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Tallest skyscraper located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin

U. S. Bank Center is a skyscraper located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, noted for being the tallest building in the state of Wisconsin, and the tallest building between Chicago and Minneapolis. Standing 601 feet (183 m) and 42 stories tall, the building has a floor area of and it surpassed the Milwaukee City Hall as the tallest building in both the city and the state. Topped off August 29, 1972, and completed in 1973, it was the headquarters for what eventually became Firstar Corporation from 1973 to 2001. The building was designed by Colombian Peruvian architect Bruce Graham with James DeStefano of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and engineered by Bangladeshi American structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan. as of 2017, the building is home to the headquarters of Foley & Lardner, Robert W. Baird & Company, Sensient Technologies Corporation, and is the Milwaukee office for U. S. Bank, IBM, and CBRE.

Plans were initially announced by First Wisconsin National Bank to construct a new headquarters building on August 21, 1969. Although no architectural designs were complete at the time of its announcement, bank officials indicated it would rise at least 40 stories. Along with bank officials, mayor Henry Maier, county executive John Doyne, and Wisconsin governor Patrick Lucey attended the ceremony. In July, one worker died and four others were injured when a derrick used in installing a aluminum panel broke free and fell 41 floors to the ground. The $138 million suit alleged the bank acted in a "monopolistic" manner to control office development, in an effort to derail the plaintiffs proposed 25 story office tower project on a property adjacent to the First Wisconsin Center. The following October, the court found First Wisconsin guilty and awarded the plaintiffs $6 million in damages that was then tripled to $18 million due to federal laws on damages awarded to antitrust suits. First Wisconsin appealed the ruling, and in August 1977, a federal court ruled the case be retried due to the complexity of the original trial, along with the plaintiffs being allowed more time and the admission of hearsay testimony. Upon appeal, in June 1978 the court ruled in favor of First Wisconsin in clearing the company of all charges. After remaining under the ownership of First Wisconsin since its opening, in June 1987 it was announced the tower would be purchased for $195 million by the Dallas development company Trammell Crow. At the time of the announced sale, Trammell Crow unveiled plans to construct a 50 story tower southeast of the First Wisconsin Center in overtaking it as the state's tallest building. It has since remained unbuilt.

In December 1988, First Wisconsin changed its name to Firstar Corporation as its operations expanded beyond the state of Wisconsin. In May 1992 the First Wisconsin brand was dropped and all retail banking operations were unified under the name Firstar Bank. As a result, on September 14, 1992, the building was renamed the Firstar Center. In 1996, a $1.2 million skywalk was constructed over Van Buren Street to connect the tower with the neighboring Lewis Center. The addition was funded in part by the city of Milwaukee as an economic development project as Firstar had significant operations in both the tower and neighboring Lewis Center. The following November Star Banc Corporation of Cincinnati announced the re purchase of the tower into company hands for $200 million at the time of their purchase of Firstar.

In October 2000, Firstar Corporation announced its purchase of U. S. Bancorp and stated the new company would take the U. S. Bank moniker. The Firstar–U. S. Bancorp merger was approved in February 2001, and on May 3, 2002, the Firstar Center became the U. S. Bank Center when the rebranding was completed in Wisconsin. In April 2008, a panel in the center's adjacent parking garage fell and crushed a car. As a result of this incident, the building owners decided to tear down the garage constructed in 1973 and replace it with a six story, precast concrete garage. The windows on the U. S. Bank Center are sometimes used to display lighted messages, during significant events in Milwaukee. In 2003, the letters "HD", for Harley Davidson, were displayed during HarleyFest to signify their 100th anniversary. In 2005, the letters "UWM", for University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, were displayed during their Milwaukee Panthers men's basketball team's Sweet Sixteen run in the 2005 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. The visible trusses at the top of the building near the U. S. Bank sign are also sometimes lit in germane colors to signify events such as holidays. In the week leading up to the 2007–08 NFC Championship Game they were lit in green and yellow in tribute to the Green Bay Packers. This was done again during the week leading up to the Packers appearance against the Chicago Bears in the 2010 NFC Championship Game on January 16, 2011, in Chicago, Illinois. In November 2023, Baird began to replace 2 of the signs that previously said US Bank to Baird.

Located on East Wisconsin Avenue in Downtown, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U. S. Bank Center comprises a 42 story, 601 feet (183 m) office tower designed by Bruce Graham and James DeStefano of the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Using elements similar to those used in one of Khan's prior works (the BHP House, since renamed 140 William Street, in Melbourne, Australia), the three diagonal belt trusses provide for a dramatic contrast with the vertical facade in serving both structural and aesthetic purposes. The U. S. Bank Center's exterior was left unchanged from its completion in 1973, through the 1999 merger with Mercantile Bancorporation. At that time, Firstar announced that signs would be attached to the top of the building. Critics argued the green advertising signs on all four sides of the building's top story, in place of the original aluminum elements that were subsequently recycled, disrupted the look of the building's signature diagonal trusses. In 2013, they were replaced with blue, energy saving LED signs.

In July 1987, a hacking box was installed outside the 41st floor to allow peregrine falcons to nest as part of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Peregrine Falcon Recovery Plan. The plan was initiated in an effort to reintroduce peregrines within Wisconsin as their whole population in the state were killed off due to the widespread use of DDT in agriculture following World War II. The hatchlings were the first born in the wild within Wisconsin since the 1960s.

The building was constructed with an observation deck on the 41st floor. Visitors were initially allowed to visit it, as it was the site for the New Year's Eve event "Firstar Eve". The observation deck was closed to the public in 1991 because the firm Foley & Lardner did not want members of the public walking through their offices. In 2011, the observation deck was again opened to the public during the first Doors Open Milwaukee event, and has remained open subsequent years.