The bank changed their corporate name to Firstar Corporation in 1988 as they expanded beyond the State of Wisconsin 
, and the building became known as Firstar Center in 1992 after the bank instituted a name change from First Wisconsin to Firstar Bank for all of their retail banking operations Firstar Corporation took over U.S. Bancorp in 2001 and took the latter bank's name, and U.S. Bank Center obtained its current name in 2002.
There was also some controversy in the community when Firstar in 2000 installed green advertising signage on all four sides of the building's top story, disrupting the look of the building's signature diagonal trusses. The signs were retained when the U.S. Bank branding was instituted, though the coloring for the new signs was changed to white to blend in more with the building
The building is home to the offices of U.S. Bank, the law firm of Foley & Lardner, the investment firm of Robert W. Baird & Company, and Bud Selig, Commissioner of Major League Baseball's Milwaukee office. Prior to the U.S. Bank Center, the tallest building in Milwaukee was the Milwaukee City Hall.
The windows on the U.S. Bank Center are sometimes used to display lighted window messages, usually to denote significant events in Milwaukee. In 2003, the letters "HD" were displayed to signify the 100th anniversary of Harley Davidson during "HarleyFest." The windows were again used in 2005, this time to display "UWM" during the Milwaukee Panthers "Sweet Sixteen" run in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. More recently, during the week leading up to the 2007-08 NFC Championship Game the visible trusses at the top of the building near the U.S. Bank sign were lit in green and yellow in tribute to the Green Bay Packers.
External links
- US Bank Center at the Emporis buildings database
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Last updated on Thursday May 08, 2008 at 08:48:37 PDT (GMT -0700)
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