Like Us
Follow Us
New lakefront plan and vintage images emerge simultaneously
In a weird coincidence, yesterday while Mayor Tom Barrett and County Exec Chris Abele were joined by state officials to announce a new plan for the Downtown lakefront, I got an envelope from my friend Tom Augustine filled with images of an icon of the lakefront's past.
Last month I posted on Facebook about the old Lake Front Depot, a romanesque Milwaukee landmark that stood about where the Brinn Museum is today, from 1889 until 1968. Tom told me his dad, LeRoy, had taken photographs of the station, and I opened Augustine’s letter to find a handful of these images.
They are the photographs that you see above.
The depot was built by the Chicago and North Western Railway and there was a time when nearly 100 trains a day pulled into or out of the station. The County bought the building and the land around it in 1946 and CNW continued to use the depot for another 20 years. The station was shuttered in 1966 and demolished in 1968.
According to a January 1968 newspaper article reporting that a county park commission committee suggested razing the station, "no citizens appeared at Tuesday’s committee meeting to urge that the depot be saved."
That seems poignant and ironic considering that the building’s majestic 234-foot clock tower was a symbol of Milwaukee for generations and is now much lamented by many.
On my Facebook post of these photos, local musician Mike Sieger wrote, "Headed off to my stint in the Navy from that station. It was beautiful and I couldn't believe it when I heard it was gone."
We can only hope that more Milwaukeeans get involved in discussions about the new lakefront plans and that, should the plan be realized, we come to love it as much as many of us adored the Lake Front Depot.
Permalink
Print
Talkbacks (1)
Share this: 
Talkbacks
 |
1 comment about this article. Post your comment/review now |
Facebook comments
Disclaimer: Please note that Facebook comments are posted through Facebook and cannot be approved, edited or declined by OnMilwaukee.com. The opinions expressed in Facebook comments do not necessarily reflect those of OnMilwaukee.com or its staff.
Recent Articles & Blogs by Bobby Tanzilo
Luminescent new MOWA lets Wisconsin artists shine
Published May 24, 2013
Difficult as it is to imagine now that I've seen the place, I was almost a bit worried I might have trouble spotting the new Museum of Wisconsin Art on my first visit recently. Turns out there's no way I could miss Hammel Green & Abrahamson architect Jim Shields' luminescent West Bend building, the pointed prow of which seems to make a statement by aiming itself not southeast toward Milwaukee, but northwest, toward the broader expanse of the state.
Inspired by Aimee Mann, Ben Smith salutes The Bronze Fonz
Published May 23, 2013
More melodious love for the Bronze Fonz has arrived from afar. Yesterday, West Chester, Pa.-based singer and songwriter Ben Smith wrote to share one of his tunes with us. It's one that pays homage to the Bronze Fonz, says Smith.
Traveling Slugger show steps up to bat at Miller Park
Published May 23, 2013
If Discovery World's recent "Baseball - Innovations That Changed the Game" exhibit caught your attention, head over to Miller Park as the Brewers tackle the Pirates this weekend, May 24-26. In the stadium's concourse, you'll find a traveling interactive experience created specifically for this series at Miller Park by the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory in Louisville, Ky.
Krause's pamphlet considers the junction of comedy and politics
Published May 22, 2013
It seems, at the outset, like an unexpected marriage: "The acts of thinking comedically and behaving democratically share enough analogous elements that an extended comparison between the two makes each much clearer." But, Milwaukee writer and musician Adam Krause sat down at the intersection of Comedy and Politics to have a think and the result is "The Revolution Will Be Hilarious," which in a mere 41 pages makes a cogent and, in the end, startlingly simple point.
Getting to the bottom of Bay View
Published May 21, 2013
A group of students from MPS' Bay View and Bradley Tech High Schools is working in concert with Discovery World to excavate a lost block of homes in Bay View this weekend.
Scouting the Sherbrooke fish fry
Published May 21, 2013
After a big renovation and a quiet relaunch, Shepherd's on North in Wauwatosa has now been officially re-christened "The Sherbrooke," and I stopped in recently on a Friday to scout the fish fry.
Pabst's enduring pavilion faces extinction
Published May 20, 2013
Thanks to Erik Larson's 2003 bestseller, "The Devil in the White City," yet another generation is fascinated by the 1893 Chicago World's Fair: Columbian Exposition. Despite its enduring - in itself somewhat surprising - popularity, little remains of this by all accounts stunning little temporary city. One survivor serves as the entrance and gift shop to The Pabst Mansion, 2000 W. Wisconsin Ave., and it is in increasingly desperate condition.
The coolest record of the '60s folk revival was made in Milwaukee
Published May 20, 2013
As part of "The Avant Garde Coffee House Project" exhibit currently on view, there's a glass-topped case with some posters and a record. It's a pretty nondescript thing, frankly, with a black and white photo and some not especially artful text. But that little record - "Blues, Rags and Hollers," by folk blues trio Koerner, Ray & Glover - made a big bang when it was released in June 1963. And it was made in Milwaukee.
Former Color Truth frontman Steinbach finds the road back
Published May 19, 2013
It's been a long time since we've heard from Zach Steinbach. Nearly five years ago Steinbach fronted The Color Truth, a Milwaukee band that seemed poised to take the next step with its big, melodic, poppy rock and roll. The band fizzled out a couple years back, leaving Steinbach a bit lost. But now, he's back. He's got a band, and he's got a new solo record. More, than anything, he says, he's got a new lease on a musical life.
Let's put the "front" back in Front Street
Published May 16, 2013
For a variety of reasons, I've been thinking about Front Street, which now seems so ironically named, fronting as it does onto nothing and serving as the ultimate definition of a Milwaukee "backstreet." In my mind, I see something much different that can be seen on the block today.
