In the spirit of Earth Day, and the philosophy of reuse and recycling, here are the Wisconsin Trust for Historic Preservation 2019 Preservation Award winners, who have polished up the old and made it new again.
The awards – presented at the 2019 Wisconsin Association of Historic Preservation Commission State Conference on April 12 in Oshkosh – recognize outstanding efforts to preserve historic places in Wisconsin.
This year’s award winners are:
Nunn Bush Factory (now Welford Sanders Lofts), in Milwaukee
Empire Block (small mixed use), in Superior
Northland Hotel, in Green Bay
Cambridge Historic School Museum, in Cambridge
Eagles Club (now the Howard), in Oshkosh
Marathon Shoe Company (now Atrium Lofts), in Wausau
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
