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Milwaukee is the largest city in the state of Wisconsin, United
States and the county of Milwaukee. The city's population is 596,974
with an estimated total of 1,709,926 in the Milwaukee metropolitan area
(2005). The city of Milwaukee is the 19th largest city in the United
States. The city is located in the southeastern portion of the state on
the western shore of Lake Michigan.
More about Milwaukee...
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 twentieth century.
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 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 and
Wisconsin Energy. Milwaukee also has a large number of financial
service firms, particularly those specializing in mutual funds, and a
disproportionate number of publishing and printing companies.
Arts, Culture and Sports
 Milwaukee's most visually prominent cultural attraction is the
Milwaukee Art Museum, and 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 and
Milwaukee County Zoo are also notable public attractions.
Milwaukee is home to the Florentine Opera, the Milwaukee Symphony
Orchestra, the Milwaukee Ballet, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Skylight
Opera Theatre, and a number of other arts organizations.
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) playing at the Bradley Center
- Milwaukee Admirals (Ice hockey) playing at the Bradley Center
- Milwaukee Wave (Indoor Soccer) playing at the U.S. Cellular Arena
- Milwaukee Wave United (Outdoor Soccer) (Note: the Wave United will not play in 2005, might play in 2006)
Milwaukee has advertised itself as the "City of Festivals," especially
emphasizing an annual fair along the lakefront 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, French and Polish heritage.
Geography
 Milwaukee's downtown area is about 90 miles north of the Chicago
Loop. Milwaukee lies 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, which come
together downtown at the Marquette Interchange.
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 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%.
As of the census 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 population, 31.6% of those under the age
of 18 and 11.0% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
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.
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.
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
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 —Well known philanthropists of Bradley family fortune, who gifted the Bradley Center and Pettit National
Ice Center.
- Leroy Chiao — astronaut, Commander and Science Officer for
International Space Station Expedition 10 in orbit as of October 16,
2004 for a 6-month mission.
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