Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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Template:Infobox City Milwaukee is the largest city within the state of Wisconsin and 22nd-largest in the United States. The city is the county seat of Milwaukee County, located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, and is about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Chicago. As of the 2004 U.S. Census estimate, Milwaukee had a population of 583,624. The city is the main cultural and economic center of the Milwaukee–Waukesha–West Allis metropolitan area with a population of 1.5 million in four counties.<ref name="area"> Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau, "Annual Estimates of the Population of Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2004 (CBSA-EST2004-01)". URL accessed March 21, 2006</ref>
The first Europeans to pass through the area were French missionaries and traders. In 1818, Frenchman 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.
Milwaukee is known as "The City of Festivals" for its great number of ethnic and musical festivals, the largest of which is Summerfest. It has also been called "the nation's watering hole," having more bars per capita than any other large city in the country. Milwaukee residents are known as Milwaukeeans. Milwaukeeans often comment that Milwaukee feels like "a big small town."
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History
The Milwaukee area was originally inhabited by the Fox, Mascouten, Potawatomi, and Winnebago Indian tribes. French missionaries and traders first passed through the area in the late 1600s and 1700s.
The first white fur trader to settle in Milwaukee was French Canadian Jacques Vieaux, who established a fur trading post near the Menomonee River in 1795. The post was on the Chicago-Green Bay trail, located where Mitchell Park is today. Vieaux married the granddaughter of an Indian chief and had 13 children. Vieaux's daughter, Josetta, would later marry Solomon Juneau.
1800 - 1849
Milwaukee has three "founding fathers", of which Frenchman Solomon Juneau came to the area first, in 1818. Juneau, who was Vieaux's son-in-law, bought out Vieaux's fur trading business, and in 1833 founded a town on the east side of the Milwaukee River. Juneau's Side, or Juneau Town, as it was variously known, 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 that the streets running toward the river did not join with those on the East Side. This accounts for the large number of crooked bridges that still exist in Milwaukee today. Further, Kilbourn distributed maps of the area which only showed Kilbourntown, implying that Juneautown did not exist. Anyone who saw the map would think the east side of the river was uninhabited and thus undesirble.
The third prominent builder was George H. Walker. He claimed land to the south of the Milwaukee River, along with Juneau Town 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 to such an extent that on 31 January 1846 they combined to incorporate as the City of Milwaukee. Solomon Juneau became 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 "Deutsch Athen" (German Athens), and at one point there were more German speakers than English speakers in the city.
1850 - 1949
1950 - Present
Milwaukee, like many northern industrial cities, continued to grow tremendously until the late 1950s. Milwaukee was home to immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Hungary, Poland and other central European nations. The 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, like many cities in the Great Lakes "rust belt," Milwaukee saw its population start to decline due to various factors, ranging from the loss of blue collar jobs to the phenomenon of "white flight." However, in recent years the city began to make strides in improving its economy, neighborhoods, and image, resulting in the revitalization of neighborhoods such as the Third Ward, east side, and more recently, 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. <ref name="distinctive">Dozen Distinctive Destinations - Milwaukee, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2006.</ref> The city is also home to the Milwaukee Bar Association, the fourth oldest of such organizations in the United States. It was founded in 1858, and now has over 2,600 members.
Milwaukee's name
Milwaukee received its name from the Indian word Millioke which means "The Good Land", or "Gathering place by the water." Another interpretation is "beautiful or pleasant lands". <ref name="namedef">Bruce, William George (1936). A Short History of Milwaukee. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The Bruch Publishing Company. LLCN 36010193. Pp. 15.</ref> 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". A Short History of Milwaukee by William George Bruce gives the story of Milwaukee's final name:
- [O]ne day during the thirties of the last century a newspaper calmly changed the name to Milwaukee, and Milwaukee it has remained until this day." <ref name="Milwaukee">Bruce, William George (1936). A Short History of Milwaukee. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The Bruch Publishing Company. LLCN 36010193. Pp. 15-16.</ref>
Geography and climate
Image:Milwaukee river.jpg 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 is land and 2.2 km² (0.9 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.88% water.
Cityscape
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 run throughout the city.
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. North-south streets are numbered, and east-west streets are named. The north-south numbering line is along the Memomonee River (east of Hawley Road) and Fairview Avenue (west of Hawley Road), with the east-west numbering line defined along 1st Street (north of Oklahoma Avenue) and S. Howell Avenue (south of Oklahoma Avenue).
It is crossed by Interstate 43 and Interstate 94, which come together downtown at the Marquette Interchange, which is currently under extensive construction project set to be completed in 2008. The cost of the reconstruction will be around $810 million dollars.
Milwaukee's terrain is relatively flat, except for the steep, dramatic bluffs that begin about one half mile north and one mile south of the downtown. These bluffs give it a topographic quality distinct from that of Chicago.
Climate
Milwaukee's location in the Midwest 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 temperaure is 79°F (26°C), with overnight low tempeartures averaging 62°F (17°C). January is the coldest month, with high temperatures averaging only 26°F (-4°C), with the overnight low temperatures around 11°F (-12°C).
Milwaukee's proximity to Lake Michigan causes a convection current to form mid-afternoon, resulting in the so-called lake effect, causing the temperatures to be warmer in the winter, and cooler in the summer. "Cooler by the lake" is practically boilerplate language for local meteorologists during the spring and summer. Also, more snow falls in Milwaukee than surrounding areas, due to the lake. The lake causes the relative humidity in the summer is far higher than that of comparable cities at the same latitude, meaning that it feels hotter than it really is.
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 did not approach such cold temperatures.
In Milwaukee, the wettest month is August, due to frequent thunderstorms. These can at time be dangerous and damaging, bringing hail, high winds, and the occasional 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. Snow falls regularly 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 47.0 in of snow in an average Winter, but this number is highly variable. In 2000, 49.5 in of snow fall solely in the month of December.
Demographics
| City of Milwaukee Population by year [1] | |
|
1850 - 20,061 | |
Population
Milwaukee still faces a shrinking population, <ref name="population">City drops out of top 20, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jun. 30, 2005.</ref> and other problems, such as crime, racial tension, poverty, and a precarious school system, presenting a serious challenge to the city. Although the crime rate is down since the early 1990s, the issues of urban crime and police corruption are still at the forefront, frequently appearing on the front page of local newspapers. Milwaukee is often referred to as "one of the most segregated cities in the United States," and accusations of police brutality and racial profiling are common. Many considered the hiring of the first Black Chief of Police, Arthur Jones, to be a turning point for Milwaukee, noting that crime in 2004 was at its lowest in nearly 15 years. However, critics accused Jones of ineffectiveness, eventually leading to his resignation.
As of the census estimate of 2004, there are 583,624 people residing in Milwaukee. 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.
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.
Race and ethnicity
In the 2000 census, over a third (38 percent) of Milwaukeeans reported that they were of German descent. Other large population groups include Polish (12.7%), Irish (10%), English (5.1%), Italian (4.4%), French (3.9%), and Hispanic origin totaled 6.3%. The racial makeup of the city is 49.98% White, 37.34% African American, 0.87% Native American, 2.94% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 6.10% from other races, and 2.71% from two or more races. 12.00% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. Within the city of Milwaukee, race is frequently a contentious issue, and the city is frequently cited as "the most segregated city in America." Template:Fact
Religion
In 2000, the American Religion Data Archive reported Milwaukee's religious composition as 58% Catholic, 23% Lutheran, 3% Methodist and 2.5% Jewish. The remaining 13.5% are largely members of protestant denominations. Milwaukee is home of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee, the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the ELCA and the headquarters of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.
Transportation
Milwaukee drivers use interstate highways for their main transportation. I-94 comes north from Chicago to enter Milwaukee and continues west to Madison. I-43 enters Milwaukee from the southwest and continues north to Green Bay. Milwaukee has two branch interstate highways, I-894 which is a bypass extending from the western suburbs to the southern suburbs (thereby bypassing downtown), and I-794 which extends east from the I-94/I-43 interchange to Lake Michigan, and then south over the Hoan Bridge toward the airport (turning into State Highway 794 along the way).
The Milwaukee area is also served by two US highways, US-41 and US-45, which both provide north-south freeway transportation on the western side of the city.
The Milwaukee County Transit System provides an extensive bus transit system. The city is also served by the Hiawatha Amtrak express service between Milwaukee and Chicago. 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. The Milwaukee Connector (a tram system) is currently in the planning stages. Metra is also being proposed for an expansion from Kenosha up to Milwaukee.
Economy
Although most people associate Milwaukee with beer, today companies like Miller Brewing employ less than one percent of the city's workers. Milwaukee's reputation as a blue collar town is more accurate, however, with 22 percent of the workforce involved in manufacturing, second only to San Jose, CA and far higher than the national average of 16.5%. Service and managerial jobs are the fastest growing segments of the Milwaukee economy, and healthcare makes up 27% of all service jobs in the city.
Milwaukee is headquarters to six Fortune 1000 manufacturers and six Fortune 1000 service companies. Among these are Briggs & Stratton, Harley-Davidson, Johnson Controls, Manpower Inc., Marshall & Ilsley, Northwestern Mutual, Rockwell Automation, Roundy's Supermarkets, Metavante, Kohl's, and Wisconsin Energy. The Milwaukee area ranked number five in the nation when measuring the number of Fortune 500 companies as a share of the population, just behind the number four Minneapolis-St. Paul region. Milwaukee also has a large number of financial service firms, particularly those specializing in mutual funds and transaction processing systems, and a disproportionate number of publishing and printing companies, including Quad/Graphics. Milwaukee is also the headquarters of the Koss Corporation and Master Lock.
Culture and sports
Museums
Image:Milwakee Art Museum.jpg 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 quite literally unfolds like the wing of a bird. The Milwaukee Public Museum, Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory and Milwaukee County Zoo are also notable public attractions.
Performing Arts
Milwaukee is home to the Florentine Opera, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Ballet, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Skylight Opera Theatre, First Stage Children's Theater, Milwaukee Youth Theatre, and a number of other arts organizations. Additionally, Milwaukee is home to artistic performance venues such as the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, Pabst Theater, Riverside Theatre, and Milwaukee Theatre. The Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, a first-of-its-kind Arts-in-education facility, is a national model.
Social Life
Milwaukee, "A Great Place on a Great Lake" and "Genuine American," has also advertised itself as the "City of Festivals," emphasizing 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 900,000 visitors a year to its twelve stages. Smaller festivals througout the year celebrate the city's German, Native American, African-American, Italian, Irish, Asian, Arab, and Polish heritage.
Due in large part to its brewery history, the city has been called "the nation's watering hole" with more bars per capita than any other large city in the country (one bar for every 1600 people or approximately 375 bars, four bars for every square mile). Along the same lines, the tradition of tailgating (for almost any event, but especially Brewers games), where copious amounts of beer and other potent potables are ceremoniously consumed, is deeply ingrained in the culture of the city and its residents both young and old.
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 a vibrant history of rock, blues, punk, ska, industrial music, goth and pop music bands. A range of musicians have called Milwaukee home, including Hildegarde, Woody Herman, Liberace, blues giant Hubert Sumlin, the BoDeans, Violent Femmes, Citizen King, The Gufs, The Promise Ring, Little Blue Crunchy Things, Cincere, Eric Bénet, Al Jarreau, and Oil Tasters, among others. Local hip-hop acts include Rusty Ps and Black Elephant. Coo Coo Cal gave Milwaukee a national foothold in the hip-hop market with his hit single "My Projects". Beer City Records, a local punk rock label, is home to DRI and Millions of Dead Cops. Venues such as Pabst Theater, Marcus Amphitheater and The Rave frequently bring internationally-known and critically acclaimed acts to Milwaukee.
Milwaukee is also home to a thriving club scene booking regular international DJs such as Richie Hawtin, LTJ Bukem, Mark Farina, Derrick Carter and others. In the early 1990s, the city was home to a vibrant rave scene, especially fostering hardcore techno, thanks to Drop Bass; but the scene moved south to Chicago after reaction by city authorities. Milwaukee was also a center of the breakcore scene in early 2000s with labels like Addict Records and Zod Records.
Sports
Milwaukee has a long history of involvement in professional and nonprofessional sports.
The Milwaukee Mile auto racing facility, the oldest active auto race track in the United States, is located on the Wisconsin State Fair Grounds in West Allis. Also located on the State Fair Grounds is the Pettit National Ice Center, a U.S. Olympic Team training facility.
Previous sports teams to play in Milwaukee have included:
The Milwaukee Braves won the National League pennant in 1957 and 1958, and won the World Series in 1957.
For many years, the Green Bay Packers played a portion of their home schedule in Milwaukee:
- Borchert Field, 1933
- Wisconsin State Fair Park, 1934-51
- Marquette Stadium, 1952
- Milwaukee County Stadium, 1953-1994
(The 1939 Championship between the Packers and the New York Giants was played at State Fair Park. The Packers won, 27-0.)
The Packers maintain two separate season ticket plans, reflecting their time spent in Milwaukee: Gold package holders, made up primarily of former Milwaukee season ticket holders, have a three-game package consisting of the annual Midwest Shrine preseason contest plus the second and fifth regular-season home games each year; Green package holders (made up of original Green Bay ticket holders) attend the annual Bishop's Charities preseason game and the remaining six regular-season contests.
Education
Milwaukee maintains Milwaukee Public Schools, the largest school district in Wisconsin and one of the largest in the nation. As of 2006, it has an enrollment of 95,600 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. Golda Meir Gifted & Talented Elementary 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.
The district has a reputation for a poorly performing student body and efforts have been underway for years to reform the school system. School District officials note declining funding as a catalyst to problems in the district.<ref name="Milwaukee"> Low-Income Student funding is decreased by State. URL accessed April 20, 2006</ref>
The school choice program, first started by former governor Tommy Thompson has given many Milwaukee students the opportunity to study at suburban schools, free of cost. A definitive solution to the education issue is still forthcoming, but progress is being made. One step o fprogress is noted in that school graduation rates have improved slightly over recent years.
In addition to public schools, numerous parochial schools also exist including Marquette University High School, and Divine Savior Holy Angels High School.
Higher education is dominated by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Marquette University, both located near downtown. Milwaukee is also served by Alverno College, Cardinal Stritch University, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Area Technical College, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Mount Mary College, and Wisconsin Lutheran College.
Of persons aged 25 and above, 84.5% have a high school diploma, and 27% have a Bachelor's degree or higher. (2000) <ref name="education">Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, "Metro Milwaukee Demographics", URL accessed March 21, 2006.</ref>
See also: List of High Schools in Milwaukee County
Media
Milwaukee's leading newspaper is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The most prominent weekly is Shepherd Express, a free publication. The Journal has a reputation for being Liberal, while the Shepherd is known for its leftist writing. Other local newspapers, city guides and magazines with large distributions include "OnMilwaukee.com", Milwaukee Magazine, MKE (magazine), Marquette Tribune, The Leader, UWM Post, and Vital Source Magazine.
Milwaukee is well served by local television and radio. Milwaukee's major network television affiliates are WTMJ 4 (NBC), WITI 6 (FOX), WISN 12 (ABC), WVTV 18 (WB), WCGV 24 (UPN), and WDJT 58 (CBS). Spanish language programming is on WYTU-LP 63 (Telemundo). Milwaukee's public broadcasting stations are WMVS 10 and WMVT 36.
There are numerous radio stations throughout Milwaukee and the surrounding area. The local NPR affiliate is WUWM-FM 89.7, run by UW-Milwaukee.
See also:
Sister Cities
Milwaukee has eight sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc (SCI): <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Galway, Republic of Ireland
- Mulhouse, France
- Nuevitas, Cuba
- Omsk, Russia
- Parma, Italy
- Queenstown, South Africa
- Schwerin, Germany
- Ticuantepe, Nicaragua
Colloquialisms
- One well known colloquialism common to Milwaukee and the surrounding area is the word "bubbler," which refers to a drinking fountain.
- It is also common for people to refer to ATMs as a "Tyme Machine," referring to the former name of the dominant debit card/ATM network in Wisconsin, which was taken over and renamed by Pulse in 2004; however the Tyme name remains in common use.
See also
- List of mayors of Milwaukee
- List of Milwaukeeans
- List of Milwaukee neighborhoods
- Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee
- Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee
References
External links
- VISIT Milwaukee website
- City Of Milwaukee website
- Metro Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce
- Milwaukee Information from about.com
- OnMilwaukee.com
- MilwaukeeWorld.com
- Milwaukee Beer Museum
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