Property Record
WASHINGTON PARK (BOUNDED BY W LLOYD, LISBON AVE, N 40TH ST, W VLIET)
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | West Side Park |
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| Other Name: | Washington Park |
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| Reference Number: | 111088 |
| Location (Address): | WASHINGTON PARK (BOUNDED BY W LLOYD, LISBON AVE, N 40TH ST, W VLIET) |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
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| Year Built: | 1893 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 198020122019 |
| Historic Use: | park |
| Architectural Style: | NA (unknown or not a building) |
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| Wall Material: | |
| Architect: | Frederick Law Olmsted & Co. |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation. Also originally known as "West Side Park". Also referred to as the Baumbach tract although the property was purchased from Margaret Breed, Ernst von Baumbach, Ridgeland Co., Forest Haven Co., and C.F. Schroeder. Total purchase price was $387,793.75. By 1906, the site was called Washington Park. Washington Park is one of the oldest in the City Park System. Originally known as West Side Park or Baumbach's Tract - 124 acres acquired in 1891 for purchase price of $387,793.75. The land was a combination of property from Margaret Bree, Ernst von Baumbach, Ridgeland Co., Forest Lawn Co., and C.F. Schroeder. By 1967 it reached it current size of 139 acres. The talents of emintent landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead and Co. (i.e. Central Park, NYC, and Chicago's World's Fair) were procured for $12.50 per acre for a period of three years. The Zoo was established in 1892 by donations of three deer and one eagle. The Emil Blatz Temple of Music was dedicated in 1938 (AHI #120123). Statuary to be found are Goethe-Schiller (AHI #120124), sculpted by Ernst Rietsche and dedicated in 1908; the three Freedoms bird bath; and Baron Frederick von Steuben, sculpted by J. Otto Schweizer, dedicated in 1921. (Correction: the Von Steuben statue is located north of the park at the Lloyd/Sherman Blvd/Lisbon intersection, and is part of the Sherman Boulevard Historic District.) 2019: Washington Park, originally known as West Park, is one of the oldest in the Milwaukee park system, established in 1893. Measuring approximately 134 acres, the park was designed by the Frederick Law Olmstead landscape design firm as a pastoral park featuring a meadow and 7-acre lake, with picnic and play spaces. Over time, a greater emphasis would be placed on active recreation, with the installation of tennis courts, a six-hole golf course, and a one-mile horse racing track. The park would also eventually hold the beginnings of the Milwaukee Zoo, founded in the park soon after its construction and remaining there until the late 1950s. Park also contains an Urban Ecology Center and the Washington Park Senior Center (AHI 223032). |
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| Bibliographic References: | Milwaukee Board of Park Commissioners, Annual Report, v. 1, 1891-1892, p. 18, 20. Milwaukee Board of Park Commissioners, Annual Report, v. 2, 1893, p.17. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 9/8/2003. Landscape Research, 121, 124. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |