On the northeast corner of 6th and Kibourn you'll find the Milwaukee Theatre, renamed in 2017 to the Miller High Life Theatre.

Built in 1909 and originally called the Milwaukee Auditorium, the facility was used for concerts, circuses, political rallies and sporting events. The Auditorium had its own orchestra, and hosted numerous top performers of the day, including John Phillip Sousa, Enrico Caruso, Barry Manilow, Nirvana, Marilyn Manson and Prince.

Several U.S. Presidents gave speeches here, the most famous had to be the campaign speech given by Theodore Roosevelt on October 14, 1912. On that day just after 8pm, Theodore Roosevelt, who was running for a third term under the Progressive Party -- a third party splintering of the Republican Party -- was shot at close range by a saloonkeeper by the name of John Schrank. Schrank's motive for the shooting was “any man looking for a third term ought to be shot”.

The shooting occurred in front of the Gilpatrick Hotel, which is now the site of the nearby Hyatt Hotel. The .32-caliber bullet, aimed directly at Roosevelt’s heart, failed to mortally wound the former president because of his dense overcoat, steel-reinforced eyeglass case and the 50-page evening speech which was squeezed into his inner jacket pocket. Although he had a bullet lodged in his chest, Roosevelt refused medical treatment and continued on to his evening speech.

Roosevelt gave his speech that evening with the opening lines "Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot.” He opened his jacket, showing his blood stained shirt and bloody speech. “You see," he said, "it takes more than one bullet to kill a Bull Moose. Fortunately I had my manuscript, so you see I was going to make a long speech, and there is a bullet—there is where the bullet went through—and it probably saved me from it going into my heart. The bullet is in me now, so that I cannot make a very long speech, but I will try my best.” He spoke for nearly an hour before getting medical treatment.

X-rays taken after the speech showed the bullet lodged against Roosevelt’s fourth right rib on an upward path to his heart. Given its location, it was thought safer to leave the bullet in his chest rather than operate, and the bullet was never removed. On election day, Roosevelt and Taft split the Republican vote, and Democrat Woodrow Wilson won the election. Shrank was deemed insane and committed to a mental hospital, where he died in 1943.

From 2001 - 2003, the Milwaukee Auditorium was transformed into a theater at a cost of $41.9 million and renamed the Milwaukee Theatre. It is now Wisconsin’s largest and most elegant concert and theatrical venue, seating over 4,000. In 2016, MillerCoors LLC became the sponsor of the venue, with the name change to “Miller High Life Theatre” occurring in 2017.

The final stop on our Westown tour is the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, which is located just east of Miller High Life Theatre. To reach, proceed east on Kilbourn Avenue to 4th Street.