The Milwaukee Athenaeum

Built in 1887, the Athenaeum has been home to the Women’s Club of Wisconsin since its founding. Situated in Milwaukee’s East Town at 813 Kilbourn Ave., the building and the organization that calls it home can lay claim to a number of American firsts.

A group of prominent Milwaukee women founded the Women’s Club of Wisconsin in 1876. The Club met in private homes for the first years of its founding, but as early as 1883 members suggested they build a more permanent location for their organization. In 1886 the Women’s Club created the “Pioneer Women’s Stock Company,” the nation’s first stock venture to be completely owned by women. A lot was purchased on Kilbourn Avenue in May of 1887, and by October of the same year, the Women’s Club was able to move into their new home. The Athenaeum, as it was christened by the organization, became the first building in the United States to be wholly owned by women. The building has fulfilled the original objective of the of the stock company, to have a building “for the purpose of promoting the best practical methods for securing the educational, industrial and social advancement of women and as a center for literary, scientific and musical culture in the city of Milwaukee.” The Women’s Club of Wisconsin continues to make the Athenaeum their home to this day.