Milwaukee Wisconsin History & Facts

Milwaukee , officially the City of Milwaukee, is the most populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is the 31st largest city in the United States, the fifth-largest city in the Midwestern United States, and the second largest city on Lake Michigan's shore behind Chicago.

It is the main cultural and economic center of the Milwaukee metropolitan area, the fourth-most densely populated metropolitan area in the Midwest. Milwaukee is considered a global city, categorized as "Gamma minus" by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, with a regional GDP of over $102 billion in 2020.

Today, Milwaukee is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse cities in the U.S.However, it continues to be one of the most racially segregated, largely as a result of early-20th-century redlining. Its history was heavily influenced by German immigrants in the 19th century, and it continues to be a center for German-American culture, specifically becoming well known for its brewing industry. In recent years, Milwaukee has been undergoing its largest construction boom since the 1960s. Major additions to the city since the turn of the 21st century include the Wisconsin Center, American Family Field, The Hop (streetcar system), an expansion to the Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Bradley Symphony Center, and Discovery World, as well as major renovations to the UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena. Fiserv Forum opened in late 2018, and hosts sporting events and concerts. Since 1968, Milwaukee has been home to Summerfest, one of the largest music festivals in the world. With regard to education, Milwaukee is home to the Medical College of Wisconsin, UW-Milwaukee, Marquette University, MSOE, and several other universities and colleges. The city is home to two major professional sports teams − the Bucks and the Brewers. It is home to several Fortune 500 companies, including Northwestern Mutual, WEC Energy Group, Rockwell Automation, and Harley-Davidson.

Indigenous cultures lived along the waterways for thousands of years. The first recorded inhabitants of the Milwaukee area were various Native American tribes: the Menominee, Fox, Mascouten, Sauk, Potawatomi, and Ojibwe , and the Ho-Chunk . Many of these people had lived around Green Bay before migrating to the Milwaukee area about 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. In the American Revolutionary War, the Native Americans around Milwaukee were some of the few groups to ally with the rebel Continentals.

After the American 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 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 to remove these groups of Native Americans from their indigenous land. After being attacked in the Black Hawk War in 1832, the Native Americans in Milwaukee signed the 1833 Treaty of Chicago with the United States. In exchange for ceding their lands in the area, they were to receive monetary payments and lands west of the Mississippi in Indian Territory.

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, coming from Michilimackinac (now in Michigan), settled a trading post in 1785 and is considered the first resident of European descent in the Milwaukee region. 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. In the 19th century, the populace of the western side of Milwaukee used the spelling "Milwaukee", while on the eastern side "Milwaukie" was used until the modern-day spelling became accepted in the 1880s.

Famous Peoples From Milwaukee Wisconsin

George A. Abert

George Ackerman Abert (October 22, 1840 – March 27, 1918) was an American manufacturer, businessman, and Democratic politician. He was a member of the Wisconsin State Senate and Assembly, representing Milwaukee.

Abert was born on October 22, 1840, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the first of eight children born to Louisa (née Ackerman; 1818–1889), a native of Bavaria, and George Abert Sr. (1817–1890), a native of Alsace, France. He attended the common schools in the area. He was an iron founder and machine manufacturer by trade.

Abert served as a Democratic member of the State Senate from 1877 to 1878. In 1879, he was the city commissioner of public works. He was a member of the State Assembly twice, serving from 1882 to 1883 and from 1893 to 1894.

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