It’s easy to think about immigration in the short term.
News outlets report that border crossings are up or down, families are separated or reunited and new presidents change policies.
But this week, WUWM is taking the long view. Welcome to our series Making Wisconsin: Our Immigration History, which helps us understand who our neighbors are and how immigration has shaped the city, state and country.
Our first story examines the waves of immigration to Milwaukee.
Life in Milwaukee didn’t start with foreign settlers. It began with Indigenous peoples who settled at the convergence of the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers. First were the mound builders between 800 and 500 B.C. Groups of Native Americans settled here in the 1600s.
“I like to say that Milwaukee specifically has always been a multinational and cosmopolitan city. It was shared between several different indigenous nations," says Rachel Buff, a professor of history specializing in immigration at UWM.
She explains that Potawatomi, Menominee, Ojibwe, Miami and other groups shared the area now known as Milwaukee. Although Milwaukee is now Wisconsin’s largest city, Green Bay was at one time the cultural hub of Indigenous life due to its fur trade.
Europeans arrive in Milwaukee: French, then British and Germans
French settlers began to arrive in the 17th and 18th centuries. Although many Wisconsin towns still bear French names, permanent French immigration was minimal here, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.
The historical society notes that few French people established long term residency in Wisconsin, and the French lost control over Wisconsin toward the end of the French and Indian War in 1763. Then came the British, who were also motivated by the fur trade.
“So we have a French métis, a mixed blood migration and some English folks coming in in the 18th century as well. You can see it in Milwaukee’s geography. Like Yankee Hill. There are early, English, white Anglo-Saxon protestants that are some of the first settlers," Buff says.
Perhaps the immigrants with the greatest impact on Wisconsin’s image arrived next: The Germans. They came here seeking economic opportunities and fleeing unrest in Germany after a failed revolution in 1848, Buff says.
"Subsequently, after the small Yankee migrations, we have bigger waves in the 1840s of Germans. So this was the “German Athens,” pretty much from the 1840s through World War I.”
Milwaukee became known as the “Athens” of Germans in the United States because of its concentration of German immigrants and their impact here. Germans trained in politics became leaders of Milwaukee’s socialist government, while entrepreneurs started breweries and tradesmen sold crafts and established businesses.
Around this time, Buff says waves of Scandinavian, Irish and Italian immigrants coming north from Chicago also arrived in Milwaukee seeking better jobs and opportunities. Escaped enslaved people traveled to Wisconsin to join free Black communities in the early 19th century. Members of all of these groups formed regiments sent by Wisconsin to fight in the Civil War.
“Our regiment that fought in the Civil War, our regiments were predominantly non-English speaking, which is an interesting fact," Buff says.
The South Side transformation
The mid-to-late 1800s brought an influx of Polish immigrants fleeing political and religious repression in their home country, Buff says. The city’s south side became a predominantly Polish area. The growing community built churches, and worked manufacturing and industry jobs.
Around the start of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, Buff says Mexican immigrants began to move to Milwaukee for stability and new jobs. She explains that southeastern Wisconsin started a longstanding relationship with Crystal City, Texas, where Mexican immigrants would move to the midwest to work seasonal agricultural jobs. Many stayed.
Mexican immigrants moved into the city’s south side, creating a community closer to what we see today.
“The transition of the south side of Milwaukee, which had been historically Polish. You can sort of see that in the architecture, the churches, the businesses… But you have those churches kind of keeping business going by having Spanish-speaking masses.”
More immigration from Central America followed in the 1980s — creating a diverse Hispanic community here, with families from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. In 1985, Wisconsin even declared itself a sanctuary state for central American immigrants fleeing violence in their home countries.
Later, Hmong communities from southeast Asia immigrated to Milwaukee, particularly following the closure of the last Hmong refugee camp in Thailand in 1992. Faith-based groups often sponsored Hmong arrivals, who established enclaves in Milwaukee as well as schools and community associations.
Immigration to Milwaukee is what makes the city exciting, UWM professor says
More than 20 years later, immigrants have continued to seek out a new home in Milwaukee.
In 2021, hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan were resettled by the State Department following the U.S. withdrawal from their home country.
Buff says Milwaukee’s 320 years of immigration history are reflected in restaurant names, late-night coffee shops, places of worship and supermarkets.
"It’s what makes Milwaukee diverse and exciting and vital. And it’s also the contested territory we still struggle with,” Buff says.
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