Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin

Chartered in 1882, the Milwaukee Public Museum on West Wells Street in the Westown neighborhood is about to become the Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin. Chartered in 1882 and opened to the public in 1884, this museum now fills three floors of exhibits and contains the first Dome Theater in Wisconsin in its current complex on West Wells Street. With over 500,000 visitors per year, it is the most visited museum in the state.

In May 2024 the museum broke ground on a new five-story facility at the corner of N 6th St and W McKinley Ave in the Haymarket neighborhood, to be completed in 2027, and a year later the museum announced that it was changing its name while adopting a new visual identity. Your visit connects to an older local story: the museum’s existence can be traced back to 1851 and the founding of the German-English Academy, where principal Peter Engelmann encouraged student field trips that collected organic, geological, and archaeological specimens. As you stand here, imagine those early collectors and the long arc of display and discovery that now fills these three floors.

Notice the museum's façade rising along West Wells Street ahead.