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Milwaukee Public Museum
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
15 reviews for Milwaukee Public Museum
It does not matter what else is in this place; the life size T-Rex devouring a Triceratops with all of the Triceraguts splattered on the ground for all of the children to see, or the deal with the Serbian mannequins, or that igloo, or any of that. Those all rule and all, but there's only on real reason people visit this place.
The Rattlesnake Button*. The glorious Rattlesnake Button. God bless the Rattlesnake Button.
*DISCLAIMER: Rattlesnake Button only cool if under the age of 6 or nostalgic about being under the age of 6
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My daddy used to bring us here all the time. I know every exhibit by heart from the sausages in the meat shop of Streets of Old Milwaukee, to the roars of the T. Rex, to the bat guano of the rainforest. The dioramas of this museum fill my little heart with joy. If I could get married in the igloo, I would.
I don't even know what to say, but the 100+ photos I took of all my favorite taxidermied animals and carefully molded Native Americans will do the talking for me.
Milwaukee Museum, please don't ever change.
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My Dad built this museum.
He was the Art Director from 1954-1984, ran the art department - in charge of all dioramas, graphics, special exhibits and displays. I literally GREW UP in this museum. As a college student, I worked at the sales counter. There are initials carved on a fence in the Streets of Old Milwaukee - ELG + JJG - me and my brother.
Some of the exhibits my father designed are the Streets of Old Milwaukee, the European Village, the Living Oceans, Africa, the Guatemalan Market, Old Delhi, South America, China, the Japanese House - and many more. He invented the "open air" style of diorama (like the Africa exhibit) where you sort of "walk thru" the exhibit as if you are in a habitat - rather than rows of boring display cases. Many other museums around the country now use this style.
I used to go to work with him when I was a kid, and got to arrange the artifacts in some of the exhibits - my arrangements are still in place today.
Good for kids?! A paradise for kids! My lifelong love of travel started HERE.
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This place has barely changed since I was born, and I still love it. I think that's part of its charm.
The best floor is the 'first' floor. The dinosaur area is the greatest thing ever (particularly when the sound is working for the t-rex exhibit). You move into the rainforest display, which is beautiful and interesting. Across the way, you can go into the "Streets of Old Milwaukee," which is a wonderful tribute to the yesteryears of my city. This moves into a "European Village" exhibit, which is too much fun. It's set up so that you look into people's 'houses' from each European country. Some of it is a touch creepy, like the German figurine who looks like he would've been working for the Nazis, or the children peering out of windows...but overall, it's cute and interesting.
I'm also a fan of the igloo that you can sit in, the amazing bison and Indians display, the cool Africa displays (yeah for a life sized elephant!), the interesting Asian art and artifacts, and the mountain goats who are (literally) butting heads. I hope the Ancient Egypt special exhibit isn't gone forever--I loved getting to see real mummies!
This is a very fun museum, and you can spend a lot of time here. We managed to spend 2 hours here last weekend, and we've not only been there before, but we were trying to 'go fast.'
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The Milwaukee Public Museum is a great way to spend the day. It's cool to go see the big bison, dinosaurs and other artifacts. The streets of Old Milwaukee is so cute. I never get tired of looking in those windows seeing what's inside each cultural home. We're also moving up and getting some excellent traveling exhibits, such as Bodyworlds.
They also have great behind the scenes tours, so watch for that. You can see them clean bones and all the other preparation for exhibits. It is kind of old and outdated but reminds you of school, just way more fun.
Who doesn't remember the Streets of Old Milwaukee? Misleading generations of schoolchildren into believing life in the past was lived on the second story of the public museum!
The Milwaukee Public Museum is one of those places you should visit every few years. Some stuff changes and some stays the same, but it is always interesting. The current big attraction is the Titanic exhibit. This is a must see for just about anyone except small children. See the IMAX Ghosts of the Abyss first, then go through the exhibit. Take some time to read the history of the items and people. The butterflies are always an attraction and if you like to photograph butterflies, it is easy here.
I have to say as a lifelong Chicagoan that the Field Museum can learn a few things from their Milwaukee counterpart. Truth be told , the Field outclasses the MPM but they rock the Field in it's freakshow factor. Old school wax figures dominate the landscape there as do gaudy life sized nature dioramas , both of which are right up my alley. Gotta love a life sized recreation of a T-Rex devouring a Triceratops , the Field thinks it's too cool or classy to ever do something like that. It's a decent sized place and covers the landscape of many regions from the Middle East to the Arctic complete with representations of the animals and indigenous people. The next featured event is the Titanic exhibition coming in October of 2008 , and I will surely make a return visit for that one. For a smaller city Milwaukee has a big boy museum , kudos.
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Financial troubles aside, the Milwaukee Public Museum was an exciting place for me to go as a kid. I haven't been there in a while, but considering my fascination with immigration, I think I need to revisit the Streets of Old Milwaukee. I loved that place when I was a kid!
I agree with the other post-ers, it's a unique museum that incorporates a lot of hands-on exhibits and does a good job of incorporating local topics into its exhibits.
An underappreciated gem. The Milwaukee Public Museum is a comprehensive natural and cultural history musuem that covers everything from paleontology, local history, geology, botany, and world cultures. I don't think most citizens of Milwaukee appreciate just what a treasure this museum is. I have been to other similar museums in larger cities and they cannot compare to the breadth and depth of this museum.
The rainforest exhibit, butterfly collection, and Streets of Old Milwaukee are great, as are the big blockbuster exhibits the museum brings through about once a year, but my personal favorite part of the musuem are the less-visited upper levels. Here you have an incredible spread of diorammas chronicaling Native American and indigenous cultures all over the world, as well as the ancient cultures of Asia and Africa. But these upper levels have a problem in presentation. Many of the interpretive displays look like they haven't been updated in 20 years. Maintenance and cleaning of the displays is lacking somewhat.
Overall, this is a great museum, but with a little elbow grease it will truly shine like the gem it is.
Its like a time machine back to my childhood. Get a membership, its worth it.
On our last visit to Milwaukee we decided to put this museum on our list of places to go. The museum has three levels and has alot of exhibits. I hope to see more of it on the next visit because Patricia and I ended up going to their IMAX theatre that's located inside the building. I really like the one at Navy Pier, but this one is even cooler. The theater is domed shaped and seeing an IMAX film here is like nothing you have ever seen before. Well worth checking out.
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I went to the Public Museum primarily because I wanted to see the butterfly garden. It's fairly small, but a lot of fun for kids. I enjoyed the Streets of Old Milwaukee exhibit - you can peek into the windows of various houses, each representing a different immigrant population. There's also a bug exhibit on display right now (not sure for how long) where kids can hold a spitting cockroach! The most memorable diorama is of a life-sized T. Rex munching on a poor Triceratops - plenty of guts are exposed for all to see. Not for the feint of heart!
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While there are not too many new exhibits...this place is just kinda cool. It is inexpensive and will take the better part of a day to fully enjoy. The streets of Milwaukee exhibit will probably show up again in your dreams at some point.
Since I had a German friend visiting, and it was a rainy day last Monday, a museum visit seemed in order. What we discovered when we got there was that Milwaukee residents get in for FREE on Mondays, and the large museum has a great exhibit for Milwaukee newcomers: The Streets of Old Milwaukee dioramas. We'd originally come for the special exhibit on Chinese Astrology, but ended up spending at least as much time oogling old-time Milwaukee houses and businesses. Since I'm new to Milwaukee myself, I really appreciated the background, and it put our walking tour of the Third Ward into a different perspective. The really neat thing about this museum is that it focuses so much on hands-on interaction. Having gone to high school in the DC suburbs and explored most of the Smithsonian museums over the course of those years, I have to say I appreciated the attitude of the Milwaukee Museum in allowing its visitors to DO something with what they were learning. Given the great deal to Milwaukee residents, I know I'll be going back--and especially when they open the planetarium in November.
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