Brookfield is a city in eastern Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States.

[5] The city is adjacent to the Town of Brookfield and is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area.

Brookfield is west of Milwaukee in Waukesha County in an area originally inhabited by Potawatomi Indians.

[6] The first white settler, William Howe, arrived in 1820 with a Presidential Land Grant giving him title to the area.

[7] In May 1838, Jacques View Jr., with a large party of white settlers, led the local Potawatomi west.

In these 1840s, George Gebhardt started trading with the surrounding Potawatomi and Menominee neighbors.

In 1849, cholera reached Brookfield, and one Laura Grover recalls, "The death-like stillness was appalling; nothing was seen but the death carts rolling round the streets gathering the recent dead...

In the year 1850, the Town of Brookfield had 1,944 inhabitants and in land area covered 36 square miles.

The town slowly grew over following years, with the economy being mostly agricultural, with Brookfield Junction serving as a commercial center for the surrounding farms.

[7] The Civil War had little effect on this town, despite the severe losses of members serving from the state.

Early subdivisions grew slowly due to the Great Depression hitting a year later, affecting its growth and killing demand.

Suburban development was encouraged by a scarcity of urban area housing, the baby boom, and government sponsored building programs, which further grew the town, and after several annexations of neighboring communities, an incorporation drive started.

The first mayor was Franklin Wirth, and he oversaw the new city, which at the time had a population of 7,900 and covered an area of 17.5 square miles.

[13] The sub-continental divide passes through Brookfield; on the eastern side of this divide, easily marked by the crest at Calhoun Road and Capitol Drive, water flows to Lake Michigan on its way to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence; on the western side of this divide, water flows to the Fox River of Illinois and Wisconsin on its way to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.

There is a heron rookery on a site northwest of Capitol Drive and Brookfield Road.

[20] The firm provides financial services technology (software, for the most part) for banks, thrifts, credit unions, securities broker dealers, leasing and finance companies, and retailers, among others.

[22][23] Brookfield's concert hall is the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts located in Mitchell Park.

Brookfield Square is the main shopping mall for the city and also serves as a commercial anchor to the Bluemound Road shopping district serving the western suburbs of Milwaukee and Waukesha County.

The aldermen set policy and have extensive financial control, but are not engaged in daily operational management.