Today, the Third Ward is home to over 450 businesses and maintains a strong position within the retail and professional service community in Milwaukee as a showcase of a mixed-use district.

The neighborhood's renaissance is anchored by many specialty shops, restaurants, art galleries and theatre groups, creative businesses and condos.

[3] The first railroad linked Milwaukee to the Mississippi River in 1856, letting wholesalers supply needed goods to the population of settlers in the West.

On September 7, 1860, the Lady Elgin steamship left Milwaukee carrying a large number of passengers from the Third Ward's Irish community.

The area rapidly developed through the late 19th Century as a mixed-use industrial and residential district home to Milwaukee immigrants and abundant with jobs.

[5] Cities such as Chicago, Kenosha, Racine, Sheboygan and Oshkosh sent horse-drawn units by rail to help Milwaukee's fire department fight the flames.

A total of 440 buildings were destroyed and more than 1,900 people, mostly Irish-American families, were left without homes by the time the fire was finally under control at midnight.

[3] The development of I-794 in the 1960s forced out the majority of the close-knit Italian-American Third Ward community, including the demolition of Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Catholic Church in 1967 (named earlier that year as Milwaukee's first architectural landmark).

This project proved controversial as it removed a valuable access point to the Third Ward, further isolating it but also helping to maintain its unique atmosphere.

The 1990's marked a period of rapid development in the Third Ward, as historic warehouses were purchased and renovated into market-rate housing, at times displacing former tenants.

During this period, the City of Milwaukee invested $3.4 million in streetscape projects, as well as in the construction of two large municipal parking structures, in an effort to draw visitors to the area.

'[7] Later the same summer, the iconic mural "The Unsung Hero" by German artist Andreas von Chrzanowski, "Case Maclaim" was commissioned by Singerman Real Estate for the PH Dye Building.