Milwaukee - geography.

« Milwaukee Museum of ArtThe Quadracci Pavilion, a dynamic addition to the Milwaukee Museum of Art in Wisconsin, opened in 2001.

Designed by Spanisharchitect Santiago Calatrava, it features a 27-m (90-ft) high entrance hall enclosed by a sunscreen that can be raised or lowered.

It isthe first building in the United States to be designed by Calatrava, who came to international attention after designing a breathtakingbridge for Expo '92, a world’s fair held in Seville, Spain, in 1992.Joseph Sohm; Visions of America/Corbis The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (founded in 1885 as a teachers college and joined with the state university system in 1956) is the region’s largest institution ofhigher learning, with nearly 23,000 students.

Marquette University (1881), with more than 10,600 students, is the largest private school.

Other four-year institutions in theMilwaukee area include Alverno College (1887), Cardinal Stritch University (1937), Concordia University Wisconsin (1881), Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (1974),Milwaukee School of Engineering (1903), Mount Mary College (1913), and Wisconsin Lutheran College (1973).

Milwaukee Area Technical College (1912) offers a full rangeof vocational programs on four campuses. As Wisconsin’s principal metropolis, Milwaukee has cultural resources of national standing, among them the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Ballet Company,Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Florentine Opera Company, and the Milwaukee Shakespeare Company.

Other major cultural institutions include the Milwaukee PublicMuseum, a pioneer in interpreting natural and cultural history, and the Central Library, housed in a neoclassical-style landmark on the western edge of downtown. The Milwaukee County War Memorial Complex, dedicated to the county residents who died in the nation’s wars, consists of a performing arts center and three museumslocated around the city.

The complex includes the Milwaukee Art Museum, home of a celebrated modern art collection; the Charles Allis Art Museum, housed in a mansionbuilt by an early-20th-century industrialist; and Villa Terrace, a decorative arts museum noted for its beautiful grounds.

In 2001 the Milwaukee Art Museum unveiled adramatic new pavilion designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. In 2006 Discovery World, an interactive science museum, opened in a new facility along Milwaukee’s lakefront, just south of the art museum.

It consists of two main units:the Technology Building, which features exhibits on computers, scientific concepts, and economics, and the Aquatarium, which offers a full-scale model of a woodenschooner and a series of aquariums filled with marine life. Milwaukee has preserved an unusually large number of its historic buildings.

The better-known examples include City Hall (1895), a civic shrine rooted in Germanicarchitectural styles; the Pabst Mansion (1893), built for pioneer brewer Frederick Pabst; and Saint Josaphat’s Basilica (1901), the city’s largest church and a monument tothe Polish immigrants who built it.

The restored Pabst Theater is home to concerts and theatrical presentations. In recent years, Milwaukee has developed a reputation as a city of festivals.

Summerfest, an 11-day music festival held on its own lakefront grounds, is a showcase for actsranging from alternative rock to country music.

During the rest of the summer months, the park is the site of weekend festivals staged by Milwaukee’s major ethnic groups:Italian, Irish, German, African American, Polish, Mexican, Native American, and Asian.

The Great Circus Parade, featuring the world’s largest collection of ornate circuswagons, is another staple of Milwaukee’s festival season.

The Wisconsin State Fair is held annually in nearby West Allis. V RECREATION The largest single unit of Milwaukee County’s extensive park system is Whitnall Park, a vast green space that includes a botanical garden, a golf course, and a nature center.The Mitchell Park Domes are three beehive-shaped glass structures that house collections of plants from tropical and arid regions, as well as changing seasonal displays.

TheMilwaukee County Zoo exhibits animals from every continent in settings that resemble their native habitats.

Preservation of the Lake Michigan shoreline for public use hasbeen a priority for decades.

One of the park system’s most popular features is Lincoln Memorial Drive, a generous strip of lakefront land that stretches north fromMilwaukee’s downtown. The city supports two major league sports teams: the Milwaukee Brewers in baseball and the Milwaukee Bucks in basketball.

The Brewers play in Miller Park, a new baseballstadium with a retractable roof that opened in April 2001.

The Milwaukee Bucks’ home court is Bradley Center, a state-of-the-art facility that seats 18,700 spectators. VI ECONOMY As recently as 1960, manufacturing accounted for more than 40 percent of the four-county metropolitan area’s employment.

Recessions, mergers and acquisitions, andglobal competition reduced that proportion to 24 percent by 1990.

The proportion continued to decline in the early 2000s.

Membership in labor unions suffered acorresponding decline.

Service industries have surpassed manufacturing in importance, and health care is the leading service industry in Milwaukee. Despite Milwaukee’s association with beer, machinery is the city’s most important area of manufacturing, especially precision machinery.

Among the businesses withheadquarters in Milwaukee are Rockwell Automation, which helps companies improve their performance and efficiency; Harley-Davidson, which manufactures motorcycles;Johnson Controls, which makes automotive equipment and building control systems; and Master Lock, which designs security products and systems.

Miller Brewing, one ofthe nation’s largest brewers, is the only remaining brewing company with its headquarters in the city. The service sector of the economy has shown particular growth since the 1970s.

Milwaukee’s largest nonmanufacturing employers include Northwestern Mutual LifeInsurance (one of the nation’s largest life insurers), a variety of health-care providers, and major banks.

The city also serves as a wholesale trade center for Wisconsin andfor a wide region that includes parts of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Michigan. The commercial importance of the city stems in part from its function as a major port on the Great Lakes.

The port serves vessels engaged in cross-lake shipping as well aslarger vessels that enter the lakes through the St.

Lawrence Seaway.

Breakwaters that jut into Lake Michigan protect Milwaukee’s harbor area.

The three rivers flowingthrough the city join and pass through a short deepwater canal that empties into the harbor.

Docking facilities line the canal and several of its branches.

There is a largemooring basin within the breakwater.. »