Milwaukee will always hold a special place in my heart. As a rural kid growing up with a set of daily farm chores, it was quite the experience to go to Milwaukee to visit my mom’s parents and extended family. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, leaving the farm and going to Milwaukee was like a trip to another universe. Even as a young kid, I found the German-influenced masonry and distinct blend of historic and contemporary buildings to be mesmerizing. My grandparents would take us to the Milwaukee Zoo, the Lakeshore, and at times we would drive along the East Side and Lake Drive to gawk at the mansions. A common phrase from my dad, “I could sell the entire farm and still not afford these houses.”
By far, a favorite childhood destination for me was the Milwaukee Public Museum. The museum featured strikingly lifelike dioramas depicting historic and contemporary life from around the world; everything from life-size dinosaurs to examples of indigenous cultures, to modern-day scientific explorations into the Amazon, and elsewhere. There was a hall of Pacific Northwest Native American masks that always freaked me out, an Arctic exhibit with a full-size igloo that you could walk through, and a wall constructed to look like an actual glacier.
There were jungle scenes, a life-size elephant, dramatically recreated Native American bison drives, an African lion hunt, and oceanic exhibits. Skeletons of a variety of earthly creatures hung from the ceiling of the main hall. As a kid open to exploring and fascinated with the world around him, visiting the Milwaukee Public Museum was a highlight of my young life.
By far, the two experiences that most captured my fascination were the European Village, and Streets of Old Milwaukee exhibits — immersive walk-through, life-sized recreations of historically accurate 19th-century European and immigrant households and storefronts. The Streets featured household and personal wares accurate to a variety of ethnicities. As a kid, I would stand on my tiptoes and press my face to the windows and stare into the details of each household, fascinated by the similarities — and differences — of each culture. As an added bonus, there was an operational candy shop, stocked and maintained to function as an authentic experience. “OK, you can pick out one thing,” was the allowance from my elders, and I would sit at the recreated town square next to the fountain to enjoy that day’s sweet treat, letting my feet scrape on the cobblestone.
As it goes, my grandparents passed away and right around the late 1990s and early 2000s, life drifted me away from Milwaukee. The family had moved on and dispersed, as families do. My trips to Milwaukee became less frequent, and were geared more toward the nightlife and culture a 20-something-year-old feral college adolescent male tends to seek out.
Fast-forward to today. Very recently, I was surprised to learn that 2026 will be the last year the Milwaukee Public Museum will be open. On January 3, 2027, the beloved museum will permanently close its current location and move to the new Nature and Culture Museum of Wisconsin. I learned of this, and recognized that I needed to visit the Milwaukee Public Museum one last time.
Going back as an adult was surreal. Imagine having the power to revisit a distinct and formative experience from your childhood, barely changed but lovingly maintained. I walked up the central staircase with the skeletons looming overhead. I stared into the impressively lifelike eyes of the various animals and people featured throughout the dioramas. I walked through the Pacific Northwest Hall and felt my neck tingle at the masks that haunted my childhood. The Arctic exhibits actually felt chilly, and I brushed my hand against the glacier wall that I played alongside decades prior. I admired the quality of the taxidermied animals and stood in the shadows of earth’s great beasts. At the Neanderthal exhibit I chuckled at the long-lost memory of a family member making the jab, “That one looks just like you.”
The European Village and Streets of Old Milwaukee still smelled the same — an aroma that transported me right back to grade school. I peered into the windows of the cultural houses, this time having to crouch rather than stand on my tiptoes. As an adult, I was surprised at the inescapable conclusion of similarity between the cultures and ethnicities depicted throughout the Museum. Truly, we are one people.
Most of all, I relished how busy the museum was that day. As I took it all in, I navigated groups of parents and grandparents with young kids in tow. We smiled and nodded as we passed one another, and I could not help but recognize that the Museum continues to make memories and create formative experiences.
In 2027, the Milwaukee Public Museum will permanently close and relocate to a new location. I have no doubt that the upcoming Nature and Culture Museum of Wisconsin will exceed every expectation of quality, variety, and experience. Still, it was a treat to visit the Milwaukee Public Museum and walk the Streets of Old Milwaukee.
One last time.
— Dan Wegmueller is the owner of Wegmueller Farms and his column appears regularly in the Times. His website is https://www.farmforthought.org.
