic dining, and cultural festivals. Often referred to as the City of Festivals, Milwaukee has various cultural events which take place throughout the summer at Henry Maier Festival Park, on the lake. Museums and cultural events, such as Jazz in the Park, occur weekly in downtown parks. A 2011 study by Walk Score ranked Milwaukee 15th most walkable of fifty largest U.S. cities.[74]
Museums
Art
The Milwaukee Art Museum is perhaps Milwaukee's most visually prominent cultural attraction; especially its $100 million wing designed by Santiago Calatrava in his first American commission.[75] The museum includes a brise soleil, a moving sunscreen that unfolds similarly to the wing of a bird.
The Grohmann Museum, at Milwaukee School of Engineering contains the world's most comprehensive art collection dedicated to the evolution of human work.[76] It houses the Man at Work collection, which comprises more than 700 paintings and sculptures dating from 1580 to the present. The museum also features a rooftop sculpture garden.
Haggerty Museum of Art, on the Marquette University campus houses several classical masterpieces and is open to the public.
The Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum is the former home of Lloyd Smith, president of the A.O. Smith corporation, and has a terraced garden, an assortment of Renaissance art, and rotating exhibits.[77]
Charles Allis Art Museum, in the Tudor-style mansion of Charles Allis, hosts several changing exhibits every year in the building's original antique furnished setting.
Science and natural history
The Calling I-beams
Discovery World
The Milwaukee Public Museum has been Milwaukee's primary natural history and human history museum for 125 years, with over 150,000 square feet (14,000 m2) of permanent exhibits.[78] Exhibits feature Africa, Europe, the Arctic, Oceania, and South and Middle America, the ancient Western civilizations ("Crossroads of Civilization"), dinosaurs, the tropical rainforest, streets of Old Milwaukee, a European Village, live insects and arthropods ("Bugs Alive!") a Sampson Gorilla replica, the Puelicher Butterfly Wing, hands-on laboratories, and animatronics. The museum also contains a IMAX movie theater/planetarium. Milwaukee Public Museum owns the world's largest dinosaur skull.[79]
Discovery World, Milwaukee's largest museum dedicated to science, is just south of the Milwaukee Art Museum along the lake front. Visitors are drawn by its high-tech, hand-on exhibits, salt water and freshwater aquariums, as well as touch tanks and digital theaters. A double helix staircase wraps around the 40-foot (12 m) kinetic sculpture of a human genome. The S/V Dennis Sullivan Schooner Ship docked at Discovery World is the world's only re-creation of an 1880s-era three-masted vessel and the first schooner to be built in Milwaukee in over 100 years. It teaches visitors about the Great Lakes and Wisconsin's maritime history.
Betty Brinn Children's Museum[80] is geared toward children under 10 and is filled with hands-on exhibits and interactive programs, offering families a chance to learn together. Voted one of the top 10 museums for children by Parents Magazine, it exemplifies the philosophy that constructive play nurtures the mind.
Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory (Mitchell Park Domes or, simply, the Domes) is a conservatory at Mitchell Park. It is owned and operated by the Milwaukee County Park System, and replaced the original Milwaukee Conservatory which stood from 1898 to 1955. The three domes display a large variety of plant and bird life. The conservatory includes the Tropical Dome, the Arid Dome and the Show Dome, which hosts four seasonal (cultural, literary, or historic) shows and one Christmas exhibit held annually in December for visitors to enjoy.
Social and cultural history
Pabst Mansion
Pabst Mansion Built in 1892 by beer tycoon Frederick Pabst, this Flemish Renaissance Mansion was once considered the jewel of Milwaukee's famous avenue of mansions called the "Grand Avenue". Interior rooms have been restored with period furniture, to create an authentic replica of a Victorian Mansion. Nationally recognized as a house museum.
Milwaukee County Historical Society features Milwaukee during the late 19th century through the mid-20th century. Housed within an architectural landmark, the Milwaukee's Historical Society features a panoramic painting of Milwaukee, firefighting equipment, period replicas of a pharmacy and a bank, and Children's world – an exhibit that includes vintage toys, clothes and school materials. The museum houses a research library, where scenes from the movie Public Enemies were shot.
Wisconsin Black Historical Society,[81] whose mission is to document and preserve the historical heritage of African descent in Wisconsin, exhibiting collecting and disseminating materials depicting this heritage.
America's Black Holocaust Museum, founded by lynching survivor James Cameron, featured exhibits which chronicle the injustices suffered throughout history by African Americans in the United States. The museum closed in July 2008 as a result of financial difficulties.[82] The museum reopened in 2012 as a virtual museum, but the physical building has been demolished.[83]
Jewish Museum Milwaukee,[84] is dedicated to preserving and presenting the history of the Jewish people in southeastern Wisconsin and celebrating the continuum of Jewish heritage and culture.
Mitchell Gallery of Flight, at General Mitchell International Airport, Milwaukee's aviation and historical enthusiasts experience the history of General Mitchell International Airport with a visit to the Gallery of Flight. Exhibits include General Billy Mitchell; replicas of past and present aircraft including the Lawson Airline, the first commercial airliner; the Graf Zeppelin II, the sistership to the tragically legendary Hindenburg; a 1911 Curtis Pusher, an airplane with the propeller in the rear of the plane; and the present day giant of the sky, the 747. Other exhibits include commercial air memorabilia, early aviation engines and airport beacons.
Harley-Davidson Museum, opened in 2008, pays tribute to Harley-Davidson motorcycles and is the only museum of its type in the world.
Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear
In 2009, Milwaukee ranked No. 11 on Newsmax magazine's list of the "Top 25 Most Uniquely American Cities and Towns", a piece written by current CBS News travel editor Peter Greenberg. In determining his ranking, Greenberg cited—among other things—the city's number of "standout historical structures", such as the Pabst Mansion and the Milwaukee Public Museum.[85]