Milwaukee - Wisconsin - History

The Milwaukee city, seat (1836) of Milwaukee county, south-eastern Wisconsin, U.S., and port of entry on Lake Michigan, where the Milwaukee, Menomonee, and Kinnickinnic rivers join and flow into Milwaukee Bay. Visited by French missionaries and fur traders in the 17th century, it was Mahn-a-waukee Seepe ("Gathering Place by the River") for various Indian tribes; and, although settled in 1800, the town did not develop until the Indians relinquished their claims. Two villages (Juneau-town and Kilbourn-town) were laid out in 1835 with lively rivalry over bridges, streets, and finances. They were united as autonomous wards of the town of Milwaukee in 1839, with Walker's Point added in 1845 and merged into the city in 1846.

German settlers played an important part in the city's early cultural development, with waves of immigration occurring about 1840 and 1848, the second contributing wealthy and cultured refugees from Germany's unsuccessful 1848 revolution. Large influxes of Poles and Italians occurred in the 1890s. The American Civil War spurred industrial development, and the city found itself involved with labour unions, disputes, and strikes until the turn of the century. A reform movement brought Milwaukee a reputation for clean and efficient government. The city is also noted for having had three socialist mayors.

By 1850, less than two decades old and with a population of twenty thousand, Milwaukee already had a dozen breweries and 225 saloons. The contemporary estimate of six thousand bars – one per hundred residents – is not necessarily apocryphal.