Milwaukee County Supervisors Neglect Preservation Duties as Redevelopment Discussions Advance

Milwaukee, WI — PreserveMPM, is raising urgent concerns about the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors’ failure to fulfill their fundamental stewardship responsibilities before advancing redevelopment concepts for the Milwaukee Public Museum property. While the Board is actively discussing potential reuse RFPs for the Wells Street site, it has not completed the legally required first steps: identifying, safeguarding, and planning for the County-owned historic assets that remain inside the building, including federally significant WPA artworks, murals, built environments, and architectural features.

These cultural assets fall entirely outside the scope of the recently released Plan for Disposition of Surplus Personal Property and Milwaukee County Fixtures. That Plan governs only surplus non-collection items belonging to the Milwaukee Public Museum, along with limited categories of County fixtures and accessioned collections. It does not address WPA-era works, federally funded cultural resources, or historic exhibit environments that carry independent preservation obligations and federal documentation requirements.

The 2013 Lease and Management Agreement makes clear that Milwaukee County retains ownership of all building-integrated fixtures and all accessioned collections—public property held in trust. This ownership places a direct obligation on the County to ensure proper protection, documentation, and compliance before any redevelopment or demolition activity is entertained.

PreserveMPM warns that moving ahead with redevelopment discussions without first completing a comprehensive preservation assessment exposes the County to avoidable legal, financial, and reputational risk. National preservation standards for WPA assets require detailed inventories, formal assessments, and public transparency long before decisions involving structural changes, relocation, or demolition are considered. None of these steps have been taken. No public inventory exists. No preservation experts have been consulted. No compliance review is underway. Under these conditions, the County cannot credibly assert that it is meeting its fiduciary duty to the people of Milwaukee County.

“Redevelopment planning cannot come before preservation compliance,” said Cori Huston, PreserveMPM board member. “The County must demonstrate responsible stewardship of these public assets. WPA works and historic environments are not disposable, and they cannot be overlooked simply because they complicate a redevelopment timeline.”

PreserveMPM is calling on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors to take immediate action:
• Produce and publish a full inventory of WPA artworks and other preservation-eligible assets inside the current museum;
• Secure and protect these items before any redevelopment RFP discussions continue;
• Suspend redevelopment planning until a full preservation compliance and mitigation plan is completed;
• Clearly communicate to the public how federally funded cultural resources will be documented and safeguarded.

Preservation obligations are not discretionary. They form the foundation of any responsible plan for the site and must be addressed before the County evaluates reuse proposals or contemplates demolition.

“The Milwaukee Public Museum is more than nostalgia,” said Huston. “It contains hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of dollars’ worth of irreplaceable dioramas, WPA artworks, and historic environments that now hang in the balance without oversight. These are taxpayer-funded assets, and the County has a duty to protect them before any redevelopment conversation moves forward.”

PreserveMPM Mission Statement

PreserveMPM exists to protect Milwaukee’s public museum collections, cultural heritage, and historic exhibit environments by ensuring transparency, legal compliance, and public oversight. We advocate for responsible stewardship of all County-owned assets and defend the community’s right to keep its history intact, accessible, and preserved for future generations.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.

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