MKE CO PARKS: Bradford Beach

(and the bluffs on the south end of Lake Park)Keeley and I were taking our normal morning walk at Lake Park today when we decided we'd go explore Bradford Beach a little.
A lot of the Milwaukee County Parks connect together. And almost the entire lakefront is green space and parks. Here we are at Lake Park looking down from the bluffs. Below is Lincoln Memorial Drive, Bradford Beach, and Lake Michigan.
Lake Park extends almost all the way to the Old North Point Water Tower which you can see in the distance here. It's a victorian gothic style tower that was built in 1871.
To get down to Bradford Beach, there's this nice path that takes us down the bluff.
Keeley really loves this path. Once the leaves grow in on the trees, it will be covered in shade.
Keeley's got a cute butt.
When we get to the bottom of the path, there's a little pedestrian bridge that goes over Lincoln Memorial Drive. We're leaving Lake Park now.
The bridge takes us to the Bradford Beach House. In the summer they have some volleyball events here. There's a snack shop and patio tables and chairs.
Bradford Beach is 29 acres. It's quiet here this morning because it's kinda cold and windy.
Keeley likes exploring. He doesn't mind a little cold.
And he likes wind a lot. Check out his ears blowing in the wind here.
Keeley likes to walk on sand too. It must feel good on his paws.

In the summer we often see people with retriever type dogs playing with them on the beach. Keeley always wants to follow them into the water but I'm reluctant to let him because I don't think it's clean enough.

Five years ago, the beach was really bad. There was a lot of bacteria like e coli in the water. Recently there's been efforts to clean up and revitalize the beach. Companies like Miller Brewing Co donated a lot of money. And the beach is trying to get Blue Wave Certified by the Clean Beaches Council.

I'm still reluctant to let Keeley go in though. Just this past week the city dumped raw sewage in the lake, overflow from all the rain we've been having.
As we were leaving we saw this sign. Keeley made sure he left his mark on it.

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

MKE CO PARKS: Lake Park

Since we take our morning walk at Lake Park several times a week, we decided that it would be the first park that we wrote about.Lake Park is 137.76 acres. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted & Co.
This, the Lake Park Pavillion was built in 1903. It is currently the home of Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro, which is an expensive french restaurant. But when I was a kid, there was just a little snack bar inside. After our walks we would beg my mom (Keeley's grandma) to let us stop and get something sweet like a popsicle, a soda, or a licorice rope.
Keeley and I ran into George and Gracie in front of the Pavilion this morning. I'm not sure whether this dog here is George or if it's Gracie, but I sorta think it must be George. They look just alike so it's hard to tell. We know the names of almost all the dogs that have their morning walks at Lake Park. Sadly, we only know the names of a couple of their owners though.
Right across from the Pavilion are 2 lawn bowling rinks and a clubhouse. Keeley's grandma always says that when she gets old, she's going to take up lawn bowling. You can find out more about this sport by going to the Milwaukee Lake Park Lawn Bowls Club website.
This bridge was built in 1905. It goes over Ravine Drive which is my favorite road.
The road exits onto Lincoln Memorial Drive (my second favorite road) which runs along the lakefront. That's Lake Michigan in the distance there.
There are several ravine trails throughout Lake Park.
These trails were Keeley's Unkie Rob's most favorite thing to do at the park when he was a little kid. But we're not going to take the trail today because it's probably a little muddy since it's been raining for the past 2 or 3 days here. By the way, that's the bridge that we just came across in the background there.
Here's Keeley going across another bridge. I think this one was built in 1892, but I could be mistaken.
And another bridge. Both of these bridges go over the Locust Street Ravine Trail. After we get across this one, then I let Keeley off leash for a little while.
He takes off running because there are almost always dogs to play with up ahead. I think it's supposed to be a soccer field but the dogs have taken it over as theirs.
Keeley sometimes goes onto the tennis courts to play too. That is, if there aren't any tennis players there, of course. There are also 2 kid playgrounds and a park building with restrooms nearby.
After a quick romp with the dogs, we continue on with our walk. Here Keeley is checking out what remains of an exercise station. See when I was a kid, there was a fitness trail. Every so many feet there was an exercise station and instructions on how to do a specific exercise and how many reps to do and whatnot. Not much remains of this fitness trail today though.
The Oak Leaf Trail is a 108 mile long multi-use paved recreation trail that goes through all the major parks and parkways in the Milwaukee County Park System. It makes a loop around Lake Park.
In the distance here you can see what some of the huge houses that border the park look like. We often wonder if anyone lives in these houses because we almost never ever see anyone outside them other than a random gardener or landscape worker.
Lake Park also has a nice little golf course.
Keeley likes to lead the way. He says "Hurry up, Erin! I know where to go!"
Continuing on this way, we past the North Point Lighthouse. You can go inside, but they charge admission.
Keeley convinced me to go on one of the ravine trails even though it is a bit muddy today. This trail goes under a bridge which is one of 2 that were built in 1897. The trail exits at Bradford Beach.
These bridges are framed by 8 stone lions. Sometimes in the winter, the lions wear red ribbons around their necks.
The other bridge is currently under construction. It's not expected to be completed until September. I hope it ends up looking pretty like the old one did.
All along the side of the hill there are daffodils beginning to bloom at this time of year. It's really pretty.
This is called the "Grand Stair". Keeley's cousin dog Tully's parents were married here at the middle landing. A pretty setting for a wedding, don't you think?
Keeley and I often end our walks at Lake Park by going up this staircase. It makes us both a little tired. That's the Pavilion at the top so we're back to where we started once we get up there.

There is also a softball diamond, picnic areas, birdwatching, and a statue of Dr. Erastus B. Wolcott that we didn't get around to on this walk. If you want to find out more about this park, you can go to the Lake Park Friends website.

Or check out our previous posts about Lake Park:
February 14, 2009
August 30, 2008
April 6, 2008
January 26, 2008
December 29, 2007

Keeley loves to visit our parks!

Keeley and I decided that we'd start exploring our Milwaukee County Parks since we haven't had much to blog about lately and I'm still unemployed. It's finally starting to feel like spring around here and it would give us something good to do everyday.

First we'll start off by telling you a little about our park system and then in later posts we'll talk about specific parks.



The Milwaukee County Park System was founded over 100 years ago. It is an interconnected system made up of over 15,000 acres of parks, trails, and beaches. The parks are sometimes referred to as "Milwaukee's Emerald Necklace" and they have a rich history.

Many of the parks started out as neighborhood squares and private gardens. Some were purchased, donated, and expanded over the years. Frederick Law Olmsted & Co. designed some of the city's best parks including Lake, Riverside, and Washington Parks. You might recognize the name because he's most famous for designing Central Park in New York City.


At one point the the city parks and county parks were governed by separate commissions but economic problems during the Great Depression caused them to be combined. The Depression also brought about the largest period of growth and development for the park system. Roosevelt's New Deal provided huge amounts of relief labor.

First there was the CWA (Civil Works Administration) in the early 1930's. There weren't much funds available for materials so much of the labor done at this time focused on things that didn't require many materials and most of the work was all done by hand. Miles of trails and walks were created. Sprinkler systems were installed. Phone wires were taken off of poles and put into the ground to improve asthetics. Electric systems were installed. Lagoons were created. Lots of grading was done. Underbrush was cleared and trees trimmed. Thousands of feet of sewers were installed. Trees were moved and more were planted. Benches, picnic tables, row boats, and signs were built.

Next came the WPA (Works Progress Administration) in 1935-1941. Labor completed during this period included the construction of 6 concrete pools, filtration plants, and bathhouses. At Brown Deer Park, the lagoon was enlarged and a pavilion and arch bridge were constructed. An administration building, service building, and new golf club house were built at Whitnall Park. Service buildings were also constructed in Jacobus and Jackson Parks.


Also operating around this time was the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in 1933-1938. The CCC was created "to battle erosion and the destruction of natural resources". They constructed the Honey Creek Parkway and straightened a portion of the Milwaukee River. They also built piers, jetties, beaches, lagoons, roads, bridges, walls, park shelters, dams, and more at many of the county parks.

Much of the work done during this 11 year period is still around and still being used and appreciated by park patrons today.


Over the next 70 years work continued on the Milwaukee County Parks, although at a much slower pace. Significant postwar developments include the relocation of the zoo to it's present spot, the construction of the old County Stadium, the replacement of the conservatory at Mitchell Park with The Domes, the expansion of the bike trail system, and the continued development of the lakefront including the art museum and the marina.

Photos from top to bottom are: 1 & 2 Menomonee River Parkway, 3 Jacobus Park, 4 Grant Park, 5 Runway Dog Park.