Milwaukee - Interesting Facts
Top Reasons for Visiting Milwaukee:
Festivals
Museums
Brewery
Tours
Nightlife
Diverse Restaurants
History
Leading Attractions:
Summerfest-The World’s Largest Music Festival
Harley Davidson
The Lakefront
Ethnic Festivals
The
Milwaukee Art Museum and Calatrava
Population:
Milwaukee - City of Milwaukee - 596,974
History & Geography:
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 means "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 two neighboring rival towns to incorporate as the City of Milwaukee: Kilbourntown to the west, which was founded by Byron Kilbourn, and Walker's Point to the south, founded by George H. Walker. Juneau was Milwaukee's first mayor. 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.
From the late 19th century until the 1950s, Milwaukee, like many northern industrial cities, saw tremendous growth from immigrants from Germany, Hungary, Poland and other central European nations, as well as the northward migration of African-Americans from southern U.S. states. This helped make Milwaukee 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, however, 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. While the city still faces a shrinking population, it continues to make plans for increasing its future revitalization through various projects.
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
Largest Milwaukee Area Companies:
Private
Northwestern Mutual
S.C. Johnson & Son Inc.
Roundy’s Inc.
Johnson Diversey Inc.
Aurora Health Care
The F. Dohmen Co.
Quad/Graphics Inc.
Columbia St. Mary’s
Everett Smith Group Ltd.
Charter Manufacturing Co. Inc.
Public
Johnson Controls Inc.
Manpower Inc.
Kohl’s Corp
Harley-Davidson Inc.
WPS Resources Corp.
Rockwell Automation Inc.
Wisconsin Energy Corp.
ShopKo Stores Inc.
Alliant Energy Corp.
Fiserv Inc.
