Why Milwaukee is called Cream City
The nickname “Cream City” might make some think of milk.
But Milwaukee’s popular moniker does not stem from the dairy or beer typically associated with Wisconsin. It has to do with brick.
Look around and you’ll see them. The light-colored, yellowish bricks are the main material in a number of old buildings across the city: the former Schlitz brewery, Holy Trinity Church (now known as Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church), the Woman’s Club of Wisconsin and other industrial buildings and row houses.
The so-called cream city bricks were first used in the Milwaukee area in the 1830s. The material came from a clay found in the Menomonee River Valley filled with magnesium and lime. When put to fire, the clay produced a yellowy, cream-colored brick.
The bricks were widely exported and made it to major U.S. cities like Chicago and New York. But they remain a distinctly Milwaukee look and give the state’s largest city its name: Cream City.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Why Milwaukee is called Cream City
