Skyline Milwaukee Wisconsin over Lake Michigan
Skyline Milwaukee Wisconsin over Lake Michigan

Milwaukee, WI

Condos in Milwaukee

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  • History

  • Location

  • Things to do

  • Demographics

  • Culture

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Explore all the reasons why Milwaukee, WI is the ideal place to consider buying a condo

Milwaukee City is said to be one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse in the USA. It has several Fortune 500 companies and two major professional sports teams − the Bucks (basketball) and the Brewers (baseball). Over the past few years, the city has witnessed its largest boom in construction since the 1960’s. Milwaukee's location, by the Great Lakes, has sometimes rapidly-changing weather, with a humid continental climate, sharp, cold, snowy winters, and hot, humid summers. The warmest month is July (averaging 71.8 °F), while January is the coldest (averaging 22.3 °F).

History of Milwaukee

History of Milwaukee

Grand Avenue in Milwaukee Wisconsin

The name "Milwaukee" originates from the Algonquian word millioke, meaning "good," "beautiful," and "pleasant land". What more could you want if you’re considering buying a condo in Milwaukee? The first residents in the area were Native American tribes, with indigenous cultures by the waterways for thousands of years. The Native Americans near Milwaukee were involved in all the major European wars on the American continent. It was French traders and missionaries who arrived in the area in the late 17th and 18th centuries. In 1785, Alexis Laframboise, coming from Michigan, was the first resident of European descent in the Milwaukee area. In the 19th century, those on the east side spelled the city "Milwaukie," while on the west, "Milwaukee" was used and became “official” in the 1880s. Milwaukee City grew, and immigrants, mainly German from Prussia arrived during the 1840s and 1850s. By 1900, 34 percent of Milwaukee's population was of German background, making it the “most German city” in America. The European heritage of Milwaukee can be seen today. In 2006, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named Milwaukee as one of the "Dozen Distinctive Destinations."

Grand Avenue in Milwaukee Wisconsin

Things to do in Milwaukee

Things to do in Milwaukee

Milwaukee Art Museum in Wisconsin

Museum lovers will find Milwaukee provides many views into the past. The Milwaukee Public Museum with its wonderful human and natural history houses magnificent permanent exhibits from Africa, the Arctic, Europe, Oceania, and Middle and South and America. There are the streets of Old Milwaukee, dinosaurs (including the world's largest dinosaur skull), a tropical rainforest, a European Village, hands-on laboratories and even live arthropods and insects. You’ll also find an IMAX movie theater/planetarium.

Betty Brinn Children's Museum is for children under ten, with plenty of hands-on exhibits and interactive programs. It was voted by Parents’ Magazine as one of the top ten museums for children. Discovery World, Milwaukee's science museum, can be found to the south of the Milwaukee Art Museum. It has high-tech and hand-on exhibits, as well as saltwater and freshwater aquariums.

The Harley-Davidson Museum, the only museum of its type in the world, pays homage to the most iconic motorcycle on earth. And don’t forget the Milwaukee County Zoo, housing over 1,800 animals, including polar bears and siamangs, cheetahs and one of the largest groups of bonobos outside the Congo.

For shoppers, the Avenue is a huge three-block urban shopping plaza in Westown, and for those who like good food, Milwaukee has an incredible choice of ethnic cuisines from around the world, including Chinese, Ethiopian, French, German, Hmong, Italian, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese.

Milwaukee has more than 140 parks in total, offering over 15,000 acres of parklands and parkways. Milwaukee County is especially well-known for its "Grand Necklace of Parks” including Lake Park, Riverside Park, and Washington Park. In these, you can disc golf, grill, ice skate, picnic or simply sunbathe. They also contain several nature centers with programs for children and adults. You’ll also find two suburban nature centers nearby, the Wehr Nature Center in Franklin and the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Bayside. All great reasons for those buying condos in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee Art Museum in Wisconsin

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Location

Map showing Milwaukee

Location

Milwaukee is situated by Lake Michigan in Milwaukee County, where the Menomonee, Kinnikinic and Milwaukee rivers meet. The topography owes its heritage to glacier pathways. Milwaukee Neighborhoods Downtown Milwaukee This is big city living but with desirability, convenience, and great walking. Milwaukee’s collection of great condos will suit any buyer out there. Whether you’re a first-time buyer or a luxury home-seeker wanting a city-center penthouse condo, Milwaukee is for you. Whether chic and modern, a genuine loft conversion, a waterfront property, or a high-rise, you’ll find it. East Side From Lakefront to the Milwaukee River and just north of downtown, East Side offers some great unique shops, restaurants and good nightlife. It has a wonderful Polish, Italian and somewhat bohemian heritage. You’ll find fabulous Milwaukee condos, supported by all the residential comforts you need, magnificent parks, great art, heritage and music to hand. Brookfield This neighborhood is delightfully “sparse” and spacious, conservative green suburb in Milwaukee, with plenty of local bars, coffee shops, restaurants, parks and shopping. It is the location for FedEx’s SmartPost headquarters. Additionally, the public schools in Brookfield are highly rated. Cedarburg This northern suburb of Milwaukee is a denser suburb nevertheless noted for having plenty of parks and outdoor spaces. It was originally a mill town, and has in excess of 200 historic buildings, with attractions, galleries, studios and souvenir shops bringing in tourists. There are weekend festivals that also bring people and their dollars to the city. Cedarburg attracts young professionals and young families, because like Brookfield, it too has highly rated public schools.

Milwaukee demographics

Milwaukee demographics

Large group of people forming the shape of Wisconsin

The city encompasses 96.80 square miles, with only 0.68 square miles being water. It currently has the fifth-largest Polish population in the U.S., just behind New York City and Chicago. As well as Germans and Polish people, other European immigrants came from all over Europe, making the city truly multicultural.

Milwaukee, as the largest city in Wisconsin and the 30th largest city in the United States, has a population of 586,500. The average household income in Milwaukee is $57,500, with the median age being 31.5 years, 30.6 years for males, and 32.5 years for females.

38.3% of the population claims African American ancestry, with 21% claiming German origins. Others include Polish (8.8%), Irish (6.5%), Italian (3.6%) and English (2.8%). The current precise racial composition, according to the most recent American Community Survey is white 44.35%, African American 38.75%, other race 7.98%, Asian 4.26%, mixed race 4.01%, Native American 0.60% and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 0.04%.

Large group of people forming the shape of Wisconsin

Arts in Milwaukee

Arts in Milwaukee

Milwaukee Shoreline in Wisconsin

The Polish Fest, Festa Italiana and Irishfest, together with numerous other ethnically themed festivals are held during summer in the lakefront Summerfest grounds.

At Milwaukee School of Engineering, the Grohmann Museum, with its rooftop sculpture garden, houses the world's most comprehensive art collection relating to human work. The magnificent Milwaukee Art Museum is certainly a stunning cultural attraction, with its recently-added $100 million wing.

You will find great classics at the Haggerty Museum of Art on the Marquette University campus. The Milwaukee County Historical Society traces Milwaukee through the late 19th century up to the mid-20th century, with authentic replicated buildings and features from the period.

For some outdoor music, Cathedral Park in Downtown Milwaukee features "Jazz in the Park" on Thursday nights, with Pere Marquette Park hosting "River Rhythms" on Wednesday nights, both during the summer months.

Milwaukee Shoreline in Wisconsin

Schools in Milwaukee

Schools in Milwaukee

Milwaukee Public Schools is the 33rd largest school district in the USA. There are 637 preschools, 265 elementary schools, 189 middle schools, 84 high schools, 140 public district schools, 54 public charter schools and 530 private schools in Milwaukee. With this many great schools, you are spoiled for choice when considering buying a condo in Milwaukee. The top-scoring high schools in Milwaukee, measured against national educational criteria and scoring out of 10 are Golda Meir School (8) with 1,162 students and Carmen High School of Science and Technology, South Campus (7) with 396 students. The top-scoring middle schools are Downtown Montessori Academy (9) with 299 students, Cooper School (8) with 465 students, Golda Meir School (8) with 1,162 students, while the top-scoring elementary schools, all scoring eight out of ten are Downtown Montessori Academy with 299 students, Cooper School with 465 students, Golda Meir School with 1,162 students, Stormonth Elementary School with 447 students and Howard Avenue Montessori School with 300 students.

 Chapman Hall building at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

Why Milwaukee?

Why Milwaukee?

Kinnickinnic Avenue in Bay View district. Milwaukee Wisconsin

For those wanting to buy a condo in Milwaukee, it is certainly one city proud of its key “Quality of Life” stats. With an average commute time as one of the lowest nationally at just 23.1 minutes, added to this the Hop Light rail system that offers free rides in the city, and its proximity to several big cities including Chicago, Cincinnati, Des Moines, Detroit, Indianapolis, Louisville, Minneapolis and St. Louis, it makes a lot of sense to consider buying a condo in Milwaukee.

Kinnickinnic Avenue in Bay View district. Milwaukee Wisconsin
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