Grand staircase of Pabst Mansion (August 2025)
While in Chicago for the long Labor Day weekend, I also decided to squeeze in a day trip to Milwaukee, a mid-sized city located in the neighboring state of Wisconsin. Given it was just a 90-minute train ride away, it made for a doable short visit. I’d purchased my train tickets a few weeks in advance, since I’d be traveling during the holiday time and seats got quickly booked up. Soon enough, I headed out to explore another slice of Midwest culture.
Milwaukee is originally the land of the Algonquian people (particularly those in the Menominee and Potawatomi tribes), who had settled in the nearby Green Bay before moving to the region in the last thousand of years. The natives were at war with the United States throughout the 18th and into the early 19th century, before eventually signing the Treaty of Chicago in 1833 to cede their land to the government under then-president Andrew Jackson, as means of adding to the Michigan Territory.
The city grew exponentially during the 1840s and 1850s, with the influx of immigration from Germany– by 1900, the Germans accounted for over a third of Milwaukee’s population. Other groups, including immigrants from Poland, Lithuania, and Serbia, came over at the start of the 20th century, as well as African Americans throughout the mid-to-late 20th century. Today, Milwaukee has quite a diverse community, yet retains a notable European influence from its immigration history in terms of its architecture, cuisine, and religion.
I headed out of my hotel early in the morning to get to Chicago Union Station, where I caught the 8h25 train to Milwaukee. It was a quiet, peaceful ride, as the train passed through fields of green and even cornfields on the way over. We soon pulled into Milwaukee at 9h50, and I was ready to begin my day visiting the city.
Inside Chicago Union Station
On our way to Milwaukee…
First stop of the day was at Milwaukee Public Market, which was just a 10-minute walk from the station. It’s a fairly-spacious covered market and food hall with vendors selling items like sausages and cheese, influenced by its German community. In fact, Wisconsin is known for producing over a quarter of the nation’s cheese, and has a robust dairy industry. Therefore, lots of the state’s cuisine is milk and dairy-based, and despite my severe lactose-intolerance, I wanted to try it all.
Checking out Milwaukee Public Market
Inside Milwaukee Public Market
One such dish is fried cheese curds, which are an indulgent little snack to have. I was surprised at how much I was served, and they were tasty while piping hot and fresh, with a slight, squeaky chew to the curds. I’ve had cheese curds in Canadian poutine before, so having them prepared a different way was an interesting experience. However, the fried cheese curds were quite heavy and unfortunately, I couldn’t finish them all. Glad I got to try them, though!
Fried cheese curds
I grabbed an iced coffee at a café just across from Milwaukee Public Market before getting an Uber over to my next destination of the day. It was about a 15 to 20-minute drive across town to Pabst Mansion. Constructed in 1892, this is a unique, Flemish Renaissance-style manor that’s reminiscent of the Gilded Age. The home had been commissioned by Captain Frederick Pabst, a German-born American ship captain and the founder of Pabst Brewing Company, which produces the iconic Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. PBR is a classic, Americana brew, and it’s celebrated throughout the country to this day.
Any case, I reached Pabst Mansion and got a timed ticket for 12h00. It was the weekend, so there were many visitors waiting to go inside this Gilded Age masterpiece. Soon enough, we were able to enter, and I spent a bit of time going through the different rooms and floors of this extraordinary building. From the dazzling, red curtain parlor to the blue, hand-painted Delft tiles in the servant’s dining quarters, there were so many intricate details throughout the home and it made the architecture nerd in me very happy.
Main parlor
Dining room
Delft tiles in the servant’s dining quarters
At the risk of this post getting too long, I’ll save the rest of my visit in Milwaukee in the next post. Until then! 🙂
— Rebecca
Rebecca Goes Rendezvous 