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Milwaukee Mile

Author: Jeff Kollath
Built as a horse track in 1876, the Milwaukee Mile hosted its first automobile race in 1903. Known as the oldest continuously operated motor speedway in the world, the Milwaukee Mile is on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Fair Park, located in West Allis since 1891. The track held open wheel championship races under… Read More

Milwaukee Musical Society

Author: Karalee Surface
The Milwaukee Musical Society, established in 1850, represented the city’s rich German heritage and the spirit of GEMÜTLICHKEIT. The amateur musical group operated under the direction of Austrian political refugee Hans Balatka until he left for Chicago in 1860. Internal divisions, financial issues, and a fire that destroyed much of the club’s sheet music and… Read More

Milwaukee NAACP

Author: William I. Tchakirides
The Milwaukee branch of the NAACP has functioned as one of the city’s leading civil rights organization since 1919. Led for its first half century by prominent middle-class African American professionals, including Wilbur Halyard, Ardie Halyard, and James W. Dorsey, the local chapter battled racial discrimination in employment, housing, education, entertainment, and policing through political… Read More

Milwaukee Police Department

Author: George Kelling
As of 2013, the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) is the fifteenth largest in the United States, with nearly 2,000 sworn personnel and over eight hundred civilian employees. Operationally, the MPD is currently organized geographically into three bureaus (South, Central, and North) subdivided into seven patrol districts. Criminal investigations are conducted out of these bureaus, supported… Read More

Milwaukee Press Club

Author: William I. Tchakirides
In 1885, four newspapermen established the Milwaukee Press Club to promote journalism while fostering camaraderie among their peers. Recognized as the oldest continuously operated press club in North America, the private social organization has fulfilled its mission through celebratory dinners, publication of its annual journalism magazine, and professional development opportunities. Over time, the club’s base… Read More

Milwaukee Public Library

Author: Anne Dressel
Photograph featuring the Milwaukee Public Library Central Library on Wisconsin Avenue.
Early migrants from the northeastern United States and from Germany were responsible for the creation of libraries in Milwaukee. In 1842, Philetus C. Hale, originally from Massachusetts, opened the first bookstore in Milwaukee as well as the city’s first subscription library. Subscription libraries were a type of social library common throughout the eastern United States… Read More

Milwaukee Public Museum

Author: Antonia Kelleher
Exterior view of the current Milwaukee Public Museum, which opened downtown in 1963.
The Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) officially opened its doors to the public in 1883, during a time when Milwaukee, like many other American cities, began to place great value on museums. At its inception, MPM laid claim to a varied collection of approximately 20,000 objects, most of which had originally been in the collections of… Read More

Milwaukee River

Author: Matthew Costello
Photograph featuring a downtown view of the Milwaukee River with a boat docked in the foreground.
About 12,000 years ago, the Laurentide Ice Sheet began to retreat from northern and southeastern Wisconsin. This ice sheet, which covered most of Canada and the northern United States, left its mark on Wisconsin, cutting moraines, kettles, drumlins, and rolling hills into the state’s landscape. This glacial retreat also created Wisconsin’s many ponds, lakes, rivers,… Read More

Milwaukee School of Engineering

Author: Ellen Langill
MSOE’s Grohmann Museum, fittingly, celebrates the evolution of work, both inside with its art collection and outside along the edge of its roofline.
The Milwaukee School of Engineering began as a technical institute in the fall of 1903. Its founder, Oscar Werwath, had arrived in Milwaukee from Germany only months earlier and immediately found work as an electrical engineer at the newly-merged Allis-Chalmers Company, under the guidance of Louis Allis. Milwaukee’s population was more than a third of… Read More

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

Author: Karalee Surface
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra performs inside Uihlein Hall in September, 1969.
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO) was part of a post-World War II cultural renaissance in the city, when it earned national and international renown. Numerous attempts to establish a professional local orchestra dated as far back as the 1890s. Individuals from throughout the Midwest formed “pops” style ensembles, but support for these organizations waned. With… Read More

Milwaukee Theatre

Author: Catherine Jones
This photograph of the building that became the Milwaukee Theatre also illustrates the streetcar tracks of Milwaukee in the early 20th century.
The Milwaukee Auditorium opened in 1909 at 500 W. Kilbourn Ave., replacing the Exposition Building. Operating under a public-private partnership, it became Milwaukee’s major public spectator facility. The main hall originally accommodated more than 8,000 people. It served as a venue for events including religious revivals, the arts, sport, and sociability. In 1912, after a… Read More

Milwaukee Urban League

Author: Michael Grover
The Milwaukee Urban League, an affiliate of the National Urban League, was established in 1919 to help a small but growing African American population in the city gain access to employment, decent housing, and community services. Initially started as an information clearinghouse and community advocacy center, the League later helped build institutions to serve the… Read More

Milwaukee Wave

Author: William McMahon
In 1984, club president Tony Ramos announced the formation of an indoor soccer franchise known as the Milwaukee Wave. The Wave have played their home games at various locations, including the Milwaukee Auditorium, the Bradley Center, and the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. Although mired near the bottom of the American Indoor Soccer Association ranks for… Read More

Milwaukee-Downer College and Seminary

Author: Abigail Nye
Milwaukee-Downer College graduates gather outside to plant a tree as part of the commencement ceremony in 1922 .
Milwaukee-Downer College and Seminary represent some of the earliest attempts at women’s education in Wisconsin. Milwaukee Female Seminary, one of Milwaukee-Downer’s predecessor institutions, was founded in 1848 by Lucy Parsons, a progressive advocate for female education from New York. The school’s board of trustees drew representatives from Milwaukee’s prominent families, including Increase Lapham. Parsons’ connections… Read More

Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory (The Domes)

Author: Karalee Surface
Photograph featuring the Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory, commonly known as The Domes.
The Domes are considered by many to be the gem of Milwaukee’s nationally recognized PARKS system. The current structures were preceded by a glass-encased conservatory built by the City Park Commission in 1898 on land purchased from the MITCHELL family. It was replaced sixty-one years later with a new facility designed by local architect Donald… Read More

Model Railroading

Author: Michael Pulido
Whether fabricating color-matched dirt for a layout or studying U.S. topographical reports to achieve a precise scale, model railroaders strive for accuracy and authenticity. While there are a number of cities that boast clubs and manufacturers, Milwaukee is arguably the historical headquarters of model railroading. One of the nation’s oldest model railroading organizations, the Model… Read More

Montessori Schools

Author: Michele Butz
The term Montessori refers to the educational method developed by Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952). Montessori, an Italian physician, gained world-wide recognition for an academically focused program meeting “the needs of the young child” through multi-aged groupings, constructivist curriculum, and hands-on materials. A Montessori classroom is ideally an exploratory environment with young students developing self-chosen skills… Read More

Mount Mary University

Author: Margaret Nettesheim Hoffmann
Mount Mary University is a private women’s university located on the northwest side of the city of Milwaukee, directed by the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND), a Catholic order of nuns dedicated to the principle of transformative education for women. Over its one hundred years, Mount Mary has committed itself to educating young women… Read More

Mount Sinai Hospital

Author: Michele Radi
Postcard created between 1907 and 1930 featuring Mount Sinai Hospital in Milwaukee.
The only Wisconsin Jewish hospital opened in Milwaukee in June 1903. It was founded as a nonsectarian hospital at a time when most private religious hospitals established hospitals for their religious communities. Although the Jewish community in Milwaukee opened the hospital to treat the large Jewish immigrant population, many of whom arrived with very little… Read More

Muslims

Author: Anna Mansson McGinty
Similar to the national demographics of Muslims in the United States of America, Muslims in Milwaukee are quite diverse ethnically and racially. Although still small in numbers, estimates in the Muslim community range from 10,000-15,000 individuals. Muslims in Milwaukee, despite being a religious minority, have an important presence in the city through active civic leadership… Read More
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