[milwaukee-electric] Re: Milwaukee slums during the 1940s and afterward

[Gary Schnabl]

On 11/7/2010 2:20 AM, Scott Greig wrote:
> One of my friends had relatives who lived along Highland Boulevard out by Cold Spring.  He certainly wouldn't have called that area a slum...in fact he says it was very nice.
> If I recall, Highland ceased being a boulevard east of about 27th Street...perhaps that area was more ratty.  The housing along the north side of the RTL certainly looked pretty tired from photos.  My understanding was that the highway commission had their eye on the Rapid Transit right of way all along...if so, it's a big reason why I think Speedrail never had a chance of success in the long run.
>
> --- On Sat, 11/6/10, Gary Schnabl<gSchnabl at SWDetroit.com>  wrote:
>
> From: Gary Schnabl<gSchnabl at SWDetroit.com>
> Subject: [milwaukee-electric] Milwaukee slums during the 1940s and afterward
> To: milwaukee-electric at lists.dementia.org
> Date: Saturday, November 6, 2010, 5:10 PM
>
> 1936 slum photo (from the Wikipedia files)
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Slums_in_milwaukee_1936.png>
> Reading some old archival information about the earliest freeway
> commission during the middle to late 1940s, I learned that Milwaukee's
> E-W freeway was to be centered along Highland, which they considered to
> be a slum or such. However, as soon as Hibernia became available in the
> early 1950s, the commission quickly labeled that street as a slum too
> (probably to condemn its land much easier).
>
> I only started driving around 1960, and living at 42nd and Capitol (or
> 157th and Burleigh), before that time I did not frequent the Highland
> Street area much because of having few reasons to go near or through
> there. During my two years attending Marquette during 1961 to 1963, I
> would often park my car in or nearby the Hibernia area (or wherever I
> might locate an available spot...) and never considered Hibernia to be
> slummy--just older houses and such. My only concept of a real Milwaukee
> slum then was the short  rat-infested area along or near Winnebago (a
> couple blocks north of Highland), especially when I made pickups and
> deliveries there for our family business as a teenager.
>
> I assume that the freeway commission in the 1940s chose the
> worst-housing area for their proposed E-W freeway. Was Highland really
> that bad (or Hibernia too, for that matter)? Was Wikipedia's stock photo
> representative of that area? Or was Highland chosen so that the freeway
> would take advantage of other terrain features without endangering
> nearby business, before the rapid-transit ROW became available?
>
>
> Gary
The part of Highland that I meant was perhaps slummy was that area where 
Marquette had their frat and sorority houses and east of that--near the 
Milwaukee River. I rode that very short stretch of Highland as a preteen 
or teen nearly daily whenever I rode the #30 line to downtown or 
Marquette High from Sherman and Capitol. That area was nice. The aromas 
from Miller and Gettlemann were almost always present.

A lingering question I have is how long might have Speedrail lasted were 
it not for its "accident?" If it could have survived through the 1950s, 
having the E-W Freeway along the ROW would not have been likely, and the 
proposed Highland corridor would have already started with land 
acquisition and construction. That would have permanently altered 
Milwaukee, even if the ROW eventually became available at a later date.

In case anybody forgot, the first 2200 feet of freeway in Milwaukee was 
the first Stadium Freeway (along 42nd Street) north of National Avenue, 
which would service Milwaukee County Stadium being built in 1952.

Gary

-- 

Gary Schnabl
Southwest Detroit, two miles NORTH! of Canada--Windsor, that is...

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