URBAN RENEWAL
[After] they put the freeway through, the African American community was all torn up, all of that vibrancy was just destroyed.
As any fan of Jane Jacobs can attest, the phrase “urban renewal” is historically fraught. Though the term was originally used as a shorthand for postwar projects including highway expansion, James Baldwin observed in 1963 that urban renewal was code for “Negro removal." Urban renewal projects funded with federal, state, or city money often exercised eminent domain—confiscating private property for public redevelopment and use—to forcibly displace communities of color. Milwaukee was no different.
THE PARK FREEWAY Following World War II, Milwaukee began planning for a central expressway system. One of the major proposed Milwaukee projects was the Park Freeway, designed to connect the Lake and Stadium Freeways across a swath of the central city. The Park Freeway would be subdivided into two major sections: Park East running between I-43 and the Lake Freeway, and Park West from I-43 to the Stadium Freeway. By the mid-1960s, right of way had been secured for the project, and the city exercised eminent domain to clear a path for construction. Over the course of the next few years, an estimated 17,000 homes were “eradicated” within the city limits, fracturing established communities by forcing residents to relocate. Historian Richard Cutler notes that residents who were displaced by eminent domain were often moved into unsanitary, cockroach-infested living conditions. Prominent African American neighborhoods like Bronzeville were “effectively bisected” by the freeway paths. Bronzeville’s destruction devastated Milwaukee’s black community, as the neighborhood had been “one of the few points of racial integration in Milwaukee,” thanks to its rotating roster of prominent black jazz musicians who were forbidden from playing in white clubs. Stoked by opposition to these injustices, freeway opponents led by activist Ted Seaver gained enough momentum by the early 1970s to halt the Park Freeway construction. By then, only a mile-long portion of the Park East Freeway had been built; it was eventually demolished in the early 2000s. Park West had not yet begun construction. DECADES OF DISINVESTMENT Despite the fact that the freeway was never built, the razed land was not redeveloped for residents; rather, the North Avenue stretch was overwhelmingly rezoned for commercial use, creating an artificial buffer between black and white areas of the city. |
By contrast, the site of the Park East Freeway on the (whiter, richer) east side of the city has been undergoing rapid redevelopment since the mid-1990s. In March 2016, County Executive Chris Abele stated that 98% of the Park East land was already being developed or under option for sale, including notable projects like the $524 million construction of the Fiserv Forum, new home of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA basketball team.
In an interview with the BLC Field School, lifelong Milwaukee resident Roy Evans laments the stark changes in the black communities of Milwaukee before and after the freeway. Before, he says, “Milwaukee was a strong, thriving, vibrant, politically correct, economically stable African American community.” After, however, the community “was all torn up, all of that vibrancy [was] just destroyed.” In a recent survey of North Avenue between 21st and 43rd Streets, Reggie Jackson counted a total of six single family homes, where once—before the freeways—there had stood nine hundred. The ongoing disinvestment on the North Side perpetuates segregation, isolating communities of color from essential resources through the use of artificial buffers and forcible displacement. Looking to the future, another quote by James Baldwin comes to mind: "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." |
Special thanks to Nelson Sederstrom for generously sharing his research and final paper for HIST971: History of Urban Problems, titled “Milwaukee: The Park Freeway, Redevelopment and Race.”
For further reading:
"Milwaukee's Freeway History." OnMilwaukee. https://onmilwaukee.com/buzz/articles/milwaukeefreewayhistory.html (retrieved April 30, 2019).
Richard W. Cutler, “Greater Milwaukee’s Growing Pains, 1950-2000: An Insider’s View.” Milwaukee County Historical Society, Burton and Mayer, Inc.: Brookfield, 2001.
Scott N. Markley. (2018) New urbanism and race: An analysis of neighborhood racial change in suburban Atlanta. Journal of Urban Affairs 40:8, pages 1115-1131. "
"Milwaukee Freeways: Park Freeway." Wisconsin Highways. http://www.wisconsinhighways.org/milwaukee/park.html (retrieved April 30, 2019).
"Community Ties and the Legacy of Disruptive Forces." BLC Field School. http://blcfieldschool2014.weebly.com/community-ties-and-the-legacy-of-disruptive-forces.html (retrieved April 30, 2019).
For further reading:
"Milwaukee's Freeway History." OnMilwaukee. https://onmilwaukee.com/buzz/articles/milwaukeefreewayhistory.html (retrieved April 30, 2019).
Richard W. Cutler, “Greater Milwaukee’s Growing Pains, 1950-2000: An Insider’s View.” Milwaukee County Historical Society, Burton and Mayer, Inc.: Brookfield, 2001.
Scott N. Markley. (2018) New urbanism and race: An analysis of neighborhood racial change in suburban Atlanta. Journal of Urban Affairs 40:8, pages 1115-1131. "
"Milwaukee Freeways: Park Freeway." Wisconsin Highways. http://www.wisconsinhighways.org/milwaukee/park.html (retrieved April 30, 2019).
"Community Ties and the Legacy of Disruptive Forces." BLC Field School. http://blcfieldschool2014.weebly.com/community-ties-and-the-legacy-of-disruptive-forces.html (retrieved April 30, 2019).