Milwaukee Public Museum

800 W Wells St, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USA

Address:	800 W Wells St, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USA
Phone:	+1 414-278-2728
Site:	mpm.edu
Rating:	4.7
Working:	10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 11AM–5PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 8

Dave Shapiro

When I was young, the Milwaukee Public Museum was given space in the back half of the Central Library. Much of what one finds is typical museum displays however, there are some exceptional exhibits that any visitor to Milwaukee should stop and see. The first is the “Streets of Old Milwaukee”. To enter one walks onto a replica of an old streetcar. As one ‘looks’ out the (digital) windows, you appear to be moving back into time. Exiting the cable car, you have entered the streets of Milwaukee circa 1900. This flows into the second unusual display - the European Village. Milwaukee is a city of immigrants and there are mini homes displayed according to the variety of ethnicities that arrived in the city. The third display that should not be missed is the ‘Butterfly Wing”. This a large greenhouse type room that houses hundreds of live butterflies. It is an experience that is replicated no where else. Finally, there is a replica of the 14,500 year old wooly mammoth skeleton. (It is a replica as the bones are too delicate for the display - the actual bones are at the museum but the ‘assembled’ skeleton is a replica. There is a large Imax Theater that always provides at least two different films. The museum holds 4.5 million artifacts though not all are on display (some are for research purposes only). It is not the largest museum but it is one of the better ones I have ever been to. There is a parking lot attached to the building however, being in downtown Milwaukee, it may not allow for parking close to the entrance. The museum is handicap accessible and interpreters are available but must be arranged in advance.

RAM DASHCAM

The museum part was fine, but STAY AWAY from the cafeteria! Took my family there on Sunday 3/23/14 and had lunch around 1PM. Wife and I had the Grilled Chicken Deluxe sandwiches, my oldest kid a 3pc Chicken strips, and my youngest a plain cheeseburger. ALL OF US except my oldest had stomach issues after eating. My wife right away, my youngest and myself later that day. Ive since recovered, but my youngest could not go to school today and has been home sick, pale and puking. We didnt eat ANYWHERE else that day, didnt eat dinner, and when we called the museum to notify them of the issue, we were told the food is catered, and they are not responsible. We pretty much got the same response from the caterer as well, except more attitude. No apologies, no refunds for the bad food, nothing. We may come back to the museum again, but were packing our OWN lunch. Oh, and to charge $2.69 for a 20oz soda in the cafeteria and $1.50 for the same size and brand of soda outside the cafeteria is just shady. Guess well bring our own drinks, too.

GodsChild B4TheWomb

The only thing I absolutely hated was when my kids wanted popcorn.....I go and get them popcorn because we saw the planetarium, my older girls stayed watching the planetarium so I took my twins with me to get popcorn. When we started to head back to go watch the planetarium a man stopped us yelling saying hey, hey you cant go back" I said why? We only came out to get popcorn besides my older girls are still inside, he looks at me and says well ok but be careful its dark. My guess is once its started no one can leave or enter. Now I can understand no one entering but leaving just to go to the restroom or grab popcorn really? Anyways my kids and myself really enjoyed ourselves!!!! We had a blast!!!! We even got to see the butterfly exhibit....well not really lol my kids got scared and started screaming and crying so we left right back out and went to see the live insects now that was just gross......We even got to see things that really dont get looked at because we forget about those displays. I highly recommend going here.

Philip Gordon

Great place to see see exhibits and dioramas of all sorts. The third floor is dedicated to different regions of the world apart from North America, including a reintroduced gallery about famous ancient civilizations, such as Egypt, Greece and Rome, while the second floor focuses on North America, with certain sections about WI, in particular. The first floor contains the popular Streets of Old Milwaukee & European Village exhibits, the former of which just received a large and welcome overhaul just recently. First floor also has the beginning of life on Earth progression, featuring the popular T-Rex exhibit, and Ice Age exhibit. There is finally, the Rain Forest exhibit and the Butterfly exhibit to round out the first floor. The ground level features the IMAX movie theater and museum gift shop. Great place for a fun and educational outing in Milwaukee, particularly for the whole family.

Matt Bramm

The museum itself is nice and the exhibits are well done but $22 per adult is a ridiculous price for a "public museum". The Milwaukee Public Art Museum is half that price. The group of four I was with decided to not go yesterday after finding out the current cost. I know you can get $2 off if you are a Milwaukee resident, which I am, but if your drivers licence doesnt say so good luck. The pricing is setup to try and encourage a customer to buy into their membership plan. Next time I am just going to plan to go on the first Thursday of the month when it is free for the day. Also, the lobby area had a very noticeable garbage smell. Like being near a trash can on a hot Summerfest day. Probably just because they took out the cafeteria garbage. Who knows?

Robin de Bled

A great natural history museum with a wide variety of exhibits. Im not a huge natural history museum fan, and like in most of them some of the exhibits feel very outdated and serve almost as more of an interesting piece of museum curation history than an interesting exhibit. For instance, the displays about the Inuit show a culture that surely hasnt exhisted in at least fifty years, yet theres no historical context to indicate how the cultures on display are frozen in time. That said, some of the newer exhibits are excellent. The new Egypt/Near East exhibit does marvellous job of integrating interactive technology and historic artefacts to make a very informative experience. Highly recommended, and a great place to bring kids. Dont miss the butterfly room!

Amy Salisbury

This is an incredible museum! We came back three days in a row on our vacation because my kids (ages 6 and 7) could not get enough of the Streets of Milwaukee exhibit. We were fortunate to run into a Museum Docen on the third day and he gave away some great secrets and hidden gems! Look for the rat in the drain on the Streets of Milwaukee and ask about the rattle snakes that shake their rattles! The dioramas are superb! The butterfly house is also very fun for kids. The museum is a bit pricey for non-members, but completely worth the price. We discovered that our membership at a local museum in our home town made us "reciprocating" members and we entered as though we were members! I would highly recommend this museum to all!

A Private User

I have been to museums all over the world, and feel so proud that one of the best is right downtown in Milwaukee. Everyone should go and support it. I make sure I go at least once a year, more when they have a special display series I want to enjoy. I wasnt happy about that series a few years ago called "Body Worlds" where the flesh had been stripped off of actual dead people because I felt that was not respectful to the dead to put them in a roving display like that. But it made a lot of money for the museum and gave them the ability to pay their bills, and I realize shock value sells. Anyway, I am looking forward to PM@MPM next week. It should be fun.