This list of city nicknames in Wisconsin compiles the aliases, sobriquets and slogans that Wisconsin's cities and towns are known by (or have been known by historically), officially and unofficially, to municipal governments, local people, outsiders or their tourism boards or chambers of commerce. City nicknames can help in establishing a civic identity, helping outsiders recognize a community or attracting people to a community because of its nickname; promote civic pride; and build community unity.[1] Nicknames and slogans that successfully create a new community "ideology or myth"[2] are also believed to have economic value.[1] Their economic value is difficult to measure,[1] but there are anecdotal reports of cities that have achieved substantial economic benefits by "branding" themselves by adopting new slogans.[2]
Some unofficial nicknames are positive, while others are derisive. The unofficial nicknames listed here have been in use for a long time or have gained wide currency.
The nicknames of several Wisconsin communities celebrate the state's cheese-making industry. Cheese curds, shown here covered with batter and deep-fried, traditionally have been available only at cheese factories.
^A Symbol for a CityArchived 2007-08-23 at the Wayback Machine, on the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission's Madison: A Capital Idea website, accessed January 5, 2008. "An art lover at the 1976 Art Fair on the Square sports the Mad City T-shirt created by Russ Frank of the Madison Top Company two years earlier."
^Brew City loses its oldest brewery, by Lisa Price, October 31, 1996, on CNN.com website. "Milwaukee has never had an identity crisis -- as one city resident said, 'We've been Brew City for 135 years.'"
^ abJan Uebelherr, "Magazine tips hat to Mil-town[dead link]," The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 31, 2007. "Spin magazine takes a dizzying spin through Brewtown in its September issue in a little travelogue called '72 Hours in Milwaukee.'"
^The "Cream City" nickname refers to the cream-colored brick produced in Milwaukee and used in many of its 19th-century buildings.Cream City BrickArchived 2006-10-18 at the Wayback Machine, by Terry Pepper, updated 12/02/2007
^A local mechanic and businessman built the first workable snowmobile in his shop in Sayner (About Plum Lake TownshipArchived 2008-05-17 at the Wayback Machine, Sayner-Star Lake Chamber of Commerce website, accessed July 26, 2008)
^Twin Ports: Duluth/Superior, accessed May 8, 2007. "Duluth, also known as the "Zenith City", is the larger of the two, and usually gets the most notoriety, but Superior, also referred to as "Soup Town"(because of common fog overhangs!) has a lot to offer residents as well as visitors."
^"A souvenir of Fond du Lac County, Wis. ([1904?])", The State of Wisconsin Collection, University of Wisconsin Library, Waupun, "The Prison City,' is a city of 4,000 inhabitants and located on a beautiful table land which gives it a dry and healthful climate.
