“Indeed, it is not easy to recall any busy city which combines more comfort, evidences of wealth and taste and refinement, and a certain domestic character, than this town on the bluffs,” an impressed easterner once observed more than a century ago.
The unusually high concentration of magnesium and calcium in Milwaukee [1] clay created the yellowish tint that gives much of the city’s original architecture a distinctive flair. Factories produced top-quality bricks of such eye-catching light hues that the city became known as Cream City.
The Convention and Visitors Bureau offers detailed brochures covering all Milwaukee neighborhoods; it also has lists of tour companies, including Historic Milwaukee Inc. (828 N. Broadway, 414/277-7795, www.historicmilwaukee.org [2]), which offers an astonishing number of strolling tours ($7).
Links:
[1] http://www.moon.com/destinations/wisconsin/milwaukee
[2] http://www.historicmilwaukee.org