Miller Park isn’t our first renamed landmark
American Family Field will take getting used to
We get it, we get it. “It will always be Miller Park” to you. Heck, you may still refer to that very tall building in that suburb of ours 90 miles south as Sears Tower, and that structure has officially been the Willis Tower since … this may shock you … 2009! It’ll always be the Sears Tower to us.
But while many Brewers fans and Milwaukeeans in general are sad to see the name Miller Park go, the club’s home stadium was officially seeing some signs of its rebrand when an “American Family Field” sign was erected onto the standard in front of the structure. We’ve known it was coming for a while, with American Family Insurance signing a 15-year agreement for building naming rights two years ago.
Buildings changing names (and citizens struggling to fully embrace the change) is a time-honored tradition. In Milwaukee, numerous buildings have changed appellation, and some of those structures may still be known by their previous monikers. Or, in some cases, two or three monikers ago.
Consider these examples.
American Family Insurance Amphitheater
The stadium isn’t even the first major building in Milwaukee that AmFam has assumed naming rights for. The biggest concert venue on the Henry Maier Festival Park grounds hosts Summerfest’s spotlighted shows on the shores of Lake Michigan, but it didn’t get to show off its splashy $51.3 million renovation when the 2020 Summerfest was canceled on account of coronavirus.
American Family struck the deal for a remodeled venue in 2017. You may still think of it as “The Marcus” or even just “The Amp,” but the renovation and renaming was also a major sign that AmFam was ready to invest pretty heavily in the city of Milwaukee.
U.S. Bank Center
Standing as the most prominent building in Milwaukee’s skyline for years, the U.S. Bank Center has been known as such since 2002. But some may know it by a previous name.
The building opened in 1973 as the First Wisconsin Center, then changed to the Firstar Center in 1992 — four years after First Wisconsin changed its name to Firstar. Then, the company bought U.S. Bank and renamed the tower.
UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena
This building has had many monikers, but the historical fixture in Milwaukee sports history has only gone by this title since 2014. It’s fitting, since the UW-Milwaukee Panthers men’s basketball team plays there, but the building also serves as home to the Milwaukee Admirals, Milwaukee Wave and more.
But the building’s legacy extends to its heyday as the home of the Milwaukee Bucks, including the 1971 championship team. Back then, it was simply the Milwaukee Arena, a name it bore from its construction in 1950 through the 1974 season. After that, it became the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, but you simply know it as The MECCA.
Associated with its flashy gold floor, not to mention the Bucks and Marquette University men’s basketball teams of the era (notably the 1977 NCAA championship team), MECCA became a name that sticks to this day, even though the building became the Wisconsin Center Arena in 1995 and the U.S. Cellular Arena in 2000.
Wisconsin Center
When it opened in 1998, it was the Midwest Express Center. Then, in 2002, it became the Midwest Airlines Center. Then, in 2010, it became Frontier Airlines Center. And then in 2012, it was the Delta Center. The bounce from airline to airline was reflective of the industry for which it was named: Midwest was merged with Frontier in 2009 when it was purchased by Republic Airways Holdings. Delta bought the naming rights when the carrier expanded into Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport.
But Delta only held onto the naming rights for one year. The #SaveTheCookie campaign to keep Midwest Airlines in Milwaukee may have been in vain, but the center that once bore its name has keep its Wisconsin branding.
Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport
It may not have even occurred to you that the name has changed from Mitchell Field (starting in 1941) to General Mitchell International Airport (starting in 1986) to what it is today (starting in 2019). You may just think of it as “Mitchell,” “Milwaukee’s airport” or “the place with the Recombobulation Area.”
Miller High Life Theatre
For all the clamoring to retain the beer-evoking name on the Brewers stadium, it’s probable that most people still think of this building by a previous name, most likely the Milwaukee Theater. That’s how it was known from 2003’17 before a new naming rights deal. The building adjacent to the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena is a hotspot for stage productions. The building dates back to 1909, when it opened as the Milwaukee Auditorium.
BMO Harris Bradley Center
Before it was razed and Fiserv Forum opened, the home of the Bucks and Marquette men’s basketball team had attached the “BMO Harris” moniker to the front of “Bradley Center.” It was a rare case where a naming rights deal didn’t completely erase the previous name. BMO Harris elected to keep the Bradley on the building when it bought the rights in 2012. The building was first donated to Milwaukee by Jane Bradley Pettit and her husband, Lloyd Pettit, in honor of Jane’s late father, Harry Lynde Bradley. The building’s final events took place in 2018.
Of course, now the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra plays at the Bradley Center. The new Bradley Symphony Center, that is. That’s a whole different building, at the site formerly known as Warner Grand Theater on Wisconsin Avenue. You still with us?
Colectivo Coffee
It’s not a single landmark, but caffeine-seeking Milwaukeeans were taken aback in 2013 when it was announced that popular local chain Alterra Coffee was changing its name. The switch was related to a business deal in 2010, when Alterra essentially sold its name, but not the company itself, to a subsidiary of Mars (the candy company). The transaction helped the company grow (and it even got to keep its old name for a few years), but the company eventually settled on a new moniker inspired by artful buses used in Latin American public transport.
Chase Tower
Milwaukee’s first skyscraper, built in 1961, may still be known as the Marine Plaza or Marine Bank Building. But the structure on 111 E. Wisconsin Ave. was also known as Bank One Plaza before adopting its current name after Bank One merged with Chase in 1994.
Marcus Performing Arts Center
This one is more about nuance. Opened as the Performing Arts Center in 1969, it has since been rebranded as the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts and now merely the Marcus Performing Arts Center. Brevity! You probably just call it “the Marcus,” as opposed to Summerfest’s “Marcus,” which is now something different (see first entry in the list).