Milwaukee’s Inner Harbor: Past and Future

from Shepherd Express - March 2021 Issue

What National Unity Means Under

BY MATTHEW J. PRIGGE

Milwaukee’s waterways have long been the city’s passageway to the world. It was this proximity to the bounty of what Ojibwe-speaking peoples called michigami (meaning Great Water, later known as Lake Michigan) that attracted its first settlements. It was the lakefront’s wide natural harbor and the navigable riverways extending deep into the fertile inlands that brought the first Europeans here. And when those Europeans decided that this land was better suited to their needs than to those of the peoples who lived here for generations, the waterways were remade to function as engines of capitalism.

The past few decades have seen yet another evolution of the waterways. Rivers that were once polluted and trafficked almost exclusively by commercial vessels began to draw recreational users, and communal gather spaces replaced decaying industrial plots on the lakefront. Today, these areas are thought of almost exclusively as places for fun—an outcome that was considered likely only by the most ardent of city boosters as recently as 50 years ago.

But today, when considering the future of Milwaukee’s Inner Harbor—where industrial space still exists and still contributes to the city’s economy—there is reason for great optimism. The Inner Harbor remains a bit off-the-radar for many Milwaukeeans. Hidden away between Walker’s Point and Jones Island, the area was the result of some of the earliest engineering of the natural landscape. In the 1850s, the modern-day point of entry for the rivers into the lake was dredged to create a more attractive passage for cargo and passenger-carrying ships (the natural entry point, at the south end of Jones Island, was soon after filled in). While Jones Island developed as a fishing village, the shorelines of the mainland became populated with cargo docks and shipbuilders.

MILWAUKEE'S INNER HARBOR

Into the 20th Century, as shipping on the Great Lakes increased in both overall volume and in the size of its cargo ships, Jones Island was cleared of its residents and remade for a modern sewage treatment facility and increased cargo docking space. Multiple car ferry lines— including those carrying cargo-loaded railroad cars across the lake—also came to call the Inner Harbor home. In 1959, the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which connected the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, made Milwaukee an international port, and boom days were predicted for what was already one of the Lakes’ busiest terminals.

While the port of Milwaukee remained a cargo transportation hub for the region, to many Milwaukeeans, the area became something of an afterthought, even as they were busy rediscovering the city’s waterways.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

“Five years ago, this was a place where you felt more like you were trespassing than visiting,” said Lilith Fowler, executive director of Harbor District Milwaukee, of the area near the Inner Harbor. Fowler’s organization has been working with the city and other community stakeholders to spearhead the revitalization of the area, which— by way of an officially designated Business Improvement District—includes nearly 900 acres of waterfront and near-waterfront property. In 2019, the group opened Harbor View Plaza, the area’s first waterfront public park, near the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences.

With its location at the foot of Greenfield Avenue and outfitted with a public canoe and kayak launch, the park functions both as a literal and symbolic connection point between the city and water. Indeed, improved accessibility is key to Harbor District’s vision of the area. “More public access and more activities that bring people down here,” said Fowler, “These are two of our main points of focus, they need to go hand-in-hand.” A big part of this plan will be realized this year, when a significant expansion to the city’s Riverwalk will begin construction along the west bank of Inner Harbor, eventually to run from the public boat launch at E. Bruce St. south of Lincoln Ave. The District got another boost in January, when plans were finalized for a $100 million, six-year project to remove metals and other chemicals pollutants from the riverways—the unfortunate legacy of the area’s industrial past. “It’s fantastic and amazing that Milwaukee has this opportunity,” said Fowler. “We cannot get to fishable, swimmable rivers when there is heavily contaminated muck sitting at the bottom of them.” The Harbor District also plans to purchase a “trash wheel” for skimming floating debris from the Kinnickinnic River before it reaches the Inner Harbor or lake. They hope to have the device installed by 2022.

The future of the Inner Harbor will involve a balance of new uses and its industrial roots. Despite the obvious challenges of the pandemic, Port Milwaukee saw its highest cargo volume in seven years. Ground was broken last September on the Komatsu Motors’ $285 million headquarters project, which will cover 46 acres of land that was, until recently, too populated for development. On the Jones Island side of the harbor, Michels Corporation is expanding their footprint at the former car ferry site, and DeLong Company is moving forward with a $30 million export facility. Both the Port and the Harbor District embrace the concept of places of work and places of recreation coexisting along the water.

Despite some disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-term goals for the area remain unchanged. Jeff Fleming, Port Milwaukee spokesperson, said that cruise ships are scheduled to return to Milwaukee in 2021, and Fowler hopes that the Harbor District can once again host in-person events by the summer.

Matthew J. Prigge is a member of the Wisconsin Historical Society’s speakers bureau and is the author of several books on local history including Milwaukee Mayhem: Murder and Mystery in the Cream City’s First Century and Damn the Old Tinderbox! Milwaukee’s Palace of the West and the Fire that Defined an Era.