Gordon Knoll Condos – Busalacchi condo project – Beerline Bike Trail – RNA and Park East development – Vital Source and Danceworks – Riverwest Directory – Landlord Training Program – Bonnie Bruch receives Professional Fair Housing Award – new UEC complex groundbreaking – Krulos’ comics at Onopa – Propert Tax increases – Summer of Peace Youth Rally – Juana G. Vega Cinco de Mayo celebration – Locust Street Festival Beer Run – Good Greens – Gardeners Market – Riverwest Forum
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.
by Tom Tolan – Part 1 of 6
You could argue that it was the Milwaukee River, threading its way between glacial ridges, that determined the future character of the Riverwest neighborhood. By digging a deep valley, it created steep banks that would be attractive to the wealthy families who built summer homes here in the 1880s, to the operators of private parks and resorts, and to the middle class families who settled in the area permanently. By carving a wide crescent as the neighborhood’s eastern border, the river ensured that the Green Bay trail — today’s King Drive and Green Bay Avenue — would be the main route north from the early village of Milwaukee, cutting straight across the crescent. You could argue that land values dropped sharply between the road and the river, putting the eastern fringe within the financial reach of the poor Polish immigrants who settled here in the 1880s and 1890s. . . .
What are the borders of your neighborhood? Unless you’re a newcomer, when you think about this question, definite answers probably come to mind right away. Where did you get those answers? How certain are you that they are right? Do they describe something that’s really out there or something that for some reason or another you need or want to believe in?
by Vince Bushell
“The story of Riverwest’s history soon became an albatross. Tom finished it in 1982, but there was no money left to publish it. Fred Olson, a history professor at UWM, decided to copy and place the manuscript in several local libraries. It can be found at the MLK Library on King Drive and Locust, and at the East Library on North Avenue.”
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