President Joe Biden is staying at Milwaukee's Pfister Hotel, a popular site for presidents (And rumor has it, ghosts.)
President Joe Biden's visit to Milwaukee on Wednesday will include an overnight stay at The Pfister Hotel, a local landmark long sought out by U.S. presidents and other high-profile visitors.
The hint that Biden was staying at the downtown hotel surfaced long before he arrived. Barriers across East Wisconsin Avenue in front of the hotel were in place by the morning and parking was restricted nearby by Tuesday morning.
His overnight stay came after a speech at Pieper-Hillside Boys & Girls Club and a stop at his campaign's new Wisconsin headquarters, also located downtown.
Biden's visit to the critical swing states comes as he gears up for a rematch against former President Donald Trump in the November election. Biden beat Trump in the 2020 election in Wisconsin by about 21,000 votes, a similar margin by which Trump won the state four years earlier.
On Thursday, Biden will head to Saginaw, Michigan.
Here's what to know about The Pfister Hotel, including past visits by presidents and dignitaries:
The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee is 130 years old
The Pfister Hotel, located at 424 East Wisconsin Ave., opened on May 1, 1893.
Owned by the Marcus Corp., it has long been a popular place for professional athletes, celebrities and presidents alike.
It's even featured in a children's book, Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee.
The Pfister is known for its Victorian art collection, soaring ceilings and majestic seventh-floor ballroom.
It's also known for its ghosts.
"The hotel has ghosts, you know," Steve Marcus told the Journal Sentinel in 2018. "I've never seen one myself. I hear about them every now and then from guests. No one has ever been attacked by those ghosts."
President Joe Biden joins past presidents in stays at The Pfister Hotel
Presidents who've visited the Pfister include William McKinley, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.
More recently, former President Donald Trump stayed overnight in June 2018 before traveling to Mount Pleasant for a groundbreaking at the planned Foxconn site, which he predicted would be "the eighth wonder of the world."
It hasn't worked out that way. Foxconn originally promised to build a Generation 10.5 facility that would manufacture large LCD screens. The project was to be an investment of up to $10 billion that would deliver up to 13,000 jobs. Those plans never came together and today the Foxconn operation is much smaller, employing about 1,000 people.
Alison Dirr can be reached at [email protected]. Contact Mary Spicuzza at (414) 224-2324 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @MSpicuzzaMJS.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: President Biden is staying at Milwaukee's Pfister Hotel. What to know.