Milwaukee Celebrates First Park Named For Latina Leader
Clementina Castro Park part of a larger trend to recognize female leaders.
A crowd at the Clementina Castro Park naming ceremony. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
A small park in the Walker’s Point neighborhood now holds a special place in Milwaukee history.
“This is the first park named after a Latina person in Milwaukee,” said Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez.
The city-owned tot lot at S. 4th and W. Mineral streets is now known as Clementina Castro Park, and a new playground will follow.
Clementina Castro was a prominent advocate for improved conditions for welfare recipients and Hispanic residents during the 1960s and 1970s. Her work includes founding a day care, La Causa, which has grown in the ensuing decades to include a charter school, early education and care center, social services arm and crisis nursery and respite center. She was also a key figure in a 1969 march to Madison to advocate for the reversal of welfare benefit cuts.
Betty Glosson, a Black, North Side resident who worked with Castro to oppose the welfare cuts and address a citywide day care shortage, said Castro was a key player in the movement.
“Clementina became a great leader from the South Side. She’s the one that really bridged the gap,” said Glosson. She praised Castro and Ernesto Chacon for rallying the Hispanic community on the South Side. “She was always committed to being a family person and making sure the kids were okay … every time we got together, she brought up the fact that we needed a day care.”
Glosson said Castro was a key figure in starting a day care near UWM before launching La Causa from her own home. “She opened La Causa and the rest is history.”
Castro died in 2016 at age 83.
Martinez said the park, in addition to honoring Castro, was “a celebration of Black and Brown unity.”
“I am so proud of this moment today,” declared area alderman and Milwaukee Common Council President José G. Pérez, “not only because of the naming of someone historical in our community, but I know that the more we hear these stories and the impact she’s had, we can all see the impression she’s left on the kids that came up through the day care, the impact on the community, opening doors for leaders like myself [and] Juan Miguel. I stand on the shoulders of so many Latino leaders in our community. The women who shape this community never get enough credit. We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen today.”
Pérez announced that, working with the Department of City Development and Department of Public Works, funding from a nearby tax incremental financing (TIF) district has been identified to pay for a playground replacement. A TIF amendment would be necessary to unlock the funding and Pérez said a community meeting would be held on the playground design.
Martinez told Urban Milwaukee that a mural is also planned, and a sign denoting the park’s new name is expected to be installed in the coming weeks.
One of Castro’s five children, Tomas Castro, is credited with advancing the idea of naming the park at 937 S. 4th St. for his mother.
The park was created in 1971, according to city records. Pérez credited Tomas with reminding city officials that his mother had a key role in leading its development. She would walk the children in her care over to play at the park.
The park isn’t the only facility named for Castro in the city. In February, La Causa renamed its building at 809 W. Greenfield Ave. the Clementina Castro Education Center.
The current playground at Clementina Castro Park was installed in 2010. A 2016 “Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan” said the equipment would be due for replacement in 2025. The city has approximately 50 parks it is responsible for through its Milwaukee Plays program.
While the park is the first in the city named for a Hispanic woman, it’s part of a broader shift toward honoring women.
The council last renamed one of its small parks, commonly called tot lots, for Marlene Johnson-Odom in 2020. Johnson-Odom, an alderwoman from 1980 to 2004, was both the longest-serving African American and the longest-serving woman in council history.
In 2024, the city opened Vel R. Phillips Plaza. The downtown gathering space honors the civil rights trailblazer.
Milwaukee County Parks has also renamed a handful of its parks in recent years. In 2021, Wahl Park was renamed Harriet Tubman Park and Lindbergh Park was renamed Lucille Berrien Park. In 2024, Johnsons Park was renamed Clarence and Cleopatra Johnson Park, clarifying who the park was named for.
The Common Council, with Martinez’s urging, approved renaming the park to honor Clementina Castro in May 2025.
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