MKE CO PARKS: Washington Park

The second park we decided to check out is Washington Park. It is 128.95 acres and was also designed by Frederick Law Olmsted & Co.
We live just a couple of blocks away but Keeley will not walk to it since he's scared of buses, trucks, and motorcycles. So we had to drive and park in the Senior Center parking lot. In the above picture you can see Miller Brewery in the distance.
There are 2 playgrounds like this at Washington Park. Keeley voluntarily went down one of the slides on this playground. It's weird because he usually doesn't like it when I make him do stuff like that.
Here are a couple of interesting facts: In the late 1800's Washington Park was called West Park. Also, there was a zoo at Washington Park during the first half of the 20th century. In the early 1960's the zoo and its animals were relocated to the current home of the Milwaukee County Zoo.
From the 1890's through to the early 1970's, the Washington Park neighborhood was mostly German and very middle class. This statue of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was created in 1908. It is supposed to represent German people's pride in their artistic achievements.
This is The Temple of Music band shell. Its construction was completed in 1938. It has recently been restored by Harley-Davidson.
Keeley climbed onto the stage with his grandma to do some tricks. Here he's demonstrating "Give Paw".
After WWII, middle working class African American families began moving into the Washington Park neighborhood and the white population began moving further west into the suburbs. In 1970, Milwaukee was at its industrial peak with very low unemployment levels. The African American population grew as families migrated here from southern states.
Unfortunately, these good times didn't last. A decade later in the 1980's, manufacturing plants along the industrial corridor, the Milwaukee River, and the Menomonee River started to close, causing great job losses. The Washington Park neighborhood was hit hard by this and the poverty rate soared. During this last quarter of the 20th century, the county neglected Washington Park and let it fall into disrepair, perhaps reflecting the unspoken racism of the time.
Recently though, revitalization efforts have been gaining momentum. For example, behind Keeley in this picture there is a new boat launch being constructed.
In the last 20 years, the Southeast Asian (Hmong and Laotian) population in the Washington Park neighborhood has more than quadrupled. I think this group is fascinating because of how rapidly they've assimilated.
These 2 cement arch bridges go over a huge lagoon. In the early 1900's park visitors could rent row boats. The lagoon was designed to only be 4 feet deep to lessen the chance of drowning if a boat were to overturn.
That's the Urban Ecology Center on the other side of the lagoon. They offer a summer camp in Environmental Education for kids.
It looks like they also take kids out on the lagoon in these canoes. And we saw a flyer for a fishing workshop for kids, so we figure the county must stock the lagoon with fish.
Isn't this cool? All the doors to the Urban Ecology Center are painted with different nature scenes like this one.
Our neighborhood is called The Martin Drive Neighborhood and we border Washington Park on the south. Our neighborhood association is trying to take claim of Washington Park by staging several events here this year. For example, there is a neighborhood rummage sale being held at the Senior Center from 8AM-NOON tomorrow.
Washington Park also has a public pool. It's still empty right now and there seems to be some construction going on too. We hope it'll be ready for operation by summer. We plan on attending the Doggie Dip here this year.
There are also basketball courts, tennis courts, and 2 baseball diamonds. Although these things are in a serious state of neglect, especially compared to other parks within the county park system.

Here's an interesting photo comparison on someone else's blog: Washington Park Vs. McCarty Park

For more info about this park, you can check out our past posts:
August 10, 2008
August 12, 2007