by Tanya Cromartie-Twaddle
Driving down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive today, one encounters a world of contrast and contradictions. The neglected remnants of what used to be, next to glimmers of hope on the north end… the concentrated hustle and bustle at the intersection of North Avenue and King Drive… the economic promise arising from the south end.
The Victory over Violence Park and the colorful mural at Clarke Street, a powerful symbol that illustrates the dream of what the area could be.
The official buzz is in the streets. In mid-January Tom Daykin wrote a front page Sunday feature in the Journal Sentinel about Riverwest as an up-and-coming neighborhood. It will be interesting to see what and who we “draw” in the next couple of years. Will the changes be substantial and dramatic? Will we lose our diversity? Will old-timers feel pushed out by “outsiders?”
Excerpt from Chapter 2 of Riverwest: A Community History
by Tom Tolan
Part 2 of 6 in a series.
It is 4:30 a.m. on what will be a warm Friday in early autumn, 1920. Fourteen-year-old Clem Doberneck is one of the first in the neighborhood to rise. He eats breakfast with his father, who must catch an early streetcar to his job at the Miller Brewery, and by 5 a.m. is out of his family’s Booth Street house, beginning his morning rounds. From Locust Street to Reservoir Avenue, between Richards Street and the river, he walks from streetlight to streetlight, turning off the gas. Gradually, the sky becomes lighter….
by Kevin Flaherty / Photos by Vince Bushell
You might think if a pizza joint chose to locate near Riverwest it would happily deliver pizzas to its nearby neighbors. Not so, say many Riverwest residents. Kurt Schwanz, who bought a house less than a year ago near the intersection of Booth and Meinecke Streets, was astounded to find out he couldn’t get a pizza delivered to his house. Josie Osborne, who lives on Booth Street in the northern part of Riverwest, recalls being unable to get a pizza delivered to her house when she first moved in and wanted to treat her friends who had helped her move.
by Sonya Jongsma Knauss
It’s not often you find a band with two centuries-worth of experience, but the Desperate Measures String Band is just that experienced. Not to mention the fact that its members could treat your child’s illness, manage your portfolio, suspend your child from elementary school, file a lawsuit for you, or do whatever it is that employees of the Department of the Interior do.
You must be logged in to post a comment.