The Milwaukee County League of Women Voters was organized to continue the activities of the Milwaukee County Woman Suffrage Association after the latter group disbanded in 1920. On February 21, 1920, a temporary organization drafted a constitution and by-laws for the new League, which held its first mass meeting at the Milwaukee Public Library on February 18, 1921. Jessie Jack Hooper, a founder of the state League of Women Voters, helped form the Milwaukee chapter.
As a chapter of the Wisconsin LWV and an affiliate of the League of Women Voters of the United States, the Milwaukee League was organized to promote voter awareness and participation in government, especially among newly-enfranchised women voters. Over the years the League as a whole has become active in lobbying and persuasion on the local, state, and national levels. Each chapter chooses from among a number of study topics suggested by the national and state organizations; members study these “continuing responsibilities.” reach a group consensus on the topic, and then take “action” in the form of writing letters and testifying at legislative hearings at the time designated by national and state leadership. Many of the study topics involve broad local welfare categories: education and school systems; public health; natural resources conservation; voter education and registration; equal rights; and local, county, and state government. The League also raises money for its operations through regular finance drives. In 1969, the League of Women Voters of the United States celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, which was celebrated by the Milwaukee League with a dinner and other activities.
As the Milwaukee suburban areas grew in population, other local leagues were formed. In 1943, the Wauwatosa League was organized, followed by leagues in West Allis (1957 or 1958), Ozaukee (1957 or 1958), Whitefish Bay (1958), Brown Deer (1961), Greendale (1964), and others. In 1959, the individual leagues in metropolitan Milwaukee joined in establishing the Inter-League Council to coordinate League activities. The ILC also coordinates state and national LWV issues, and studies issues on a regional or statewide basis. Joining the ILC at later dates were the Greendale, North Shore (organized in 1969 from the Brown Deer and Whitefish Bay leagues), and Wauwatosa leagues. Eventually, the local leagues in the metropolitan Milwaukee County area formed the League of Women Voters of Greater Milwaukee.
