Comments on: Downtown History Presents Opportunity in Milwaukee

By: Matthew Trussoni

Matthew Trussoni — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:26:28 +0000

Yes Wikipedia is a poor source, but is very convenient for people click when they are surfing this piece on the web. I first read about this in Daniel Burnham’s “Plan for Chicago” when I was in graduate school and did double check it with Wiki as I wrote this piece. After doing some extensive checking at the library the best book to look at is the Great Chicago Fire by Robert Cromie. There is a great map in there that shows the baseball stadium and buildings related to the railroad, in the park. If you are looking to see if it is the oldest part of Chicago, it is not, Fort Dearborn was north of this on the river. Montgomery Ward sued the City of Chicago in order make them remove the buildings that were built in this area after the fire, smart man. But I think you have taken us off the point of this piece.

I would argue, due to the street layout, that we have the opportunity to create a one of the greatest linear public spaces in America, if executed correctly. People like to be in pleasant pedestrian friendly spaces, the aesthetics of the buildings and how they affect the public spaces has a profound, even if not a conscious, effect on where people like to visit. It is common place in Europe but some American examples are State Street in Madison, Lincoln Road in Miami Beach and the San Antonio riverwalk. They have recently closed off Times Square in New York to traffic and we will see the same effect there. It would also connect almost all areas of downtown, including the Park East, via foot traffic.

William Whyte did a lot of work on studying these social phenomenons in his Project for Public Spaces in the 80’s. I read one of his books “The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces” as research for my Master’s thesis. Very interesting please check it out.

By: Nuclear Art

Nuclear Art — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:45:02 +0000

A map of platted streets does not necessarily correspond to built-up areas. Fire insurance atlases would be a better source to prove the claim that an area was the center of a historic district. Also referencing the Wiki is poor. Find the primary source that the Wiki refers to. Google Books offers many primary sources of historical information if all you have access to is the internets.

It would be interesting to hear more about your definition of Milwaukee’s historic core and how it could relate to tourism. Your later article still skims ideas without getting into the details of how vistas are important.

By: Matthew Trussoni

Matthew Trussoni — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:02:42 +0000

Antonio,
It would be nice if the link to your map worked, I would like to see the map. If you zoom in on this map:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Great_Chicago_Fire_map.jpg
You can clearly see that the streets extended to the east side of Michigan Avenue and that area was burned by the fire down to Congress Street.
It is also know by:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Park_(Chicago)
“The legal restrictions prohibiting any buildings in the park were ignored in the 1800’s, as various civic buildings were sited there.”

Perhaps if I knew what you are looking for I could be of more help to you. Why do you ask for the references?

By: Antonio

Antonio — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:15:57 +0000

I’ve never head that part of Grant Park was urban fabric, please provide a citation.

Nor did “The great fire of 1871 wiped out the historic core of Chicago where Grant Park exists today”
see this map notice that the city ends at Michigan Ave. The Illinois Central tracks had water on both sides of them.

By: The Urbanophile » Blog Archive » Midwest Miscellany

The Urbanophile » Blog Archive » Midwest Miscellany — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:49:00 +0000

[...] Downtown history presents urban opportunity in Milwaukee (Urban [...]

By: Matthew Trussoni

Matthew Trussoni — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:16:55 +0000

@ Joe,
I agree with the notion that there have been many squandered opportunities during the peak years of the boom and we should learn from them for the next time around. None of the points made in the write up are meant as absolutes. Part of Grant Park was formerly Lake Park, part is landfill and part was buildings and urban fabric. In Cleveland a good portion of the original city was razed to make way for Burnham’s Group Plan of 1903. I am not that familiar with Cincinnati but I will have to take a look.

By: Dave Reid

Dave Reid — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:41:34 +0000

@A Smith! Thanks for visiting UrbanMilwaukee.com. Matt will be doing some followup articles on the Vistas and we’ll make sure to include more photos. Thanks Again.

By: Alan

Alan — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:37:29 +0000

I’m a born and bred Milwaukeean. Milwaukee has its aesthetic sections, but it really has nothing to rival Pittsburgh, where I’m studying. Milwaukee has pretty strong topographical disadvantages to having much by way of vistas.

By: A. Smith

A. Smith — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:14:26 +0000

Got to this post from Infrastructurist… the old classically-styled buildings in the photo above are just lovely. However, as a favor to those of us who’ve never been to your fine city, perhaps you should consider posting/linking to some more images of the vistas you mean!

By: Nick Aster

Nick Aster — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:39:26 +0000

Great write up. I’m not really sure the block structure, in an of itself is going to be much of a tourist attraction. Rather, it’s about good attitude, pleasant places to stroll, and a “Real-ness” which you might be able to get in milwaukee that you might not get in, say, Orlando. The next frontier in international tourism once the furthest reaches of the globe are trodden? Why not!

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:21:56 +0000

Great write up and very interesting to read! As a new resident to Milwaukee I’ve been very happy with the city’s urbanism and density in many parts. Riverwalk is awesome and a major, major asset/ competitive element the city has. And the third ward is great too. It’s unbelievable to me how dead downtown seems though. Particularly the myriad of empty store fronts. Downtown has a lot of potential, but Wisconsin Ave. really needs a major overhaul. If it wasn’t for the high rises it would be anything but urban.

Ben, having moved from Los Angeles to here, I must say Milwaukee is much, much less frustrating then LA was (as far as the “oh come on!” factor). Milwaukee is so much further along in some way in its urban thinking. Some trains would be a much welcomed addition and would go a long way to further the reputation and draw of the city. I think a huge reason Chicago has been so successful is because of their great transit system. There is no reason Milwaukee could not follow in the footsteps of similar sized city’s such as Denver, Pittsburgh and Cleveland who all have a train component to their transit authorities.

By: Mary Dally-Muenzmaier

Mary Dally-Muenzmaier — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:07:17 +0000

Well written post, Matthew! I couldn’t agree more. Hope to read more of your thoughts here on Urban Milwaukee.