Schools are landmarks in their neighborhoods, and some are well-known across the city. But even some of the oldest schoolhouses in Milwaukee are not the first schools to stand on their respective sites.
While it's easy to guess that a building like Elm Creative Arts on Walnut Street is of newer construction, younger folks might not remember the old 9th Street School that once stood on the spot.
While Allen-Field is clearly a 1960s-era building, many folks might not know that this one school replaced two century-old ones called Allen and Field.
Even more astonishing to some might be that much-older buildings sit on the sites of even older schools. Both Eighth Street and Maryland Avenue Schools -- built in the 1880s -- are the third school buildings to sit on their respective spots.
Even Golda Meir and Kagel, built in 1890 and '91, replaced impressive brick schoolhouses.
Let's take a look at some current school buildings in Milwaukee and the buildings they replaced on their sites. The "new" photos are posted first and the older ones follow.
Cass Street School/Juneau School
The current Cass Street School (above), 1647 N. Cass St., was erected in 1905 and was among the earliest "fireproof" steel and concrete schoolhouses -- along with Walker Middle School (1904). It also marked a shift toward less ornate schools.
The building, designed by architects Buemming and Dick (Buemming lived in a house that still stands a block from the school, on Pleasant Street), replaced one designed about 30 years earlier (below) by Henry Koch, when the school was called the Juneau School. That building was basically a twin to Koch's 18th Street School.
Wisconsin Avenue School/District 16
Wisconsin Avenue School, at 27th Street, closed in 2007. The current building (above) was designed by Van Ryn & DeGelleke, who designed a number of MPS schools and building additions in the late 19th and early 20th century, a run that came to an end in the early '20s when the district hired Guy Wiley as its own architect.
The school was built in 1920, two years after its predecessor, Grand Avenue School, was destroyed by fire. That Ferry & Clas' gorgeous building bore some passing resemblance to Koch's 8th Street School seems ironic considering the duo also presented plans for 8th Street that were rejected.
Gaenslen School
In the early days of schooling in Milwaukee, children with disabilities were educated at home. Then, superintendent Milton Potter built the open air school roughly where Alliance High School and Roosevelt Middle School are now located, near 9th and Walnut. The current Gaenslen School (above), 1250 E. Burleigh St., which specializes in programming for differently abled students, was designed by Zimmerman Architectural Studios and built in 1988.
It replaced a relatively short-lived art deco building (below) on the same Riverwest site (on Burleigh at the river) that was designed by Eschweiler and Eschweiler and was hailed at the time for its forward-looking approach to school design. Part of it even cantilevered over the riverbank bluff.
Gwen T. Jackson/21st Street School
Don't get me started on this one. Most days, I drive past the low shoe box that houses Gwen T. Jackson Early Childhood and Elementary School (above), 2121 W. Hadley St., and rue the loss of the building that once sat in the parking lot.
That building was Henry Koch's cream city brick 21st Street School (below, right, with an addition, left, by Van Ryn & DeGelleke), razed in 1977, the year before the current building -- also called 21st Street School back then -- was put up. As late as 1986, some in MPS hoped all future buildings would look like Gwen T. Jackson School.
Calling it a prototype, Edward McMilin of MPS Facilities and Maintenance Dept. told a reporter, "That building incorporates all of the latest thinking on school design." Thank God he was wrong, though no one in town has since built a school to match the beauty of the old 21st Street School.
The former Malcolm X Academy (above), 2760 N. 1st St. -- which closed in 2007 and has been all over the news over the past year or so -- was built in 1961 as Fulton Junior High near the old Center Street School (below). While the current building rides low, its predecessor boasted a five-story central tower that must've offered impressive views considering the site is at a high point in the Harambee neighborhood.
After Fulton was complete Center Street was razed.
The home of Milwaukee High School of the Arts (above), 2300 W. Highland Blvd., was built in 1958. It replaced the old West Division (aka West Side) High, a neoclassical gem drawn by Herman Schnetzky and Eugene Liebert and erected in 1899 at a cost of $80,000.
The building that received widespread acclaim upon its completion was demolished after its replacement was built. It must've been a sad day on Highland Avenue when the wrecking ball first bit into the alma mater of Spencer Tracy and Douglas MacArthur.
Carver Academy (above), 1900 N. 1st St., was built as the new Henry Palmer School in 1958. As was common practice, it was built next door to its predecessor (below), which was then razed, allowing classes to continue during construction.
The old building, called Island Avenue School after the previous name for Palmer Street, had an almost arts and crafts style and an impressive fanlight above the main entrance.
The Islamic Center of Milwaukee (above, in a Google photo) isn't a public school, of course, though it does house a school, Salam, which takes part in the voucher program. You'd never know by looking at it now, but a chunk of the building was once MPS' New Road School, 4707 S. 13th St. Built in 1921 by the Town of Lake, the red brick schoolhouse (below) was absorbed into MPS when Lake was annexed to Milwaukee in 1954.
By the time it closed in 1978, the original four-room school had been expanded to six. But it was still a challengingly small place with no library, no gym, no kitchen and little room to grow.
If you look at Google Maps, you can see the original building nested within the expanded shape of the Islamic Center complex.
Malcolm X Academy/Center Street School
Milwaukee High School of the Arts/West Division
Carver Academy/Palmer School/Island Avenue School
Islamic Center/New Road School
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.
