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Historic Milwaukee now offers self-guided tours via mobile app!
Get the same great history you enjoy from our docent-led walking tours but explore Milwaukee's history and architecture whenever you like. We're continually adding new content so be sure to download the app today.
New App Tours - Available to Download on September 24, 2022!
Clarke Square: Clarke Square is bordered to the east by Cesar E. Chavez Drive (formerly S. 16th Street), Layton Boulevard (formerly 27th Street) to the west, Pierce Street to the north and Greenfield to the south. Once a predominantly Polish community, Clarke Square today is one of the most diverse neighborhoods with many community groups meeting the needs of small businesses, homeowners, renters, promoting arts and culture, and ultimately building a community that takes pride in being one of the best neighborhoods in Milwaukee.
Available in English, Spanish and Laotian.
Narrated by Patricia Nájera and Brisa Ramirez, Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative
This tour was made possible with support from the Zilber Family Foundation and the Milwaukee Arts Board.
Harbor District: Harbor District, Inc. was created to lead the revitalization of Milwaukee’s Inner Harbor by connecting people to place, supporting a healthy business community, and improving the quality of our natural environment. On this tour, you’ll learn about the many pieces that make the Harbor District an important part of the City and the efforts to continuously improve the area for the next century.
Available in English and Spanish
Narrated by Natalia Hernandez, Harbor District, Inc. and Graciela Herrera Hernandez
This tour is made possible with support from the Fund for Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee Arts Board.
Indigenous Milwaukee Walk & Bike: These two tours are a collaboration between HMI and Marquette University’s Indigeneity Lab. This tour is an extension of that mapping project and one of the tour’s expressed goals is to not only spotlight Indigenous presence in the city of Milwaukee, which has been historically marginalized and stereotyped in popular culture, but to showcase the rich diversity of Indigenous cultures and communities that call Milwaukee home and have for millennia.
Narrated by Jacqueline Schram (First Nations Ojibwe), Dr. Mark Powless (Oneida), Kitty Hill (Oneida), Clare Camblin (Osage), Dr. Bryan Rindfleisch and Marshall Kopecki
This project was funded in part by a grant from Wisconsin Humanities, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Wisconsin Humanities strengthens our democracy through educational and cultural programs that build connections and understanding among people of all backgrounds and beliefs throughout the state.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this project do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Metcalfe Park: Metcalfe Park is in the heart of Milwaukee from 27th Street to 38th Street, from Center to North. We are a proud, majority Black community with over 8,000 residents. Our namesake, established in 1990, derives from Ralph Harold Metcalfe, athlete, politician, and scholar. On this tour, learn more about Metcalfe's life, local parks, schools and housing as well as grassroots community organizing.
Narrated by Melody McCurtis, Metcalfe Park Community Bridges.
This tour is made possible with support from the Milwaukee Arts Board.
Available App Tours - Download and Explore!
Avenues West: Situated just west of I-43 in the heart of Milwaukee, Avenues West is a neighborhood filled with historical mansions, diverse businesses and the urban campus of Marquette University. This tour will take you into the beginnings of Milwaukee as a Beer town, and walk you all the way to its future as a city with endless possibilities. Narrated by Keith Stanley, Near West Side Partners Executive Director.
This tour is made in collaboration with Near West Side Partners, Inc.
Exploring the Beerline Trail: The trail will take you through two of Milwaukee’s most dynamic and diverse neighborhoods – Riverwest and Harambee.
Written and narrated by Annushka Peck, educator and practicing artist in Milwaukee.
Explore Brady Street: Welcome to one of Milwaukee's most colorful, and storied neighborhoods, historic Brady Street. The tour will include architectural and historic sites, and perhaps most importantly, stories of the people who built this neighborhood and dwelled here through the years.
Narrated by Keith Stachowiak, HMI Tour Guide and local architect.
Diverse Downtown: Explore Milwaukee through a new lens - learn more about the Native Americans, women, and Black and Brown communities who shaped Milwaukee's downtown.
Milwaukee Moderns: Explore the Postmodern, Brutalist and International style gems in Milwaukee's downtown.
North Point South Mansions: This tour will cover the far reaches of the Lower East Side. It includes the upper-class residential neighborhood between Water Tower and Back Bay Parks. The residential area contains the North Point South Historic District, perhaps Milwaukee's best example of an undisturbed and intact historic neighborhood which is about half a square mile.
Silver City: Silver City has historically been, and continues to be, one of the most ethnically and racially diverse neighborhoods in the City of Milwaukee.
Silver City históricamente ha sido, y sigue siendo, uno de los vecindarios con mayor diversidad étnica y racial de la Ciudad de Milwaukee.
Available in English and Spanish. Narrated by Lidia Villazaez, VIA CDC
This tour was made possible with support from the Zilber Family Foundation.
Visiting Villard Avenue: Stretching from N. Teutonia Avenue to Sherman Boulevard, the Villard District is nestled in the heart of Milwaukee’s historic “Old North Milwaukee” neighborhood offering a rich local history. Celebrated as the original “downtown” of the Northside of Milwaukee, Villard Avenue boasts blocks of walkable streets, unique historic & cultural fabric, and prime retail space. Narrated by Angelique Sharpe, Villard Ave BID Director.
This tour was made possible with support from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and Johnson Controls Foundation.
Yankee Hill: Welcome to Yankee Hill! The neighborhood is bounded by Wisconsin Avenue on the south, Ogden Street on the north, Water Street on the west and Prospect Avenue on the east. This choice, pioneer location on a bluff, high above the surrounding swamp land and open to the cooling breezes off Lake Michigan, saw its period of growth from 1840-1910. Narrated by John Gurda, Historian.