Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
City
Wauwatosa along the banks of the Menomonee River
Location of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
Coordinates: 43°4′N 88°2′W / 43.067°N 88.033°W / 43.067; -88.033Coordinates: 43°4′N 88°2′W / 43.067°N 88.033°W / 43.067; -88.033
Country	United States
State	Wisconsin
County	Milwaukee
Government
• Mayor	Kathy Ehley
• Congressional Rep.	Jim Sensenbrenner (R)
Area[1]
• City	13.25 sq mi (34.32 km2)
• Land	13.25 sq mi (34.32 km2)
• Water	0 sq mi (0 km2)  0%
Elevation	673 ft (205 m)
Population (2010)[2]
• City	46,396
• Estimate (2012[3])	47,068
• Density	3,501.6/sq mi (1,352.0/km2)
• Metro	1,753,355 (Milwaukee)
Time zone	Central (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
Area code(s)	414
FIPS code	55-84675[4]
GNIS feature ID	1576335[5]
Website	www.wauwatosa.net

Wauwatosa is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 46,396 at the 2010 census. Wauwatosa is located immediately west of Milwaukee, and is a part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. It is named after the Potawatomi word for firefly.^[6]

History

The lush Menomonee Valley of the Wauwatosa area provided a key overland gateway between the rich glacial farmland of southeastern Wisconsin and the Port of Milwaukee. In 1835, Charles Hart became the first Euro-American to settle here, followed that year by 17 other families. The following year a United States Road was built from Milwaukee through Wauwatosa, eventually reaching Madison. Charles Hart built a mill in 1845 on the Menomonee River which gave the settlement its original name of "Hart's Mill." The mill was torn down in 1914.^[7]

The Town of Wau-wau-too-sa was created by act of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature on April 30, 1840. As of the 1840 census, the population of the Town of Wau-wau-too-sa or Wauwatosa was 342.^[8] The town government was organized in 1842. The town's borders originally extended from the present-day Greenfield Avenue in the south to Hampton Avenue in the north, and from 27th Street in the east to the Waukesha County line in the west, encompassing sections of present-day Milwaukee, West Milwaukee and West Allis, plus the southern part of former North Milwaukee, which was wholly annexed into the city of Milwaukee in 1927. Most of the town was farmland through the remainder of the 19th century.

Wauwatosa in 1892

In 1849 the Watertown Plank Road was constructed through Wauwatosa, mainly following the old Madison territorial road. In 1851 Wisconsin's first railroad (later The Milwaukee Road) established Wauwatosa as its western terminus. The Village of Wauwatosa was incorporated from the central part of the Town of Wauwatosa in 1892, and was rechartered as the City of Wauwatosa on May 27, 1897.^[9]

Robertson Ace Hardware Building; one of the original buildings in Wauwatosa

On November 25, 1952, the City of Wauwatosa more than doubled its size by annexing 8.5 square miles (22 km²) of land west of the Menomonee River, the entire remaining portion of the Town of Wauwatosa,^[10] which became the home to several large cold storage and regional food distribution terminals. Industrial plants owned by firms including Harley-Davidson and Briggs & Stratton were also constructed.

In the past 40 years, western Wauwatosa has become an edge city with an important commercial and retail district built up along Milwaukee's beltline Highway 100 and anchored by the Mayfair Mall.

Wauwatosa received some national attention in 1992 when the Wauwatosa Common Council, threatened with a lawsuit, decided to remove a Christian cross from the City's seal adopted in 1957. The cross was replaced with the text, "In God We Trust." The seal itself was designed by 9-year old Suzanne Vallier as an entry in a contest among Wauwatosa schoolchildren. The quadrants of the logo's shield represent, from top left going clockwise; an arrowhead representing the Indians who were the original inhabitants of the city, the mill representing Hart's Mill which was the original name of the city, the cross representing the "city of churches", and the symbol used on street signs representing the "city of homes."^[11]

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 13.25 square miles (34.32 km²), all land.^[1]

Eastern Wauwatosa is also known for its homes and residential streets, at one time just a short streetcar ride away from downtown Milwaukee. Prior to the arrival of Dutch elm disease, many of Wauwatosa's older residential streets had large gothic colonnades of American Elm trees. In Wauwatosa, the Menomonee Valley made it easier to quarry portions of the Niagara Escarpment, which provided the necessary materials for sturdy, cream-colored bricks and stout, limestone foundations used in many homes and public buildings throughout the region.

Demographics

As of 2000 the median income for a household in the city was $54,519, and the median income for a family was $68,030. Males had a median income of $46,721 versus $35,289 for females. The per capita income for the city was $28,834. About 2.3% of families and 3.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.9% of those under age 18 and 5.5% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census

As of the census^[2] of 2010, there were 46,396 people, 20,435 households, and 11,969 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,501.6 inhabitants per square mile (1,352.0/km²). There were 21,520 housing units at an average density of 1,624.2 per square mile (627.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 89.6% White, 4.5% African American, 0.3% Native American, 2.8% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.6% from other races, and 2.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.1% of the population.

There were 20,435 households of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.2% were married couples living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 41.4% were non-families. 34.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.92.

The median age in the city was 39.8 years. 21.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 5.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 28.9% were from 25 to 44; 26.7% were from 45 to 64; and 16.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 46.6% male and 53.4% female.

Government

Wauwatosa has a mayor–council government. The mayor is elected to a four-year term.

The Common Council is composed of 16 aldermen, two from each of eight districts. They serve four-year terms, with one member from each district up for election every other year. The aldermen set policy and have extensive financial control, but are not engaged in daily operational management.

Politics

Wauwatosa is considered a "purple" city on the political spectrum, with voters having supported both Democratic and Republican candidates.

Education

Wauwatosa is served by the Wauwatosa School District:^[19]

• High Schools: Wauwatosa West, Wauwatosa East
• Middle Schools: Whitman, Longfellow
• Elementary Schools: Eisenhower, Jefferson, Lincoln, Madison, McKinley, Roosevelt, Underwood, Washington, Wilson

Catholic elementary schools in the city include Wauwatosa Catholic, St. Joseph, St. Jude and Christ King. Lutheran Schools include Our Redeemer and St. John's.

Points of interest

Church of the Annunciation in Wauwatosa, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

Wauwatosa contains Milwaukee County's Regional Medical Center, which includes the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, and Froedtert Hospital, one of two level-one trauma centers in the state. Other points of interest are the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; and the Memorial Center, built in 1957, which contains the public library, an auditorium, and the city hall. The Washington Highlands Historic District, a residential neighborhood designed in 1916 by renowned city planner Werner Hegemann, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989, as was the Kneeland-Walker House. Other buildings on the list include Wauwatosa's oldest house, the Lowell Damon House; the Thomas B. Hart House; and the Wauwatosa Woman's Club Clubhouse.

Notable people

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.

• City of Wauwatosa

Municipalities and communities of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States
County seat: Milwaukee
Cities	Cudahy Franklin Glendale Greenfield Milwaukee‡ Oak Creek South Milwaukee St. Francis Wauwatosa West Allis
Villages	Bayside‡ Brown Deer Fox Point Greendale Hales Corners River Hills Shorewood West Milwaukee Whitefish Bay
Ghost towns/ neighborhoods	Bay View Good Hope Granville Lake Town of Milwaukee New Coeln North Milwaukee Oakwood Root Creek St. Martin's
Indian reservation	Forest County Potawatomi Community‡
Footnotes	‡This populated place also has portions in another county or counties

Milwaukee metropolitan area
Central city	Milwaukee
Largest municipalities (over 25,000 in 2010)	BrookfieldC FranklinC GreenfieldC Menomonee FallsV Mount PleasantV New BerlinC Oak CreekC RacineC WaukeshaC WauwatosaC West AllisC West BendC
Municipalities (over 10,000 in 2010)	BurlingtonC Brown DeerV CaledoniaV CedarburgC CudahyC GermantownV GlendaleC GraftonV GreendaleV MequonC MuskegoC OconomowocC PewaukeeC Port WashingtonC RichfieldT ShorewoodV South MilwaukeeC SussexV Whitefish BayV
Smaller municipalities (under 10,000 in 2010)	BaysideV Big BendV BrookfieldT ButlerV DelafieldC Elm GroveV Elmwood ParkV Fox PointV HartlandV Hales CornersV MukwonagoV North BayV PewaukeeV River HillsV RochesterV SaukvilleV Saint FrancisC SturtevantV ThiensvilleV Union GroveV WaterfordV West MilwaukeeV
Counties	Milwaukee Ozaukee Racine Washington Waukesha
Notes: Vvillage Ttown Ccity

State of Wisconsin
Madison (capital)
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Society	Culture Crime Demographics Economy Education Politics
Regions	Apostle Islands Central Plain Central Wisconsin Chippewa Valley Door Peninsula Driftless Area Eastern Ridges and Lowlands Fox River Valley Great River Road Lake Superior Lowland Northern Highland Western Upland
Major metropolitan areas (pop. over 500,000)	Chicago metropolitan area Madison metropolitan area Milwaukee metropolitan area Twin Cities metropolitan area
Largest cities (pop. over 50,000)	Appleton Eau Claire Green Bay Janesville Kenosha La Crosse Madison Milwaukee Oshkosh Racine Waukesha West Allis
Smaller cities (pop. 15,000 to 50,000)	Beaver Dam Beloit Brookfield Cudahy De Pere Fitchburg Fond du Lac Franklin Greenfield Hudson Kaukauna Manitowoc Marshfield Menasha Menomonie Mequon Middleton Muskego Neenah New Berlin Oak Creek Oconomowoc Onalaska River Falls Sheboygan South Milwaukee Stevens Point Sun Prairie Superior Watertown Wausau Wauwatosa West Bend Wisconsin Rapids
Largest villages (pop. over 15,000)	Ashwaubenon Caledonia Germantown Howard Menomonee Falls Mount Pleasant Pleasant Prairie
Counties	Adams Ashland Barron Bayfield Brown Buffalo Burnett Calumet Chippewa Clark Columbia Crawford Dane Dodge Door Douglas Dunn Eau Claire Florence Fond du Lac Forest Grant Green Green Lake Iowa Iron Jackson Jefferson Juneau Kenosha Kewaunee La Crosse Lafayette Langlade Lincoln Manitowoc Marathon Marinette Marquette Menominee Milwaukee Monroe Oconto Oneida Outagamie Ozaukee Pepin Pierce Polk Portage Price Racine Richland Rock Rusk Sauk Sawyer Shawano Sheboygan St. Croix Taylor Trempealeau Vernon Vilas Walworth Washburn Washington Waukesha Waupaca Waushara Winnebago Wood