The Milwaukee Chapter of the American Red Cross was established in 1916. However, the Red Cross was a presence in Milwaukee since before the 1900's. Called the Red Cross Society of Wisconsin, the organization sponsored a concert for returning veterans and furnished nurses as volunteers of the Fourth Wisconsin Regiment during their training encampment in 1898.

It was in the spring of 1916 when the Milwaukee Chapter was formally established at a meeting in the Red Room of the Pfister Hotel. A committee was named to draw up by-laws, and a nominating committee was chosen to establish the Milwaukee Chapter. On May 22, the first organizational meeting was held. Frank M. Hoyt was named chairman. The executive committee included J. H. Puelicher, E. E. White, F. R. Brown, E. R. Wagner, F. C. Morehouse, A. C. Eschweiler and W. W. Coleman. On June 29, 1916, the Central Committee of the Red Cross officially recognized the Milwaukee Chapter. Its first offices were donated by the First Wisconsin National Bank and were located in the bank's office building.

The fledgling chapter was immediately presented with two major fund-raising tasks. Within the chapter's first year of existence, $60,000 was raised for the relief of dependent families of Wisconsin National Guardsmen, who were sent to the Mexican border. In addition, $75,000 was raised to provide equipment for an Army base hospital. The hospital's needs included three ambulances, which cost $2,000 to $2,500 each. Even though the U.S. hadn't gone to war yet, the chapter went ahead and raised the needed funds.

A group of production volunteers was formed late in 1916 and met in the Pabst Building, which is now known as 110 East Wisconsin Avenue. This group had the important task of making bandages and other supplies for hospitals and other Red Cross relief facilities. Some idea of the amount of work accomplished may be gained from the fact that in August of 1917 the following items had already been sent to France.

• 500,000 pajamas
• 500,000 convalescent robes
• 400,000 hospital bed robes
• 700,000 handkerchiefs
• 600,000 pairs of socks
• 200,000 bed shoes
• 200,000 shoulder robes

After a declaration of war, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 18-25 as Red Cross week. He asked the American public to contribute $1,000,000 through the American Red Cross toward a fund to support American troops. Milwaukee's share was $500,000. Fred Vogel, Jr., state chairman of the fund drive and Wm. W. Coleman, city chairman led the campaign and helped the chapter to reach its goal and raise $768,320.

The chapter continued to assist with the war effort while also active on the home front. In September 1918, the motor corps was called to assist with the influenza epidemic that broke out at Camp Grant, Illinois. For the next eight days, volunteers and ambulances from Milwaukee worked eighteen hours a day and handled more than 800 cases. The tour of duty lasted for five weeks of day and night work. Members of the motor corps received a special certificate from the Milwaukee Health Department for their work.

When the war ended, chapter operations and the budget were gradually cut back. Miss Margaret T. Sharp came to the chapter as its Executive Director in 1926. She helped guide the chapter's destiny and personified it as more than just a war organization. She became known in Milwaukee as "Miss Red Cross." One by one, she spurred the addition of new Red Cross services - water safety, first-aid, Junior Red Cross and mass feeding.

When the Great depression hit the United States in 1931, the Red Cross was asked to distribute surplus wheat to veterans and people who were unemployed. The Milwaukee Chapter helped distribute over 20,000 barrels. The chapter also received more than 400,000 yards of cloth which was made into clothing with the help of the Rice-Friedman Company, Journal Company, Will Ross Mfg. Co., Seaman Body, Goodwill and many Milwaukee volunteers.

During the next ten years, the chapter's activities included:

• a first aid and accident prevention program headed by Dr. William J. Egan, later chairman of the chapter
• disaster relief during a series of dynamite bombings in Milwaukee in the autumn of 1935
• the formation of the gray-ladies volunteer program
• the set up of a Chinese relief program in 1940
• purchase of a new building which served as the chapter's headquarters for 23 years

In May 1941, the American National Red Cross announced that, in the event of a war, a blood donor project would be established with a fund of one million dollars to equip blood centers in the major cities of the U.S. Milwaukee was included in that group of cities. A blood program was initiated after the Pearl Harbor attack and was continued throughout the war.

A Red Cross disaster relief committee was organized early in 1942 under Harold H. Seaman. An action plan was created and volunteers were ready in the event of an enemy strike on Milwaukee. The production of garments, knitted goods, surgical dressings and comfort kits was resumed on a large scale similar to that of 1917-1918. In the summer of 1942, the firm of Ernst and Ernst set up a complete bookkeeping and audit system to help track Milwaukee fund quotes, which had reached the million mark.

Many changes came about after the close of WWII including:

• termination of the blood procurement program
• staff reductions
• development of a prospective parent course
• reorganization sparked by the onset of the Korean War
• delivery of the first "talking letters" (recorded messages) to servicemen from their families during the Korean War
• building of the current offices on 26th and Wisconsin
• publishing of the winter safety booklet

The most important changes, however, started in the 1960s, when the Milwaukee Chapter expanded its territory by merging with the Ozaukee and Waukesha Chapters of the Red Cross, resulting in a name change each time. It was the addition of the Hartford Chapter in the late '60s that brought a new name, the Greater Milwaukee Chapter, that remained for more than 30 years. The chapter still had changes on the horizon when the Jefferson and Watertown Chapters, as well as the  Dodge County Chapter were annexed. This resulted in a six-county jurisdiction until 2006, when the Greater Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin Tri-County merged. Today, the American Red Cross in Southeastern Wisconsin serves the communities of Dodge, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth and Waukesha counties.