Milwaukee the Midwest. Because of its easy access to Lake Michigan and other waterways, Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley has historically been home to manufacturing, stockyards, rendering plants, shipping, and other heavy industry. Reshaping of the valley began with the railroads built by city co-founder Byron Kilbourn to bring product from Wisconsin's farm interior to the port. By 1862 Milwaukee was the largest shipper of wheat on the planet, and related industry developed. Grain elevators were built and, due to Milwaukee's dominant German immigrant population, breweries sprang up around the processing of barley and hops. A number of tanneries were constructed, of which
History of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee for a large comprehensive public university that offered graduate programs in Wisconsin's largest city, the Wisconsin state legislature passed a bill in 1955 to create the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. The current University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee was established in 1956, as a result of the merger of the Wisconsin State College of Milwaukee and University of Wisconsin's Milwaukee extension, a UW branch that had been offering graduate degrees in Milwaukee.The new university consisted of the WSCM campus near the lakefront and the University of Wisconsin extension in downtown Milwaukee. The first commencement of the new University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee was held on June