
Milwaukee: A City Built on Water
by
John Gurda
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781976600708
Publication Date: 12/23/2025
Paddle through the watery history of the Midwest’s Cream City.
The success and survival of Milwaukee lies in the rivers that meander through its streets and the great lake at its eastern boundary. The Indigenous peoples of the region recognized the value of an abundant, clean water supply for food and transportation. Generations of immigrants, entrepreneurs, innovators, and recreationists used the same waters to travel greater distances, power milliondollar industries, and even have a bit of fun.
In Milwaukee: A City Built on Water, celebrated historian John Gurda relates the history of the waters that gave Milwaukee lifeand occasionally threatened the city through erosion, invasive species, and waterborne diseases. Telling tales of brewers, brickmakers, ecologists, and engineers, Gurda explores the city’s complicated connections with its most precious resource and greatest challenge. You’ll meet the generations of people, from a Potawatomi chief to fur traders and fishermen, who settled on the small spit of land known as Jones Island; learn how Milwaukee’s unique water composition creates its distinct creamcolored bricks; visit Wisconsin’s first waterparks; and see how city leaders transformed the Milwaukee Riveronce described as a “vast sewer” with an “odorous tide”into today’s lively and lovely Riverwalk.
Now available in paperback, Milwaukee: A City Built on Water is the sweeping chronicle of a critical natural resource that has weathered heavy use and flagrant abuse to emerge as a focal point of both celebration and concern in the twentyfirst century.
The success and survival of Milwaukee lies in the rivers that meander through its streets and the great lake at its eastern boundary. The Indigenous peoples of the region recognized the value of an abundant, clean water supply for food and transportation. Generations of immigrants, entrepreneurs, innovators, and recreationists used the same waters to travel greater distances, power milliondollar industries, and even have a bit of fun.
In Milwaukee: A City Built on Water, celebrated historian John Gurda relates the history of the waters that gave Milwaukee lifeand occasionally threatened the city through erosion, invasive species, and waterborne diseases. Telling tales of brewers, brickmakers, ecologists, and engineers, Gurda explores the city’s complicated connections with its most precious resource and greatest challenge. You’ll meet the generations of people, from a Potawatomi chief to fur traders and fishermen, who settled on the small spit of land known as Jones Island; learn how Milwaukee’s unique water composition creates its distinct creamcolored bricks; visit Wisconsin’s first waterparks; and see how city leaders transformed the Milwaukee Riveronce described as a “vast sewer” with an “odorous tide”into today’s lively and lovely Riverwalk.
Now available in paperback, Milwaukee: A City Built on Water is the sweeping chronicle of a critical natural resource that has weathered heavy use and flagrant abuse to emerge as a focal point of both celebration and concern in the twentyfirst century.
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Milwaukee: A City Built on Water
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