Milwaukee Audio Walking Tour

Highlights

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  Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin

  Chartered in 1882, the Milwaukee Public Museum on West Wells Street in the Westown neighborhood is about to become the Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin. Chartered in 1882 and opened to the public in 1884, this museum now fills three floors of exhibits and contains the first Dome Theater in Wisconsin in its current complex on West Wells Street.

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  Pabst Mansion

  Picture Captain Frederick Pabst, born in 1836 and gone by 1904, raising this grand Flemish Revival-styled mansion in Milwaukee in 1892. He immigrated in 1848 as a 12-year-old from Thuringia, Germany, worked his way up on Goodrich Line steamships from cabin boy to captain in 1857, and in 1862 married Maria Best, daughter of the owner of Best and Company.

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  Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory

  Three glass domes rise over Mitchell Park in Milwaukee: the Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory, known here simply as The Domes. This conservatory opened in 1964 following five years of construction that began in 1959, and it is owned and operated by the Milwaukee County Park System.

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  St. Joan of Arc Chapel

  This little stone chapel on the Marquette University campus is St. Joan of Arc Chapel, a Roman Catholic chapel in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee that began life in France. This little stone building was dedicated to Joan of Arc on 26 May 1966 after it had been moved from its previous location on Long Island, New York.

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  Miller High Life Theatre

  Dedicated on September 21, 1909 as the Milwaukee Auditorium, this is the Miller High Life Theatre at 500 W. Kilbourn Avenue in downtown Milwaukee. This is the same monumental structure that rose where the Milwaukee Industrial Exposition Building once stood before a fire in 1905.

All 24 stops

• Pabst Mansion (Milwaukee)

  Picture Captain Frederick Pabst, born in 1836 and gone by 1904, raising this grand Flemish Revival-styled mansion in Milwaukee in 1892.

• Pabst Brewery Complex (northwest of downtown Milwaukee)

  Picture Jacob Best Sr. founding this brewery in 1844, the site that would grow into the Pabst Brewery Complex northwest of downtown Milwaukee.

• William Plankinton Mansion (Grand Avenue)

  Back in 1876 the William Plankinton Mansion rose right here at 1529 W. Wisconsin Avenue.

• Kilbourn Masonic Temple (Milwaukee)

  Behind that Classical Revival facade of the Kilbourn Masonic Temple hides an older house, wrapped up by the Masons in 1911.

• Wisconsin Tower (West Wisconsin Avenue)

  Look up at the Wisconsin Tower, also called the 606 Building, at 606 West Wisconsin Avenue.

• Miller High Life Theatre (Downtown Milwaukee)

  Dedicated on September 21, 1909 as the Milwaukee Auditorium, this is the Miller High Life Theatre at 500 W. Kilbourn Avenue in downtown Milwaukee.

• Hilton Milwaukee City Center (Westown)

  The Hilton Milwaukee City Center opened in 1928 as the Schroeder Hotel, an Art Deco–style tower in the Westown neighborhood of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

• The Victorious Charge (Court of Honor)

  Four Union soldiers cast in bronze charge forward here on the Court of Honor, John S. Conway's The Victorious Charge on West Wisconsin Avenue in…

• Washington Monument (Court of Honor)

  Richard Henry Park's bronze Washington Monument shows George Washington at 43, the American artist's full-length portrait on the Court of Honor near Marquette University in…

• Midsummer Carnival Shaft (Court of Honor)

  A full 65 feet of Bedford limestone rises from the median of Wisconsin Avenue in front of you: the Midsummer Carnival Shaft, designed by Alfred…

• Central Library (Milwaukee)

  Seventy-four entries, including one from Frank Lloyd Wright, competed in 1893 to design the Central Library, the monumental headquarters of the Milwaukee Public Library System.

• Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin (Westown)

  Chartered in 1882, the Milwaukee Public Museum on West Wells Street in the Westown neighborhood is about to become the Nature & Culture Museum of…

• Milwaukee County Courthouse (Downtown Milwaukee)

  Eleven stories of Bedford limestone crown this hill: the Milwaukee County Courthouse, completed in 1931 as the third courthouse in the city's history.

• Gesu Church (Tory Hill)

  Gesu Church, a Jesuit parish of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, rises in the neighborhood once called Tory Hill and was named a Milwaukee…

• St. Joan of Arc Chapel (Marquette University)

  This little stone chapel on the Marquette University campus is St. Joan of Arc Chapel, a Roman Catholic chapel in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee that…

• Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art (Downtown Milwaukee)

  Since November 11, 1984, the Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, known locally as simply The Haggerty, has welcomed visitors on the Marquette University…

• Johnston Hall (downtown Milwaukee)

  Robert A. Johnston Hall lifts its Gothic-ornamented stone over Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Milwaukee.

• Ex Stasis (downtown Milwaukee)

  Sharp, angular metallic planes balance on low concrete pedestals in front of you — Ex Stasis, by American artist Richard Lippold, on the Marquette campus…

• Rainbow Machine (Marquette University)

  Twelve-foot steel poles topped with swiveling holographic arms make up Rainbow Machine, American artist Joseph Burlini's sculpture on the Marquette campus in downtown Milwaukee.

• Marquette Gymnasium (Milwaukee)

  Built in 1922, Marquette Gymnasium is the venerable Old Gym of the Marquette University campus.

• Calvary Presbyterian Church (Marquette University district)

  Calvary Presbyterian Church raises two contrasting Victorian Gothic towers, painted bright red, over the Marquette University district of downtown Milwaukee.

• Turner Hall (Milwaukee)

  Turner Hall at 1034 North 4th Street takes its name from the German word for gymnastics.

• Tripoli Shrine Temple (Concordia)

  Tripoli Shrine Temple brings a touch of the Taj Mahal to Milwaukee's Concordia neighborhood.

• Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory (Mitchell Park)

  Three glass domes rise over Mitchell Park in Milwaukee: the Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory, known here simply as The Domes.

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