43.0497° N, 87.9501° W

MILWAUKEE

Most Famous People Born in Milwaukee, United States

Notable people
1,210
Peak decade
1950s
Median birth year
1940
Most distinctive
Baseball 5.0×

Milwaukee's bench leans hard on mid-century brains and beer-league sport: a thick Baseball and Basket cohort traces back to the Braves-then-Brewers years and Marquette's old basketball powerhouse, while an outsized Lawyer class reflects the Gilded Age German-American legal scene that eventually sent a chief justice to the Supreme Court. The quieter Film vein belongs to the studio-era screenwriters and directors who filtered up through Chicago on their way to Hollywood.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Milwaukee during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 140 notable births.

What Milwaukee Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Politician is Milwaukee's biggest profession — 12% of all notables (148).

Milwaukee over-indexes on baseball5.0× the global rate.

  1. Politician148
  2. Football111
  3. Actor82
  4. Baseball69
  5. Lawyer69
  6. Basket62
  7. Writer31
  8. Film29
  1. Baseball695.0×
  2. Basket624.1×
  3. Lawyer693.3×
  4. Officer182.3×
  5. Film291.9×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Milwaukee's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

1850187519001925195019752000
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Film & TV
  • Science
  • Writing
  • Music
  • Other
All1,210
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Showing 33 of 1,210 notable people

0085 ENTOMOLOGIST

William Morton Wheeler

1865 - 1937

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0204 JOURNALIST

Elizabeth Jordan

1865 - 1947

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0235 ACTOR

Louise Lester

1867 - 1952

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0246 DIPLOMAT

Paul Samuel Reinsch

1869 - 1923

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0266 BUSINESS

J. Ogden Armour

1863 - 1927

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0429 POLITICIAN

William H. Stafford

1869 - 1957

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0474 PAINTER

Frank Enders

1860 - 1921

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0479 LIBRARIAN

Adelaide Hasse

1868 - 1953

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0493 POLITICIAN

William J. Cary

1865 - 1934

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0526 SURGEON

Joseph Colt Bloodgood

1867 - 1935

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0553 BASEBALL

Lave Cross

1866 - 1927

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0602 PRIEST

Augustine Francis Schinner

1863 - 1937

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0634 HISTORIAN

Louise Phelps Kellogg

1862 - 1942

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0651 MILITAR

Lutz Wahl

1869 - 1928

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0690 GEOLOGIST

Henry Barnard Kümmel

1867 - 1945

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0695 BASEBALL

Anton Falch

1860 - 1936

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0779 BASEBALL

Otto Schomberg

1864 - 1927

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0841 BASEBALL

Amos Cross

1860 - 1888

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0861 BASEBALL

Gus Krock

1866 - 1905

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0891 OFFICER

Frank Ellis Bamford

1865 - 1932

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0902 ARMY

Harry Bell (Medal of Honor)

1860 - 1938

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0921 BASEBALL

George Harper (pitcher)

1866 - 1931

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0971 LAWYER

Charles C. Butler

Born 1865

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1018 BASEBALL

Tom Nagle

1865 - 1946

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1045 POLITICIAN

Oscar F. Thieme

1869 - 1926

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1086 BASEBALL

Pat Sullivan (third baseman)

1861 - 1901

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1102 POLITICIAN

George G. Brew

Born 1868

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1118 POLITICIAN

Otto Harrass

1869 - 1910

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1151 GOLF

Louis Allis

1866 - 1950

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1152 GYMNAST

Robert Herrmann

1869 - 1919

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1179 BASEBALL

Tom Lee (baseball)

1862 - 1886

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1200 SINGER

Anna Groff Bryant

1860 - 1941

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1201 POLITICIAN

Arthur Callow

1869 - 1955

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