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The Menomonee Valley Revival

By the early 1900s, Milwaukee was known as the “Machine Shop of the World” and the Menomonee Valley was its engine. Farm machinery, rail cars, electric motors and cranes were made in the Valley. Clay became cream city bricks. Wheat was turned into flour, hogs became ham and barley became beer. Cattle were made into meat, leather and tallow (soap and candles) with no parts wasted. These industries provided jobs for thousands of people but damaged the Valley’s natural resources.

From 1879 to 1985, the Valley was also the location of the Milwaukee Road Shops, an enormous complex that made rail cars and locomotives for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroads. In the 1900s, the Milwaukee Road was one of the largest employers in Milwaukee with nearly 3,000 employees.

The Valley’s Decline

By the late 1980s, as manufacturing practices changed, the Valley was left a blighted area with abandoned, contaminated land and vacant industrial buildings. Bridges into the Valley were demolished as businesses left and the Valley was isolated from the surrounding city, a place to pass over, but not a place to go. The neighborhoods adjacent to the Valley most strongly felt the impacts of the Valley’s decline; residents suffered from limited access to jobs and recreation opportunities, high levels of asthma and poor air quality.

Redevelopment Efforts

In 1998, the City of Milwaukee, the Menomonee Valley Business Association and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District prepared a land use plan for the Menomonee Valley. At the same time, the State of Wisconsin was laying the groundwork for the Hank Aaron State Trail. As a result of these planning efforts, Menomonee Valley Partners was formed as a nonprofit organization, a public-private partnership to facilitate business, neighborhood, and public partners in efforts to revitalize the Valley.

Since 1999, 51 companies have moved to or expanded in the Valley and 5,200 jobs have been created. Now, an estimated 10 million people visit the Valley each year.

Today, the Valley is a national model of economic and environmental sustainability. Recognized by the Sierra Club as "One of the 10 Best Developments in the Nation," the Menomonee River Valley continues to receive local and national recognition.

Once Wisconsin’s most visible eyesore with hundreds of acres of vacant buildings and abandoned land, the Valley has been transformed, becoming a national model of economic development and environmental sustainability.

The Menomonee River is one of three primary rivers where residents can enjoy fishing, kayaking, canoeing, and boating.

The Menomonee Valley is the Wisconsin's largest tourist destination with more than 10 million visitors per year.

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