{"id":3306,"date":"2012-07-17T08:55:08","date_gmt":"2012-07-17T13:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=3306"},"modified":"2023-05-10T16:05:34","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T21:05:34","slug":"retrieving-stories-from-a-hidden-neighborhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/retrieving-stories-from-a-hidden-neighborhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Retrieving stories from a hidden neighborhood"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Villard Avenue, the main shopping district of the Thurston Woods neighborhood, was thriving in the 1950s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A summer as hot as this one brings back a particular memory for residents of Milwaukee\u2019s Thurston Woods neighborhood: how they used to gather at the public pool in McGovern Park. But the pool was closed several years ago after decades of those collective memories.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The public pool at McGovern Park was a neighborhood gathering spot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s one lament recorded by UWM students participating in a unique oral history field school, a joint venture between the UWM Department of History and the graduate-level Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures (BLC) program that enrolls both UWM architecture students and UW-Madison art history students.<\/p>\n

The purpose was to involve students in collecting stories about a little-known working-class Milwaukee neighborhood on the city\u2019s Northwest side \u2013 but with a twist. Along with interviewing and archival research, students also completed architectural floor plans of several homes in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

While architectural drawings and oral histories may seem unrelated, the blended approach yielded richer storytelling than compiling only one aspect, says Arijit Sen, UWM assistant professor of architecture and director of the BLC program. \u201cBoth are important because some of these stories wouldn\u2019t have been told in a purely historical context.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Stephanie Jones listens to resident Jean Devlin reminisce.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Take, for example, the house with a kitchen both upstairs and down. Students learned that many single-family houses in the neighborhood had been turned into multi-family units and then back again, explaining why there are second kitchens in what are now single-family homes.<\/p>\n

Students also uncovered elements, like phone nooks and central vestibules, that had been built or modified to accommodate boarders. Some of the homes they documented had tenants, but no separate entrances for the respective dwellers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHomes seem like stationary objects, but they really do change,\u201d says Niles Niemuth, an urban history major. \u201cWhat you get from this (study) is an intimate sense of change over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immigrant influences<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ariel Gonzalez-Millan (right) picnics with resident Haak Pascal and his son, CP.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The group learned that the percentage of renters in Thurston Woods has grown since yesteryear, but that owner-occupied properties still dominate. There are also fewer recreational outlets today than in the 1960s, when Villard Avenue was dense with bowling alleys.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question for us was, \u2018how do you re-animate a neighborhood that was once so lively?\u2019\u201d asks Stephanie Jones, a graduate architecture student. \u201cThe potential is there, but there are obstacles like a perception that there are safety issues and the problem of getting renters more engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Potential includes the influence of immigrants, she says, who have brought a global flair to the commercial offerings. The owner of the neighborhood\u2019s Chicken & Grill House is Palestinian, and his stated mission is to get people to try food from different cultures.<\/p>\n

Haakaam Pascal, or \u201cHaak,\u201d is an immigrant from Saint Lucia who acts as the area\u2019s watchdog. Constantly on the move by bicycle, Haak, a handyman, has lived in many rental properties since he moved to Thurston Woods in 1992. One property in particular is now empty and boarded up. Rather than leaving it abandoned, Haak believes it should be re-opened as a recreational center.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe by telling these stories, we can bring the attention to the needs,\u201d says senior architecture student Ariel Gonzalez-Millan, who has chronicled Haak\u2019s tale.<\/p>\n

Making friends<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Volunteer Chad Allen Johnson and architecture doctoral student Chelsea Wait finish their architectural drawings of a house in Thurston Woods.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cGems\u201d is the word Cynthia Anderson, a Ph.D. student in architecture, used to describe the oral histories the students recorded on audio. Jean Devlin, for example, moved to the neighborhood\u2019s Berryland Apartments complex in 1959.\u00a0 The complex was built after World War II, specifically intended to house veterans and their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Berryland, there\u2019s a different tone, a different history than what you normally think of about a public housing development,\u201d says Anderson. Berryland still gives veterans preference in housing applications.<\/p>\n

Resident Lorie Koehler told Anderson that it\u2019s the Havenwoods State Forest that fronts 43rd<\/sup> Street that has kept her in the neighborhood. The 237-acre Havenwoods sprung from parking lots left over from a military installation that also was an internment camp for German-Americans during World War II.<\/p>\n

Before that, according to research from three of the students who interviewed longtime Havenwoods biologist Beth Mittermaier, it was the site of a correction facility. In 1977, there was a proposal to turn the land into a Disneyland-like \u201cdisplay park,\u201d but the idea of restoring it to a natural site offering environmental education won out.<\/p>\n

\n

Join the reveal!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Student will give the public an opportunity to see and hear oral histories of Thurston Woods<\/p>\n

Friday, July 20<\/em>, 4- 6 p.m.
\nAgape Community Center,
\n6100 N. 42nd St.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Students say participating in the field school made them feel like members of the community \u2013 and sometimes even members of people\u2019s families.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis took us middle-class, white kids and put us into a more diverse environment. It forced us out of our comfort zones,\u201d says Graham Caflisch, a master\u2019s student in architecture. \u201cAnd what we found out is when you give people a chance to tell a story, not only are they willing, but you can also make some really good friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more<\/h4>\n

BLC Website
\nCourse Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Architecture Assistant Professor Arijit Sen instructs the students in identifying house styles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UWM students have recorded the memories of residents of Milwaukee\u2019s Thurston Woods neighborhood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":836,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"section":[122,123],"display_categories":[],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[344,158,159,144],"class_list":["post-3306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","section-campus-community","section-campus-partnerships","uwmnews-feed-arts-architecture","uwmnews-feed-letters-science","uwmnews-feed-humanities","uwmnews-feed-architecture-urban-planning"],"yoast_head":"\nRetrieving stories from a hidden neighborhood<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UWM students have recorded the memories of residents of Milwaukee\u2019s Thurston Woods neighborhood.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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