History Tour w/ Milwaukee County Historical Society

Name: History Tour w/ Milwaukee County Historical Society
Start: 2026-06-27T09:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-06-27T11:30:00-05:00
Location: 318 S Water St, Milwaukee, WI, United States, Wisconsin 53204

Schedule

Sat Jun 27 2026 at 09:00 am to 11:30 am

UTC-05:00

Location

318 S Water St, Milwaukee, WI, United States, Wisconsin 53204 | Milwaukee, WI

Join us for a paddle through history as we explore downtown Milwaukee and our rivers by kayak.
Steve Schaffer, Archivist, and Michael Barera, Assistant Archivist and Digitization Specialist, from the Milwaukee County Historical Society, will guide us on our rivers and share historical insights while we learn about the famous names, buildings and bridges that made Milwaukee, MILWAUKEE.
Our History Tours are paddled at a slower pace, suitable for most skill levels. They're a mixture of light exercise, sightseeing by kayak and education as we paddle and pause along the way while our guides point out sites and shares stories.
All of our History Tours launch and return to our main location @:
Milwaukee Kayak Company
main location @ Jerry's Docks
318 SOUTH Water Street
Milwaukee, WI 53204
##DATES & TIMES:
Saturday, June 27th
9am-11:30am
Friday July 24th
5:30pm-8pm
Saturday, September 19th
12:30pm-3pm
OUR PARTNERSHIP:
Our history tours are organized with a partnership between Milwaukee Kayak Company and the Milwaukee County Historical Society. Tickets are $45 each and half of each ticket cost will be donated back to the Milwaukee County Historical Society.
DESCRIPTION:
Milwaukee or "gathering place by the water*" was built on a Great Lake and the Milwaukee Harbor welcomes vessels and other boaters to our great city. As they enter our Harbor, boaters have the option of exploring the KK River (south), the Menomonee River (west), and the Milwaukee River which winds through Downtown Milwaukee. The Milwaukee River extends many miles north with a history that extends far beyond. The Menomonee River extends west from Downtown Milwaukee and west through the suburbs.
The name "Milwaukee"
Comes from an Algonquian word Millioke, meaning "Good", "Beautiful" and "Pleasant Land" (cf. Potawatomi language minwaking, Ojibwe language ominowakiing) or "Gathering place [by the water]" (cf. Potawatomi language manwaking, Ojibwe language omaniwakiing)