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Riverwest is a neighborhood in the city of Milwaukee bounded by the Milwaukee River on the east and south, N. Holton Street on the west, and E. Capitol Drive on the north. The neighborhood’s first development was at dams on the river in the mid-1830s—one located just south of present-day Capitol Drive, the other south… Read More

The Saukville area is about 25 miles north of Milwaukee in Ozaukee County. The Saukville area was initially part of the Township of Washington, which is today’s PORT WASHINGTON. Established in 1848, the Township of Saukville contained what became municipalities of the Village of Saukville and the Town of Saukville. The original inhabitants of the… Read More

Just fifty-five miles north of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County on Lake Michigan’s western shoreline lie the city (population 49,288 in 2010) and county of Sheboygan (population 115,507 in 2010). The area that was to become Sheboygan County was once covered by a vast forest. Native American tribes such as the Menominees, Ho-Chunk, Ojibwe, Sacs, Foxes,… Read More

Sherman Park is a primarily residential neighborhood on Milwaukee’s West Side, located between 35th and 60th streets, North Avenue and Capitol Drive. It is one of the city’s most diverse communities. In the late 1890s, GERMAN residents of Milwaukee’s crowded North Side began building homes in the farmland west of the railroad line that ran… Read More

In 1900, the village of East Milwaukee was incorporated. It occupied an area of roughly 1.5 square miles between Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee River, the Milwaukee City border on the south, and the recently incorporated village of Whitefish Bay to the north. In 1917, the name was changed to Shorewood to further distinguish the… Read More

The Story Hill neighborhood is on the west side of the City of Milwaukee. The neighborhood’s boundaries are roughly the Menomonee River to the north, Frederick Miller Way to the south, Hawley Road to the west, and US Highway 41/Miller Park Way to the east. But parts of it extend along Blue Mound Road to… Read More

In the United States context, suburbs typically are low-rise, residential municipalities beyond the commercial and industrial cores of central cities, sprinkled as they are with denser, older, multi-family housing stock. In the greater Milwaukee area, the processes and motivations for decades of suburbanization were varied and multifaceted. Some suburbs developed as enclaves of professionals and… 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

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 Lisbon is a rural community of approximately 10,000 residents spread out over 27 square miles. It is about 25 miles northwest of Milwaukee in WAUKESHA COUNTY. The first families to settle the area were the English Redfords and Weavers, who arrived in the mid-1830s. After 1838, when Lisbon became an official Town,… 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