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Johnson’s Woods is a residential neighborhood in the City of Milwaukee between Interstate 94, the Hank Aaron State Trail, Seventieth Street, and the Wood National Cemetery. It is named for James Johnson, who purchased 141 acres of wooded land in the area in 1876. The land was part of the Town of Wauwatosa at that… Read More

The relationship among Kenosha, Milwaukee, and Racine Counties has always been problematic, reflecting the dueling influences of Wisconsin and Illinois over their development. As one measure, consider how the U.S. Census Bureau officially designates their relationships. Although Racine is part of the Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha WI Combined Statistical Area, Kenosha is not. Instead, the Census Bureau affiliates… Read More

While the Village of Kewaskum exists nearly entirely within the limits of the Town of Kewaskum, the boundaries between the Village and Town frequently shifted. In 1846, the territorial legislature reallocated the Kewaskum area from north central Washington County to the neighboring Town of West Bend. Just a year later, the land was separated from… Read More

An informal name, northwestern WAUKESHA COUNTY’s Lake Country encompasses over twenty lakes and their surrounding region. These lakes vary in size and depth from large, named lakes, like PEWAUKEE, OCONOMOWOC, and Okauchee Lakes, to small ponds. Located within easy traveling distance of both Milwaukee and Chicago, Lake Country became a popular summer destination for wealthy… Read More

The Layton Park neighborhood is on the south side of the City of Milwaukee. The 1970 Metropolitan Milwaukee Fact Book defined its boundaries as Lincoln Avenue from 16th Street to 24th Street, Becher Street from 24th Street to 35th Street, and Howard Avenue from 16th Street to 35th Street. However, the City of Milwaukee’s Neighborhood Identification… Read More

The 1,200-acre Menomonee Valley has always played a central role in the economic life of Milwaukee. Flowing through it is the Menomonee River, which provided Native Americans with a canoe route from Lake Michigan into the interior and abundant resources, including menomin (Algonquin for wild rice). As European settlement increased in the late 1800s, the… Read More

The Merrill Park neighborhood is in the City of Milwaukee between Wisconsin Avenue, Interstate 94, from 27th Street, and 39th Street. It is south of the CONCORDIA neighborhood and east of PIGGSVILLE. Together, the three neighborhoods make up the “West End,” so named because in the late nineteenth century it was at the west end… Read More

The Village of Merton is located about 25 miles northwest of Milwaukee in WAUKESHA COUNTY, bordering the Towns of Merton and LISBON. Before European settlers arrived there, Native Americans had an encampment in the area, along with a system of trails—one of which European immigrants traveled on their way through the Wisconsin territory. In 1840,… Read More

The Midtown neighborhood is in the City of Milwaukee. Its boundaries are North Avenue to the north, Highland Avenue to the south, and Twentieth Street to the east. Highland Avenue was Milwaukee’s first boulevard. The neighborhood’s western boundary has traditionally been a railroad track that runs from about Thirtieth Street and North Avenue to Thirty-Seventh… Read More

Milwaukee County is the most populous county in Wisconsin. It has 947,735 residents as of the 2010 federal census. The county consists of nineteen municipalities, including ten cities and nine villages. There are eighteen public school districts in the county. As a political entity, Milwaukee County was established by the Michigan Territorial Legislature on September… Read More

Named from a Potawatomi word meaning “Place of the Bear,” Mukwonago is located thirty miles southwest of MILWAUKEE. The Village of Mukwonago makes up the southeastern corner of the Town of Mukwonago and extends south into WALWORTH COUNTY. Mukwonago’s other neighbors include the Towns of Vernon, East Troy, EAGLE, and GENESEE, and the Village of… Read More

The City of Muskego lies approximately twenty miles southwest of Milwaukee in WAUKESHA COUNTY. It occupies almost thirty-six square miles. Originally, Muskego was in MILWAUKEE COUNTY and included modern-day WAUKESHA, VERNON, NEW BERLIN, and Muskego. In 1839, lawmakers subdivided Muskego into the four self-governing towns. A dispute over 431 acres of land annexed to New Berlin spurred… Read More

A neighborhood is a small section of a larger municipality that residents understand as a connected territory near their homes. Sometimes neighborhoods have names and generally recognized boundaries; other times their definition is more diffuse. Because modern cities vary so much internally, urban planners and scholars use bounded neighborhoods to understand local differences in population… Read More

New Berlin is a city located in eastern Waukesha County. With an approximate population in 2010 of 39,584, it is the 16th largest city in the state. It is a six square mile area bordered by the city of Waukesha to the west, Muskego to the south, Brookfield to the north, and West Allis and… Read More

Milwaukee’s North Point neighborhood covers the area from E. Lafayette Place to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, E. Park Place to the north, and N. Summit and N. Downer Avenues to the west. The area takes its name from a part of the Lake Michigan coastline jutting into the water at about E.… Read More

Oconomowoc, located in northern WAUKESHA COUNTY about 35 miles from Milwaukee, is named from a Potawatomi word meaning “gathering of the waters.” The histories of the City and Town of Oconomowoc are tied to their lakes—Lac La Belle, Fowler Lake, Oconomowoc Lake, and Okauchee Lake. In 1837, the first YANKEE-YORKERS established residences in the area.… Read More

Located directly north of MILWAUKEE COUNTY, Ozaukee County is an integral part of both the Greater Milwaukee Area and the LAKE MICHIGAN waterfront. Although it is the second smallest of Wisconsin’s counties, having only 233 square miles of land, Ozaukee County was home to 86,395 residents in 2010. These residents live within 16 municipalities—three cities,… Read More

Piggsville is a neighborhood in the city of Milwaukee. Its borders are Wisconsin Avenue to the north, Interstate-94 to the south, 39th Street to the east, and 44th Street and Miller Parkway to the west. The northwest section of Piggsville was under the Wisconsin Avenue viaduct, which was torn down and replaced in 1993. Pigssville… Read More

The term placemaking can be confusing because different stakeholders understand it in various ways. Sometimes people refer to placemaking’s economic development functions; at other times, the emphasis is on cultivating city residents’ creativity. According to urban planner Mark Wyckoff, placemaking is simply a “process of creating quality places that people want to live, work, play… Read More

Racine County was forged out of the original Milwaukee County on December 7, 1836. From the end of the Civil War to the 1950s, it ranked second in Wisconsin only to its northern lakeshore neighbor in total population, industrial development, and ethno-cultural diversity. Several of its manufacturing establishments achieved national—and even international—status. For several decades,… Read More