Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Access in “The Good Land”

Overlooking Lake Michigan, Milwaukee hosts the largest music festival called Summerfest, which consists of many days and hundreds of bands. If you are a baseball fan then you can catch a game at the Milwaukee Brewers Stadium during the season and on Fridays, there is a beer garden in the stadium. When in Wisconsin, try as much cheese as possible for it is delicious. One common way is in pizza and one suggestion for incredible pizza is Transfer Pizzeria & Cafe in the bay view neighborhood.

The Milwaukee Art Museum has roughly 20,000 pieces of art on four floors in its collection that have been hand-selected for one hundred and twenty years, including masterpieces from Picasso, Monte, and Warhol. The building itself is a modern architectural marvel and can be enjoyed at no charge, however, to see the collection costs a fee.

Pabst Mansion has a rear entrance that allows for wheelchair access to all the public areas and a large format restroom.  As you might expect this is a very old house so it has lots of stairs and hallways. Standard wheelchairs fit even if a couple of the spots are a bit snug. There is limited parking, which means no designated handicapped parking spots and there is one general restroom inside.

Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory aka “The Domes” are greenhouses that contain different landscapes: tropical, desert, and a Toyland featuring an intricate mini railroad system with multiple trains, one of which is a Harley Davidson theme.

Other Attractions in the Downtown Milwaukee area are Discovery World on North Harbor Drive in East Town,  The Harley Davidson Museum in the Historic Third Ward, the Lakefront Brewery, and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra – Oriental Theater.

Getting a wheelchair accessible taxi with a lift in Milwaukee may be difficult or impossible. To get to Chicago use the Amtrak Hiawatha train line, which will get you downtown and is wheelchair accessible.

About a twenty-minute drive from Milwaukee is the Wehr Nature Center. The main entrance has automatic doors into the visitor center and nature store, which are barrier-free. Wheelchair accessible bathroom stalls are also available. People visiting with a wheelchair will also have access to the pier via a wooden boardwalk as well as a designated space at the amphitheater. The Wetland Trail is wheelchair accessible via a wooden boardwalk with observation decks along the trail. This park has a number of other trails that are not classified as wheelchair accessible, but at the nature center, you can rent a 4-wheel driving track wheelchair for free to assist in your hiking.