Women of MKE

Who runs the world?? Women of Milwaukee, that's who! The city would not be where it is today without the efforts and hard work of the women who live here. The freedoms and privileges in this city have stemmed from the incredible achievements of astounding ladies. Here you can learn about women's impact on cultural institutions or join local groups to support women's efforts. To all of the women of Milwaukee working hard and making a difference, we thank you!

Cultural Institutions

Beulah Briton House and Community Center
Beulah Briton opened her home as a community center for working-class families in 1872. The historic home now houses the Bay View Historical Society and the Beulah Briton Community Center continues Briton’s work to this day.

Golda Meir School
Golda Meir School was built in 1890 as Fourth Street Grade School before being renamed and rededicated in 1979 to honor Golda Meir, a grade school attendee there from 1906 to 1912. Meir would go on to become Israel’s prime minister after attending high school and college in Milwaukee.

Golda Meir Library
Located on the campus of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Golda Meir Library is named for the former prime minister of Israel. After graduating from Milwaukee’s North Division High School, Meir attended Milwaukee State Normal School, which would later become UW-Milwaukee.

Halyard Park
Ardie Clark Halyard was an activist for fair housing, racial equality, and Black homeownership. Halyard Park is named in her and her husband’s honor and remains one of the longest-standing residential neighborhoods for Milwaukee’s Black middle class.

Jewish Museum Milwaukee
Learn about remarkable local women from Milwaukee’s Jewish community at Jewish Museum Milwaukee, including Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and “The Settlement Cookbook” Author Lizzie Black Kander.

Milwaukee Film
Milwaukee Film offers Women’s History Month programming that features stories about and amplified by women.

North Point Lighthouse
Georgia Green Stebbins managed North Point Lighthouse 46 years before women were even allowed to vote in the United States. Stebbins is the first female and longest-serving lighthouse keeper of North Point Light.

Vel R. Phillips Avenue Murals
Vel R. Phillips was a woman of many firsts – including Milwaukee’s first female judge and first person of color to be elected Wisconsin’s Secretary of State. In 2018, the Milwaukee Common Council – to which she was the first African-American elected – unanimously voted to rename 4th Street in her honor. Head to Vel R. Phillips and North Avenues to see murals honoring Phillips.