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Showing 241-260 of 683 Entries

Historic Preservation

Author: Joseph B. Walzer
Blurry image of historic preservation activists standing near Elizabeth Plankinton mansion while raising protest signs. Three signs are visible in this grayscale image. One that is legible reads "We have enough parking lots."
As the city developed, Milwaukeeans razed, transformed, and replaced outmoded buildings, infrastructure, and other elements of the landscape. Some groups expressed concern that these changes destroyed history and a “sense of place.” They worked to mark, preserve, restore, and repurpose historically significant sites and structures. Milwaukee’s first historic preservation efforts emerged in the late-nineteenth century.… Read More

Historic Third Ward

Author: James K. Nelsen
High-angle view of East Water Street in sepia color. Buildings stand side by side along the long road. Some horse-drawn vehicles and a streetcar pass on the street. Two rail track lines are visible throughout the road.
The Historic Third Ward, often known simply as the “Third Ward,” is a neighborhood within the City of Milwaukee. It lies mostly south of Interstate 794, between the Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan. In 1984, seventy-one buildings, spanning more than a dozen city blocks, were accepted by the National Register of Historic Places as “The… Read More

Hmong

Author: Chia Youyee Vang
Medium shot of Nao Shoua Xiong smiling in white clothes while showing a certificate that reads "Contract Services Academy of Services." Behind Xiong, who poses in a standing position, is a group of people sitting at a dining table.
The Hmong came to the United States as political refugees from Laos beginning in the mid-1970s. As a result of their involvement with American military and humanitarian personnel during the war in Southeast Asia, more than 130,000 settled in the U.S. The 2010 census reported the U.S. Hmong population had risen to over 260,000. Almost… Read More

Hockey

Author: Lisa Lamson
Sepia-colored full shot of John Cooper and Hank Kearns playing hockey in the horizontally striped uniforms. Each holds a hockey stick while gliding through an outdoor ice arena. Faraway buildings and leafless trees are visible in the background.
Hockey in Milwaukee has had a rocky history, although the Admirals are quite beloved in the region. A hockey demonstration sponsored by Schlitz Park Polo Club on the Milwaukee River in 1887 first introduced hockey to Milwaukee, but it was only thirty years later that organized games were consistently played. The Milwaukee Drueckers, named after… Read More

Holiday Folk Fair International

Author: Katie Steffan
Full shot of a group of people standing on the left and right side of a banner that reads "Milwaukee, Gateaway to the World." They pose in colorful costumes on a green lawn with their right hands raising ribbons connected to the banner in the center.
Sponsored by the INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF WISCONSIN, the Holiday Folk Fair International seeks to help all citizens of Milwaukee “appreciate the Old World culture” and to “further a better understanding and appreciation of our neighbors.” The first Holiday Folk Fair took place at the Wisconsin Electric PUBLIC SERVICE BUILDING on December 10, 1944. It was… Read More

Holy Hill

Author: Krista Grensavitch
Aerial shot of the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians at Holy Hill. Its towering structure stands out among lush and green tall trees.
The Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians at Holy Hill, more commonly referred to as Holy Hill, is a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church and is located in southwestern Washington County. Holy Hill is perched in the Kettle Moraine at one of the highest points in southeastern Wisconsin, an… Read More

Home Rule

Author: Bethany Harding
Headshot drawing of Henry Smith facing directionally to the left.
The complex relationship between Milwaukee and state authorities has been a standing issue throughout the city’s history. The founding generation, focused as they were upon economic and infrastructure development, frequently sought state authority to expand the powers of the city charter as well as for state and federal subsidies for railroads, roadways, the port, and… Read More

Hungarians

Author: Bill Reck
Members of the U.S. American Hungarian Societies of Wisconsin pose outside in front of a float, which is decorated with eagle wings, US flags, and a slogan with the words "We Came...Liberty." Some hold large American flags. Men appear in suits, ties, and hats. Women wear traditional hungarian skirts and vests. On the upper right of this grayscale image is a handwritten comment that reads "Compliment to Hon. Carl F. Zeidler, Mayor of Milwaukee--Geo. Welter"
Hungarians migrated to Milwaukee in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and in a small refugee migration following World War II and the Hungarian revolt of 1956. In 1910, almost 8,000 Milwaukeeans, or about 2 percent of the population, reported that their mother was born in Hungary. However, in the same census, only 1,306,… Read More

Ice Industry

Author: Joseph B. Walzer
A drawing illustrating a small group of people cutting a large sheet of ice atop a body of water into smaller blocks. Some blocks are loaded onto an inclined conveyor belt on the right. A building with the sign "Wis. Lakes Ice & Ctge. Co." is visible in the background.
Before widespread use of artificial refrigeration, ice was an important part of processing, preserving, and consuming food and beverage products. Over time, an ice industry in and around Milwaukee developed to meet local industrial and residential refrigeration needs. Southeast Wisconsin proved an ideal location for the industry because its long, cold winters and extensive river… Read More

Ice Skating

Authors: Megan Zienkiewicz and Aaron Kinskey
High-angle wide shot of people in winter clothes skating on the frozen Milwaukee River. Three young people are in the foreground, and many are scattered in the background. Several buildings appear atop the bluff in the distance.
The Milwaukee area has a rich history of ice skating, providing opportunities for speed skating, figure skating, and amateur and public skating. In 1928, the first United States Olympic speed skating time trials were held in Oconomowoc. In 1949, the West Allis Speed Skating Club’s winning reputation earned West Allis the title of “Skating Capital… Read More

Increase A. Lapham

Author: Paul G. Hayes
Grayscale medium shot of Increase A. Lapham sitting in formal attire, facing directionally to the right behind a table. He glances at a tool he holds with left hand while examining a meteorite on the table. Two books are piled beneath the meteorite.
Increase Allen Lapham (1811-1875), self-taught naturalist, and scientist of lasting influence, arrived at frontier Milwaukee in July 1836, when he was 25. One of thirteen children of a New York Quaker family, he worked on canals in New York, Kentucky, and Ohio, where he met Byron Kilbourn. Kilbourn, founder of Kilbourntown (one of three settlements… Read More

Indian Community School

Author: Bryan Rindfleisch
Five sets of colorful paper crafts are hung on the interior windows of a classroom. Each sheet of newsprint carries words written in Anishinaabemowin and English as well as numbers corresponding to various days in May. The first from left is entitled "Ma Hitawus Haap! May Day!" decorated predominantly with flower-shaped cutouts. The second has heart-shaped papers and is entitled "Hi'uni haap! Mother's Day!" The third sheet contains a list of May holidays. The fourth is themed National Apple Pie Day and the last one represents Memorial Day.
In 1969, three Oneida women—Marj Stevens, Marge Funmaker, and Darlene Funmaker Neconish—took it upon themselves to offer an alternative education for their own children and other disillusioned Native youth in Milwaukee. Born of their frustrations with the public school system, discrimination against Native students, and a lack of cultural direction, these Oneida women began teaching… Read More

Indian Summer Festival

Author: Aaron Kinskey
A group of people in colorful cultural clothing performs traditional Native American dances outside in broad daylight. Crowds stand and sit in the background, watching the performance. A different group in different apparel performs on the far left in the background.
Held at Henry Maier Festival Park on Milwaukee’s lakefront each September, the Indian Summer Festival is one of the largest celebrations of Native American culture in the United States. Approximately 45,000 people attend this three day event. Butch Roberts, a Milwaukee police detective and an Oneida Nation member, started the festival in 1986 to celebrate… Read More

Indigenous Milwaukee in the Age of Empire

Author: Jacob C. Jurss
A drawing illustrates several Indigenous people harvesting wild rice by canoe in a body of water. Three people sit on a canoe. One on the left holds a paddle's shaft with its tip in the water. Two on the right knock the grain into the canoe with smaller paddles. Lush and tall wild rice plants with feathery flowers on its top grows next to them. Other people harvesting in canoes are visible in the far distance.
Milwaukee is Indigenous land. The word Milwaukee comes from the Anishinaabemowin word minowakiing, meaning “good earth.” Anishinaabemowin is the language of the Anishinaabeg or Three Fires Confederacy made up of the Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi whose villages dotted Lake Michigan’s coast and whose presence is still felt throughout Wisconsin today. The word referred to a… Read More

Indoor Recreation

Author: Matthew J. Prigge
Grayscale long-shot of Milwaukee Turnverein gymnasium interior showing various gymnastics apparatuses. Regularly spaced climbing ropes hang here and there from the room's ceiling. Vault equipment appears at the image's center and right. Balls of different sizes lay on the floor in the image's center foreground. Beam, bars, and pommel horses are in the background. Ladders lean on the wall in the left background next to rectangular windows emanating outside light. The other wall visible in this photo consists of two stories. The upper story is enclosed with a balustrade. An American flag is set on the railing. Several frames hang on the second floor's wall.
Since Milwaukee’s earliest days, organized indoor recreation has promoted fitness, hygiene, entertainment, and civic betterment. While a wide variety of Milwaukeeans participated in these activities, there were noticeable class, gender, and age distinctions that often reflected the deeper social goals at work. The earliest references to indoor recreation in Milwaukee date to the 1850s and… Read More

Industrial Landscapes

Author: Michael Carriere
A drawing depicts a bird's eye view of the Schlitz Brewery buildings complex standing prominently with chimneys billowing smoke. A couple dozen horse-drawn carts pass by the streets around the buildings.
Throughout the twentieth century, the A.O. Smith manufacturing plant was a site of intense activity. Housed on a sprawling multi-acre, multi-block site on the city’s North Side, A.O. Smith mass-produced automobile frames, turning out 100 million by 1982. Such industrial activity transformed the neighborhood surrounding the plant, as the company, which at its peak employed… Read More

Inner Core

Author: Krista Grensavitch
A map of Milwaukee census tracts with areas divided into plots and numbered. Some areas are outlined and grouped into one zone by a thick black line. The map describes the zone as "The Inner Core-North."
In 1959, Mayor FRANK ZEIDLER called a public conference and assembled a group of community activists and researchers to discuss the “Social Problems of the Core of the City.” The group’s final report was issued on April 15, 1960. Titled “Mayor’s Study Committee on Social Problems in the Inner Core Area of the City” but… Read More

Insurance

Author: Joseph B. Walzer
A drawing illustrates the frontage of the Milwaukee Mechanics Mutual Insurance Company building. Some people and horse-drawn vehicles pass in front of it. The top left of the image is inscribed "13th of March, 1865." The center bottom reads "442 & 444 Market Square."
Forming in the years prior to the city’s charter, Milwaukee’s insurance industry became a key part of the city’s economy while several Milwaukee insurance firms grew into significant regional and national industry leaders. The area’s insurance companies not only provided important protection against calamitous loss of life, property, wages, and other investments, but also played… Read More

Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee

Author: Marcus White
Group photo of dozens of people smiling and standing in five rows in an indoor space. Some children appear in the group. They pose while facing the camera lens.
Approximately a dozen leaders of major faith traditions in the metro Milwaukee area founded the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee in 1970. This religious diversity—Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Quaker, and Unitarian-Universalist—was unusual at a time when most ecumenical efforts were Protestant-only in their composition. Initially called the Greater Milwaukee Conference on Religion and Race, and… Read More

International Harvester

Author: Karalee Surface
Aerial shot of the International Harvester plant and its surrounding area in sepia tone. The image shows the plant's building complex surrounded by fields and hills to the left and roadways surrounding scattered buildings to the right.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Wisconsin was a leading producer of farm implements. One of the major contributors to this growing industry was International Harvester, which was active in Milwaukee for nearly a century. Long before the Milwaukee plant became a part of an international conglomerate, it was Milwaukee Harvester—a local operation… Read More
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