Kilbourntown | Wisconsin Historical Society

Historical Essay

Kilbourntown

Kilbourntown | Wisconsin Historical Society

1110 N. Old World Third St., Milwaukee, Milwaukee County

In this vicinity, Kilbourntown, one of three original Milwaukee settlements, was founded by surveyor and land speculator Byron Kilbourn in 1835. Kilbourntown's first residents were entrepreneurs from the East. In 1839, a small group of German immigrants from Pomerania arrived in Kilbourntown, heralding a major 19th-centu­ry immigration of German settlers. Concentrated in Kilbourntown, this German population helped Milwaukee become the "most German city" in the United States. By the 20th century, Kilbourntown's German population had substantially dis­persed, and the area became a community of rich ethnic diversity, soon becoming the heart of downtown Milwaukee.

Learn More

Explore more than 1,600 people, places and events in Wisconsin history.

[Source: McBride, Sarah Davis. History Just Ahead (Madison:WHS, 1999).]