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Home to world famous theater couple Alfred Lunt and his wife Lynn Fontanne, Ten Chimneys earned National Historic Landmark status in the early 2000s. Lunt, a Milwaukee native, bought the site in Genesee Depot in the Town of Genesee in 1913 and began building the house a year later. The Lunts brought in famed theater… Read More

Tennis traces its roots back to the early 1300s, but it emerged in its modern form as “lawn tennis” in England in 1874. The sport became immensely popular with the upper middle classes, who were challenging the power of the old aristocracy in the late Victorian era. The surging bourgeoisie still aped the ways of… Read More

The Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the American Revolution, recognized the legal jurisdiction of the United States over lands north of the Ohio River. For the next sixty-five years, the area that became Milwaukee fell under the jurisdiction of various federal territories. Although the authority of the federal government over what would become Wisconsin… Read More

TMER&L Co. was the first electric streetcar company in the city of Milwaukee. It commenced service in 1890 under the name “The Milwaukee Street Railway,” a business incorporated in New Jersey and owned by the North American Company of New Jersey (an umbrella entity with other municipal streetcar holdings). In that year, North American’s owner,… Read More

This experimental troupe was recognized for producing unique and unconventional plays. Formed by a group of theater faculty and students from the UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE in 1969, they first made waves with their production of The Measure’s Taken at the 1970 International Brecht Symposium. Their 1978 production of A Fierce Longing earned a prestigious Off-Broadway… Read More

Theodora Winton Youmans (1863-1932) was the first Wisconsin-born leader and last president of the Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association (WWSA), which she reorganized as the Wisconsin League of Women Voters. She led lobbying to win the state’s historic first ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. A prominent journalist, she joined the Waukesha Freeman in the 1880s and… Read More

At about 5:40 p.m. on Friday, October 28, 1892, spontaneous combustion in the Union Oil and Paint Company building on the Milwaukee River at Water Street, south of St. Paul Avenue, caused a fire. Strong winds swirling from the west and northwest pushed the fire east to Lake Michigan and south to Erie Street. By… Read More

The Thurston Woods neighborhood is located in northwest Milwaukee. It is bordered by Douglas Avenue to the north, Silver Spring Avenue to the south, Hopkins Street to the west and Teutonia Avenue to the east. It includes several distinctive sections, including an eponymous subdivision and the Berryland Public Housing Development. It is named after oyster… Read More

Tippecanoe is a neighborhood in the City of Milwaukee. The city government describes its boundaries as Morgan Avenue to the north and Norwich and Whitnall Avenues to the south from the City of St. Francis to Howell Avenue, with a segment extending to Sixth Street between Howard Avenue and Norwich Avenue. Unofficially, some people put… Read More

Milwaukee has hosted many visitors for organizational meetings, major conventions, and personal or business travel throughout its history. The city’s tourism industry grew along with the city, as an array of businesses, organizations, and civic leaders worked both independently and together to attract, accommodate, and ultimately profit from these guests. Milwaukee’s earliest visitors were often… Read More

Located in west-central WASHINGTON COUNTY, the Town of Addison borders Dodge County to the west, the TOWN OF WAYNE to the north, the TOWN OF HARTFORD to the south, and the TOWNS OF BARTON and WEST BEND to the east. Settled predominantly by Germans following the regional completion of the U.S. Public Land Survey, the… Read More

The Town of Barton occupies 19.5 square miles in WASHINGTON COUNTY, 37 miles northwest of downtown Milwaukee. The town is governed by a town board made up of five members. The town is home to the unincorporated community of Young America. The early histories of town and village of Barton were intertwined. The Village of… Read More

The Town of Brookfield is in Waukesha County, about six miles west of the western border of Milwaukee County. According to the U.S. census, the Town had 6,116 residents in 2010. The Town is geographically fragmented due to the growth of the City of Brookfield. Commuting from one part of the Town to another may… Read More

Incorporated on January 16, 1846, the Town of Erin is located in the southwest corner of WASHINGTON COUNTY. The Town features one of the highest points in southeastern Wisconsin, an elevation of 1,330 feet above sea level. Perched atop this hill, overlooking hundreds of acres of natural hardwood forest is HOLY HILL, a minor basilica… Read More

The Town of Farmington occupies the northeast corner of WASHINGTON COUNTY. It borders Sheboygan County to the north and Ozaukee County to the east. Originally, the Town of Farmington was part of the TOWN OF WEST BEND, though in 1847 an act of the territorial legislature set off a piece of land, first called Clarence.… Read More

The Town of Genesee is located in the Kettle Moraine region of WAUKESHA COUNTY, about 30 miles west of Milwaukee. Its contemporary population of approximately 7,340 people is spread out over its 32 square miles. Genesee’s first European settlers, primarily German, Welsh, Irish, and English immigrants, arrived in the 1830s. These migrants established many small… Read More

Located twenty miles north of Milwaukee in Ozaukee County, the Town of Grafton borders LAKE MICHIGAN to the east and the VILLAGE OF GRAFTON and the TOWN OF CEDARBURG to the west. The Wisconsin Territory created the Town in 1846. While it shares much of its history with the Village of Grafton, the Town of… Read More

The Town of Ottawa, established in 1843, is located about 30 miles west of MILWAUKEE in western WAUKESHA COUNTY. The Town occupies 36 square miles. Bordered by the villages of SUMMIT, DOUSMAN, and NORTH PRAIRIE and the towns of EAGLE, GENESEE, and Concord, Ottawa is a rural area defined by its connection to the KETTLE… Read More

Incorporated on January 21, 1846, the Town of Polk hosts numerous lakes, streams, and rivers. Located in the center of Washington County, the Town’s northern edge follows the coastline of both the Little and Big Cedar Lakes. Major rivers within the Town include Coney River, part of Evergreen Creek, and Cedar Creek. From the earliest… Read More

John H. Mullett first surveyed what would become the Town of Port Washington in 1833 as part of the exterior portion of the Public Lands Survey in Wisconsin. Mullett noted that the land was “gently rolling” and second rate, with both streams and swamp lands containing birch, ash, elm, oak, and sugar bush. The interior… Read More