Milwaukee Curling Club

About Milwaukee Curling Club

Milwaukee Curling Club: America’s Oldest Continuously Active Club

Milwaukee Curling Club holds a remarkable distinction: organized in 1845, it is the oldest curling club in continual existence in the United States. Scottish settlers were already sliding stones on the frozen Milwaukee River in the early 1840s, and the club went on to play at a Warren Avenue rink, at Riverside Park from 1915 to 1970, and at the Ozaukee Country Club in Mequon from 1970 to 2012.

Since the fall of 2012 the club has curled in its own five-sheet facility at the Ozaukee County Fairgrounds in Cedarburg, north of Milwaukee. Its history is full of firsts and trophies: Milwaukee rinks won the Grand National Gordon Champion Rink Medal four times between 1872 and 1887 and took the Gordon International medal against Canada in 1884, the first mixed bonspiel in the United States was held in Milwaukee in 1951, and the city hosted the World Curling Championships in 1989.

The season runs from mid-October through the end of March, with fourteen leagues spread across the week, from beginner and open divisions to traditional competitions such as the Pattinson, Carson, Thistle and Presidents. Learn-to-curl sessions, corporate events and a junior program bring in new players, and the bonspiel calendar includes the Ladies Kiltie, Kiltie Mixed, a mixed doubles event and the Badger Women’s.