Monday, February 25, 2008

Wahington Park

Caspar's Pocket Map of Milwaukee
UWM AGSL Digital Map Collection

Detail of Caspar's Map

Washington Park(West Park)
UWM Digital Collections

On the western edge of the Lisbon Avenue Neighborhood lies Washington Park. It is just one of many parks in the "string of pearls" created by Frederick Law Olmsted in his master plan for the Milwaukee County Parks System. The first photo gives a general perspective of how this "necklace" looked in terms of Milwaukee's neighborhood's and streets.
The second photo shows a closeup of the neighborhood that this blog is concerned with. The western edge of the park shrunk in 1960 when Highway 41 carved a path through the area. By 1967 the park was expanded to the northeast, making up for the land that was lost in the construction of the project. The expansion actually increased the acreage of the property to grow to 134.8 acres, larger than it's original size. The last photo of the set illustrates one of the functions of the lagoons. Around the turn of the 20th century the park was popular for it's zoo as well as the lagoon. Today the park is used for many community events, including festival and picnics, some hosted by the Lisbon Avenue Neighborhood Development.