Milwaukee is the county city of Milwaukee county and it is the 23^rd most populous city in the United States of America. The founding fathers of Milwaukee were three French Canadians, although the name of the city may not suggest that .

First it was Solomon Juneau in 1818, then Byron Kilbourn on the west side,  and third George H. Walker who in 1834 built a house along the south of the Milwaukee River which nowadays is known as Walker’s Point. The Milwaukee phone directory has a wide variety of Walkers, who is today quite a commonly encountered name. However, some of the Walkers listed in the Milwaukee phone directory must surely be direct successors of George H. walker, one of the “founding fathers”.

In the past Milwaukee was home for many immigrants, mostly of German and Polish descent who came here in search of a better life.

During the 1840s, there were more German speakers and German institutes (newspapers for example) than English ones. Milwaukee was known as “Deutsches Athen” which meant German Athens. The Germanic population strongly influenced the city of Milwaukee and today, in the Milwaukee phone directory, we can find many names of German descent. It is even said that the number of Schmidts in the phone book is larger than the numbers of Smiths, which is quite a common name in the United States of America. Another group of immigrants that influenced the life, culture and habits of the city of Milwaukee were the Polish immigrants. They came to Milwaukee is search of a better life, trying to escape poverty and persecution. They settled mostly in Milwaukee’s South Side that became the home of the Polish Community. At the time, Milwaukee was the largest Polish settlements in the United States of America. Today, the Polish community comprises 9.6 percent of the population.

European immigrants from Italy, Ireland, and Lithuania came to Milwaukee and established here. Milwaukee houses today the largest Italian American festival called “Festa Italiana” and has a large number of Serbian population which has in Milwaukee even an American Serb Hal. Many restaurants in Milwaukee are with Serbian and Italian specific and were initially founded by Serbian or Italian immigrants. The Milwaukee phone directory will lead to all the restaurants with Serbian or Italian specific f you are interested in experiencing different foods culture. Milwaukee’s metropolitan area is believed to be the most segregated area in the United States of America.

Due to the German influence, Milwaukee has also become synonymous with beer. I am sure that when you think of Milwaukee, this is the first thing that comes to your mind. The Germans were great beer fans and they opened many breweries when they first came to Milwaukee. At a certain point, there were some many breweries that there was one accounted for every forty people. The Milwaukee phone directory has devoted several sections to this area of interest in Milwaukee, and if you want to taste some real German beer, this is the place to come!