Third Ward: Destination for the Arts

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With a street called Broadway as its main artery, it’s almost inevitable that the arts play a prominent role in this revitalized Downtown-adjacent neighborhood. The Broadway Theatre Center houses theater companies. The MARN Art + Culture Hub offers coffee, wine and gallery and performance space. The Third Ward bustles with art galleries, including Portrait Society, Oil a City Gallery, Gallery 218, Tory Folliard Gallery and Lily Pad West. The Milwaukee Public Market anchors the Third Ward’s northern edge with shops, quick-service restaurants and St. Paul’s Fish Market. The district is home to numerous other restaurants and cafes as well as locally and nationally owned boutiques.

The Third Ward has a long history. When European settlers arrived, the Third Ward was a marsh with a pair of islands where the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and a nearby parking structure now stand. Tons of gravel transformed the district into residential housing for the city’s poorest immigrant population, the Irish. After a fire in the 1890s razed the neighborhood, the Third Ward was rapidly rebuilt to house an influx of Sicilian immigrants. Many of them went into the produce trade, establishing the Commission Row buildings on Broadway that now house Wicked Hop, Anthropologie and other businesses. “Urban renewal” in the 1950s depopulated the district, but the Third Ward bounced back after the ‘80s to become Milwaukee’s answer to SoHo.

Recently, the Third Ward secured its place among the nation’s top arts destinations, clinching the fifth spot in the 2024 USA Today Readers’ Choice Awards for “Best Arts District.” This recognition highlights the district's commitment to enriching its city culturally and providing an inspiring experience for visitors.