Geography of Milwaukee Geography of Milwaukee Milwaukee lies along the shores and bluffs of Lake Michigan at the confluence of three rivers: the Menomonee, the Kinnickinnic and the Milwaukee. Smaller rivers, such as the Root River and Lincoln Creek also run throughout the city. Because Lake Michigan is too large to see across, Milwaukee's waterfront resembles an ocean rather than an inland lake. Milwaukee's terrain is relatively flat, except for steep bluffs along the lakeshore that begin about one half mile north and four miles (6 km) south of the downtown. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total
Milwaukee "inner-ring" suburbs. In the 1920s Chicago gangster activity came north to Milwaukee during the Prohibition era. Al Capone, noted Chicago mobster, owned a home in the Milwaukee suburb Brookfield, where moonshine was made. The house still stands on a street named after Capone. By 1960, Milwaukee had grown to become one of the largest cities in the United States. Its population peaked at 741,324. In 1960, the Census Bureau reported city's population as 91.1% white and 8.4% black. By the late 1960s, Milwaukee's population had started to decline as people moved to suburbs, aided by federal subsidies of highways. They