This article was updated to include information about the renaming of the Milwaukee Fire Department administration headquarters.

Earlier today, the Milwaukee Common Council unanimously passed a resolution to change the name of Old Third World Street to North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

The council voted 15-0, which came as little surprise since, in a relatively rare move, all 15 alders co-sponsored the measure.

The stretch of the former 3rd Street from West McKinley Avenue to West Wisconsin Avenue was named Old World Third Street in 1984, when portions of 3rd Street (and of Green Bay Avenue) north of McKinley were renamed in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Now, the stretch from McKinley to Wisconsin is also called Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Recognizing Black leaders through renaming streets is seemingly now an ongoing practice in Milwaukee – and hopefully the trend will continue. In 2018, a portion of 4th Street was renamed Vel R. Philips Avenue after the trailblazing lawyer, judge, politician and civil rights activist.

The Common Council also voted unanimously to approve renaming the Milwaukee Fire Department administration headquarters, 711 W. Wells St., after Alonzo Robinson, Milwaukee and Wisconsin’s first African American architect.

Robinson designed many buildings in Downtown Milwaukee including churches, the former YMCA (now a Marquette University facility), Doyne Park shelter house, the former Vel Phillips YWCA (now a church) and a new sixth-floor courtroom in the Milwaukee County Courthouse.