Milwaukee County Historical Society

Before 1800

Earliest Settlers

Earliest Settlers

There is not much known about the earliest people who lived in the Milwaukee area. It is likely that the Winnebago (Ho Chunk) and Menominee tribes were descended from these early settlers. Most of the tribes that spent some time in Southeastern Wisconsin were refugees who were pushed westward by encroaching white civilization. Some of these tribes were the Iroquois, Chippewa, Sauk and the Potawatomi. The most influential tribe in Southeastern Wisconsin was the Potawatomi. They were the dominant tribe in the area when French explorers first started venturing into the territory.

In the years immediately following the arrival of the Europeans, the native population declined rapidly succumbing to diseases brought here from Europe. The Winnebago were the hardest hit tribe in Wisconsin. Local tribes traded furs with the French who had started to arrive in the area after 1674. The fur trade eventually destroyed the Indians' traditional way of life.

By the 1830s, there were still a few groups of Native Americans in the area although their population had dwindled even further because of a smallpox epidemic in 1831. In 1835, nearly all the land belonging to the Native Americans had been ceded to the United States. The Potawatomi were given permission to remain on the land for three more years. When their time was up, they were rounded up by federal contractors and led west of the Mississippi. The few who remained became the city's first minority group.

The FrenchThe French Fur Trade

The first white men in the area were French trappers and fur traders. This region of North America was under French control from 1671 to 1760. In 1674, French explorer Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette came through this part of the French claim on an expedition that outlined the route traveled by fur traders for the next one hundred years. The route connected the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan. The fur trade was very lucrative for the French but a hundred years later, beaver became scarce. In 1760, the territory was claimed by Great Britain after the fall of Montreal.

A French-Canadian trader and Green Bay resident, Jacques Vieau maintained a fur trading post on the present site of Milwaukee. Though he did not live here year-round, he and his family are considered the first residents of Milwaukee. He traded with the Indians in the area from 1795 until the 1830s. In 1830, Vieau sent for Solomon Juneau, a young clerk and trader from Montreal. Juneau transformed the trading post into a town.