History
The Milwaukee area was originally inhabited by the Fox, Mascouten,
Potawatomi, and Winnebago Indian tribes. Milwaukee received its name from
the Indian word Millioke which is thought to have meant "The Good Land", or
"gathering place by the water". French missionaries and traders passed
through the area in the late 1600s and 1700s. In 1818, Frenchman Solomon
Juneau settled in the area. Juneau bought out his father-in-law's trading
business, and in 1833 he founded a town on the east side of the Milwaukee
River. In 1846, Juneau's town combined with neighboring rival towns (Kilbourn
Town and Walker's Point) to incorporate the city of Milwaukee. Juneau was
Milwaukee's first mayor. (His statue is part of the montage at the right -
the frontiersman with the rifle, in the center of the montage. Juneau's
statue gazes upon the buildings of downtown Milwaukee, with its back to Lake
Michigan. A replica of his tiny log cabin is in the same park.) German
immigrants helped increase the city's population during the 1840s and the
following decades. Milwaukee still today has a large German-American
population. The liberal tradition of these peoples led to decades of
socialist government in Milwaukee during the 1800s and 1900s.
Economy
Although most people associate Milwaukee's reputation with its breweries,
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 acurate,
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,
and Johnson Controls. Milwaukee also has a large number of financial service
firms, and a disproportionate number of publishing and printing companies
for a city of its size.
Arts, Culture and Sports
Milwaukee's most visually prominent cultural attraction is the Milwaukee Art
Museum, and especially its new $100 million wing (including a moving
sunscreen quite literally unfolds like the wing of a bird), designed by
Santiago Calatrava in his first American commission. Milwaukee is also home
to a symphony orchestra and a professional ballet company, as well as
boasting a number of theater companies.
It is also home to a number of professional sports teams including:
Milwaukee Brewers (Baseball—MLB)playing at the new Miller Park
Milwaukee Bucks (Basketball—NBA)
Milwaukee Admirals (Ice hockey)
Milwaukee Wave (Soccer)
Milwaukee has advertised itself as the "City of Festivals," especially
emphasizing an annual fair along the lakefront called Summerfest (http://www.summerfest.com/home.php).
Listed in the Guiness 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, Italian, Irish, and Polish heritage.
Geography and Layout
Milwaukee lies about 90 miles north of Chicago along the shores of Lake
Michigan near the meeting points of three rivers: the Menomonee, the
Kinnickinnic and the Milwaukee. It is crossed by Interstate 43 and
Interstate 94.
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.
Demographics
In the 2000 census, over a third (38 percent) of Milwaukeeans reported that
they were of of German descent. Other large population groups included
include Polish (12.7%), Irish (10%), English (5.1%), Italian (4.4%), French
(3.9%), and Hispanic origin totaled 6.3%.
As of the census1 of 2000, there are 596,974 people, 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). 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.
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 people living in poverty, 31.6% are under the age of 18 and 11.0% are
65 or older.
Climate
Average January high/low temperatures: 26°F/11°F (-3°C/-12°C)
Average July high/low temperatures: 79°F/62°F (26°C/17°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 summer). Also, 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.
Airports
General Mitchell International Airport
Colleges and Universities
Alverno College
Cardinal Stritch University
Marquette University
Medical College of Wisconsin
Milwaukee Area Technical College
Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design
Milwaukee School of Engineering
Mount Mary College
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Wisconsin Lutheran College
Newspapers
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Shepherd Express
Neighborhoods
Brewer’s Hill
Bay View (http://www.gobayview.com)
Third Ward / Old World Third
Town of Lake
Layton Park
Walker’s Point
Notable denizens
Herbert Simon—Nobel laureate for advances in artificial intelligence (AI):
the influence of Milwaukee even showed up in his professional work; as the
inventor of bounded rationality, Simon showed that people work only as much
as needed, and then adjust their priorities to other, perhaps more enjoyable
things, an attitude which is very common in a city dedicated to gemuetlich
pursuits and beer.
Jack Kilby—Nobel laureate, co-inventor of the integrated circuit
Golda Meir—prime minister of Israel
Lloyd and Jane Pettit (http://www.jsonline.com/news/Metro/nov03/184367.asp)—Well
known philanthropists of Bradley family (http://www.bradleyfdn.org/about.html)
fortune, who gifted the Bradley Center (http://www.bradleycenter.com/) and
Pettit National Ice Center (http://www.thepettit.com/).
Leroy Chiao — astronaut, Commander and Science Officer for International
Space Station Expedition 10 in orbit as of October 16th, 2004 for a 6-month
mission.
