Milwaukee, which today has just under 600,000 inhabitants, is the largest city in the American state of Wisconsin. The name goes back to the Native American language and means "meeting place by the water". The first settlement was established in 1785 by Alexis Laframboise, a Canadian of French descent, as a trading post. After several violent disputes, the city of Milwaukee was founded on January 31, 1864 by merging the settlements of Walker's Point, Juneautown and Kilbourntown.

In the 19th century, the city experienced an enormous increase in population due to the influx of German emigrants: in 1890, the proportion of inhabitants of German descent was 69 percent. Milwaukee maintained this close connection to Germany over the years. On February 24, 1929, Mayor Daniel W. Hoan visited Wiesbaden with a delegation of city councillors and signed the city's Golden Book.