Housing of the Past
Arrangement of Developments
Milwaukee is known for its history as the industrial beer city with a majority of its population being foreign-born citizens. The German and Polish immigrants outnumbered natives three-to-one throughout much of the city's history. The people of Milwaukee were, and still are, very proud of their city and their heritage. It is a city of hard workers and saw a population increase of 200,000 between 1900 and 1920, adding to its economy.
The development in the Washington Park neighborhood was greatly affected by the automobile. With the introduction of the automobile, people were able to live farther from where they worked, popularizing the personal vehicle. The increase in car owners brought about a need for parking spaces, and the Sanborn map from 1910 already shows garages behind many homes. Before the automobile, residents took the trolley or walked into town to go to work. The arrangement of the neighborhood is mostly residential with some commercial developments along the main corridor, W. Lisbon Avenue. During the 1920s and 1930s, the area north of W. Lisbon Avenue was almost fully developed, while south of W. Lisbon Avenue still had many empty lots. The Washington Park neighborhood owes much of its development to the automobile, as it gave residents a more reliable way to travel to a central city job while living in a suburb. |
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Development Around Washington Park
Milwaukee County has a rich history of diverse neighborhoods, and Washington Park is no exception. Beginning in the early 1920s and continuing through the 1930s, housing in the area typically consisted of three bedrooms and one bathroom. A standard single-family home was just under 1,300 square feet. Most of the houses in the neighborhood are two-story structures. Since the neighborhood had a sizable park located just a few blocks away, it was a nice, diverse area of land that was not too compact and consisted of both single-family and multiple-family homes.
The residential structures themselves were typically built from brick or wood, and most of the homes used siding with pitched roofs. Additionally, a number of the homes had porches attached to the front facades and featured backyards for the residents' use, leaving more open living spaces. With the exception of W. Lisbon Avenue, the residential blocks are laid out in a grid formation, which is typical for Milwaukee neighborhoods. There are both positive and negative notes attached to Milwaukee neighborhoods as a whole, including the Washington Park area: On the positive side, we hear about the value of traditional, walkable, mixed-use, and human-scale neighborhoods with shops and meeting places suited to various lifestyles. On the negative side, the focus shifts to uneven development and a separation of residents defined by racial segregation. |
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Housing Around the 37th Street School
The neighborhood directly east of Washington Park has seen a clear and constant pattern of development and growth over the past century. Prior to the opening of the 37th Street School in 1903, the surrounding neighborhood was sparsely occupied with only a few houses scattered throughout the area.
Between 1905 and 1910 only a few more houses were built in the vicinity. During this five-year period, only ten more houses were completed. Between 1916 and 1930, nineteen more houses were built to create a denser neighborhood surrounding the school. The typical building types in the area were duplexes, bungalows, and old-style residences. The major features of these homes were front-facing porches that allowed a sense of community through the visibility of the people of the neighborhood. These building types were popular since they accommodated the large family sizes typical of immigrant families. Bungalows tend to have smaller porches than duplexes, which span the entire width of the house, but are also more common in the neighborhood. Any children who lived in the vicinity of the 37th Street School went there to get the education they needed. Since the school was so close, it was an easy walk for the kids to make from their houses. Edward Rucinski, who was an MPS student in the 1930s, shared his experience learning English outside of his home: At the time Washington Park was built, there was a big influence of German culture, so the school focused on teaching English since learning that language was a way for the children to get a job when they grew up. In most households, you only spoke you native language since the parents were most likely immigrants. Students relied on the schools to learn the English language. |
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Housing Materials & Styles
Milwaukee has a rich past in terms of its architectural history. From the 1890s until the 1930s the architectural styles in the Washington Park neighborhood were changing due to the influx of European immigrants. With the arrival of new heritages and cultures also came different architectural tastes. Financial situations of individuals and families also played a role in the style of housing that was erected. At a certain point, there came a shift in material use, from brick and stone to less expensive wood, and house sizes changed.
The architectural styles that were present during this time were Queen Anne, Victorian, Beaux Arts, Gothic Revival, Chateau-esque, Arts & Crafts. and the bungalow. The Washington Park neighborhood was, and still is, mainly residential with select pockets of commercial development throughout. The dominant architectural styles from 1890 to 1910 were Queen Anne and Victorian. From 1910 on, the majority of the houses being built were either Arts & Crafts or bungalows and were mostly two or three stories. The majority of the single-family homes in the neighborhood today are these Art & Crafts and bungalow homes that were built during the early 20th century. The materials used during this time frame varied by style and building use. The Sanborn maps show that there was a lot of field stone and brick used for the main structure, and wood was used for decorations on larger commercial buildings. The majority of residential developments were built with wood framing and either had a brick veneer, cut stone, stucco, or wood siding. Most of the ornamentation was done with wood or stone in both the Arts & Crafts and bungalow styles. |
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Neighborhood History
The Washington Park neighborhood developed on the northern and eastern sides of Frederick Law Olmsted's park. The homes within the neighborhood generally consist of mixed brick and stone. Types of houses that appear in the area include cottages, frame duplexes, and single-family homes as well as a few larger homes next to the park. Homes like that of Peggy Wood were well-crafted and beautiful. The structure of these homes typically consisted of three stories, gabled roofs, and front porches. Beyond the homes, the park offered a number of community activities.
Within the 138-acre park there are many activities that did, and still do, take place. Concerts are held in the Temple Band Shell Amphitheater. Because the area was once highly populated by Germans, there is a statue of Frederick von Steuben, a general and staff of George Washington. Facilities in the park include a swimming pool, community center, a fitness center, a lagoon, a baseball diamond, soccer field, sledding hills, and a senior center. The senior center specifically stands out as an institution the brings people within a community together. |
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Owning, Renting, & Foreclosure
In 1940 a majority of the people living in the Washington Park neighborhood were renting their homes and duplexes. The average rent in 1940 was $30 per month (about $500 by today's standards).Despite the large renting population, there was a group of homeowners. The average value of a house was about $6,000 ($99,900 by today's standards). More expensive houses could be found immediately adjacent to Washington Park. The costs of these homes could be as high as $15,000 ($250,000 by today's standards).
Throughout the mid-1900s there was a rising interest in living in the Washington Park neighborhood. This caused plot sizes to become smaller and blocks to become denser to allow for the influx of people. As a result, the atmosphere of the neighborhood changed, causing the once suburban area to become part of the urban fabric of Milwaukee. Today, the ratio of renters to homeowners has changed significantly. In recent years, people have been shifting away from renting and moving towards homeownership. There has also been a shift in the cost of living. In 1940 the average rent equated to about $500 today, and that is not too far off from the average of $550 in the neighborhood today. While rent has stayed more or less the same in relation to the dollar's value changes, the average home cost has gone up. Whereas in 1940 the average cost of a home in Washington Park was equivalent to around $100,00, today it is closer to $120,000. Low household incomes has led many families to go into foreclosure over the years, which has affected the image and atmosphere of the neighborhood. As a result, Washington Park has become a less desirable place to live. |
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