Monday 8/10/26: What to know before tomorrow's election, Wisconsin State Fair archives, Bay View history

Support for WUWM Podcasts comes from University School of Milwaukee, fulfilling a values-based mission of developing learners, fostering leaders, and preparing citizens for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. More information at usm.org slash mission. From 89.7 WUWM, Milwaukee's and PR, this is Lake Effect. I'm Joy Powers. Today, we'll recap how the field of Democratic gubernatorial candidates has changed, ahead of tomorrow's primary election in Wisconsin. And we'll talk about what you need to know before you vote. You can only vote within one party's primary. If you were to vote in primaries in multiple parties, then your votes would not count. It would be what's called an overvote. Plus, we'll check out the Wisconsin State Fair Archives and learn about the man who helped make it happen. He had his own collection because he had grown up three blocks up on Schlinger Avenue, only missed two fairs in his lifetime. And so he was a wealth of that history. All of that is coming up on Lake Effect.

This is Lake Effect from 89.7, WUWM, Milwaukee's, and PR. I'm Joy Powers. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll start by checking in with Wisconsin's top election official on what you need to know ahead of tomorrow's voting. Megan Wolfe is the Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator. She joins WUWM's Eric Von Fellow, Akira Quinn. Is there anything different about the upcoming election that voters should know about? The process for voting in Wisconsin for the August 11th partisan primary is the same as the process you've used to vote in elections previously in Wisconsin. So there have not been any major changes at the state or the federal level that impact Wisconsin voters and how they're going to participate. But I will say a partisan primary election is different than a general election in terms of what your ballot's going to look like. So in a partisan primary, like we have in August, you're selecting what candidates you want to move on to the general election in November. And so for voters, when you receive your ballot, you're going to have primaries for different political parties. And the important thing to know for the August primary is you can only vote within one parties primary. If you were to vote in primaries in multiple parties, then your votes would not count. It would be what's called an overvote. There have been several actions at the federal level, including the FBI investigating election officials in Milwaukee. Proposals requiring states to share voter information for mail ballots and the Department of Justice warning states they could face criminal charges if non-citizens are allowed to vote. How are these actions affecting elections in Wisconsin? So again, there have been no laws that have been passed or executive orders that haven't been challenged through the legal process. So there are no changes to how Wisconsin voters will interact with the election process. When we receive correspondence from the federal government, we are very transparent about that and we post it on our website, elections.wI.gov. And in all instances, when we have had these contacts from the federal level, the commission, so our six-member bipartisan commission, has issued some type of response, which is also available on our website. And with the most recent communication from DOJ, we were pleased to be able to report back to them and to the public that Wisconsin already takes it extremely seriously and has laws to ensure that only lawful, eligible voters are on our voter list.

And so that's what's reflected in the correspondence that was sent by our commission. WWM has been receiving questions from our audience through election surveys. One of those questions concerns absentee voting. Are there any changes with the mailing voting? So there aren't changes to mail-in voting, but there are some really important things that voters who choose to utilize by mail voting should keep in mind. And the most important one is you have to have your ballot back by 8 p.m. on election day. In some other states, if you postmark your ballot by election day and it gets back in the days after, it can still be counted. That is not the case in Wisconsin. So if you are returning your ballot by mail, the guidance is to get that ballot in the mail back to your clerk at least 10 days before the election or primary, sooner if you can. And voters should also consider if they're able to. other options to return their ballot. So you can go to myvote.w.w.gov and there you can find information about your municipal clerk. So if you live in a city, your city clerk that administers elections, if you live in a town, your town clerk, and you'll be able to contact them to find out if you have drop boxes for ballots in your community, if you're able to, and where you're able to return your ballot in person to your clerk. And so these are all options that voters should consider, especially as we get closer to the election. And so voters just really need to be sure that if they're choosing mail as their method to return their ballot, that they're doing so as early as possible or considering other ways to get their ballot back to their clerk by 8 p.m. on election day. And for people who might not know, what type of documentation should you bring to go vote, or just like mailing ballots as well? Yeah, that's a great question. So for Wisconsin voters, there's two steps of the process. The first is registering to vote. And you can register to vote by mail and online at myvote.wI.gov if you're more than 20 days out from an election or a primary. And in those instances, you're going to either match your data with the DMV, or you're going to provide a document that proves your resident. So if you're registering to vote by mail or in-person during in-person absentee or at the polls on election day, you're going to need what's called a proof of residence document. So this is something that shows your address where you currently live so that the clerk can ensure that you get the right ballot with all the contests and candidates that you're eligible to vote for. And so this proof of residence document for registering can be something like a utility bill.

a bank statement and it could even be your Wisconsin ID card or driver license if that has your current and valid address on it. So that's registration. And there's photo ID. And photo ID is what you need to show to prove you are who you say you are. So if you're requesting an absentee ballot, when you make that request, you have to provide a copy of your photo ID the first time you make an absentee ballot request. And if you go to myvote.wI.gov, it'll walk you through that process. You'd be able to take it. a picture of your ID and submit all that to the clerk. If you're voting in person, either during in-person absentee or at the polls on election day, then you're going to show your photo ID to your poll worker, and they'll take a look at that for compliance to make sure the name matches the name on the poll book, to make sure it's not expired or within the expiration deadlines. And then they're also... is going to make sure that the picture reasonably looks like the person that's in front of them. And if all those things match, then the voter will be able to proceed to sign the poll book and they will be issued a ballot. But all those laws have been in place since about 2011 and there haven't been any changes to the process really since then. So if you voted before in the state of Wisconsin, the process is still going to be the same for August. Perfect. And then what are you doing to assure that there isn't any type of voter intimidation or any other interference with people's right to vote? Yeah, absolutely. So here in the state of Wisconsin, we have more local election officials in charge of administering our elections than any other state. So every city, town, and village has their poll workers, their election officials that are administering the election. And a chief inspector is the person that's always in charge of each polling place. And these folks are all people that are trained to understand Wisconsin law, to work with their local law enforcement, to ensure the orderly conduct of election, to ensure that nobody is able to interfere with the process, and to ensure that. the elections are secure and conducted with integrity. And so our poll workers, our election officials, and all of our communities are trained and even do scenario-based training to understand what interferences could look like and how they would manage that, plan for it, have contingency plans to make sure that that is dealt with timely and that voters are able to exercise their right to vote. And then how was the hiring process going with the training of the poll workers? And then what are you hearing from your local clerks? So each of our 1851 municipal clerks across the state are responsible for recruiting and training the poll workers in their communities. And what we're hearing is that in the last few years,

um the political parties so there's a part of our law that says the political parties can submit lists of poll workers and the clerks have to first choose from those lists before they work with unaffiliated poll workers that those lists are much bigger than they have been in the past so in a lot of our communities that may not have seen those lists from the political parties in the past they're seeing them this year. And so a lot of our smaller communities especially do have enough poll workers and have a larger pool than maybe they have in the past. But there are other communities that just have more polling places and more voters. The city of Milwaukee, for example, they are our largest city. They have more voters and they have more polling places. And I know that they're always looking for assistance and for more poll workers who can help out with the process. So I always encourage people to get involved, to become a poll worker. Elections in Wisconsin are run by the people. They're run by us. They're run by your neighbors, your friends, your family. And so get involved and see if there are ways that you can help to administer elections in your community. And is there anything else voters should know ahead of the August and November elections? Ahead of the August and November elections, I would encourage voters to make sure that they're registered to vote at their current address. And you can go to myvote.wI.gov to check the status of your voter registration. And also just to think ahead about what method of voting you're going to use. Are you going to vote by mail, absentee? Are you going to vote in-person absentee in your clerk's office in the two weeks before an election? Or are you going to vote on election day at the polling place? And just making sure you understand the process for that type of voting and ensure that your ballot is completed in accordance with law and that it's received on time. so that your vote is counted. And if you have any questions at all, reach out to the Wisconsin Elections Commission or reach out to your local election official. And myvote.wI.gov is the state of Wisconsin's official website for voters and voting information. And that's where you can go to check all your statuses, but also find information to contact your municipal clerk. So it's a great resource and a great place to start if you have any questions about the voting process. Perfect. And that would be all my questions. And I want to thank you for taking the time to answer these for our listeners. And just for my own personal reasons as well, for people who just might not know this. So thank you. Absolutely. Yeah. Thanks for reaching out. It was a pleasure to talk to you.

Megan Wolfe is the Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator. She spoke with WUWM Eric VonFellow Akira Quinn last month. You can find more information about how to vote in the candidates on your ballot at WUWM.com slash voter guide. This is Capital Notes from Milwaukee's NPR. I'm Ayan Silver, speaking with J.R. Raw's editor of whizpolitics.com. Hi, J.R., thanks for joining me. Cool. Thanks for having me. So there have been more twists and turns in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governors since we last spoke. Mandela Barnes dropped out of the race after allegations surfaced that he had some concerning behavior towards women. How have candidates leading in the polls Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley? How have they been appealing to Barnes voters? Well, Hong is making the pitch that Barnes ran a progressive campaign and his progressive followers have a home with her. Crowley's making electability argument that, you know, Hong is going to have problems in November. She's the nominee and that they need somebody, Democrats, need somebody with executive experience who's won before in a larger arena to lead them. He's also Barnes from the state with Governor Evers, who's basically putting his... political legacy on the line here by trying to get behind Crowley's late push and see they can get him over the top. We've also got two other candidates in the Democratic primary, State Senator Calder Roy's and former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan. They were each polling very low in the last Marquette poll, but that was before the televised debate. Is it reasonable for Democratic voters to presume that only Crowley and Hong have a chance to actually win the primary? We have not seen any indication from Kelderoy's or... Joel Brennan that they have the resources to put them over the top. I've been tracking ad buys and the, you know, through various means from the state ethics website through ad impact attracts ad buys. And there is a real effort behind David Crowley right now. So that is definitely going on. But I'm not seeing Joel Brennan or Kel de Roy's have any similar kind of paid media campaign behind them now. What's interesting is Francesca Hong doesn't either. I went through her finance reports this week. She had reported all of like $300,000 for any media. Like that means mail, online ads, et cetera. She's doing zero TV, nothing on broadcast or cable TV, which is unusual, at least for a person who's a frontrunner for a statewide election. But she's reaching voters a different way. She's got this kind of passionate base, and she's...

connecting them through streaming service, that kind of stuff. So I don't want to say that paid media is the end-all be-all, but I'm not seeing Kelder Roy's or Joel Brennan catch fire in a way that suggests it's a groundswell of support with them, especially because we're not seeing a groundswell of resources for them. I'm looking at other things like you have to report contributions of $1,000 or more in the days after the closed reporting period. I'm seeing Crowley and Francesca raising okay amounts on it that way. Not seen the same for Brennan Eric Roy. So this guy paints a picture of it's basically a two-person race. However, those two are on the ballot. So are Serra Regas. So is Mandela Barnes. So is Missy Hughes. We've also got thousands of ballots already cast absentee before Barnes dropped out. It's really a complicated picture because it's not like... You know, Crowley would almost prefer a one-on-one matchup with Hong. That's not possible. Even if Kelderoy's or Jim Jordan dropped out late, they're still in the ballot. They're still going to draw votes. And people already voted for them at this point. So it's kind of a complicated picture electorally for how the path for Crowley to win this thing because of what's already happened before you got back in. And you mentioned Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong. She's well in the lead as of the latest Marquette poll. It was conducted before bonds dropped out. She appeared in South Milwaukee with controversial streamer Hasan Piker and Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. That's inspired some voters, but it's perturbed others who feel that Hong will lose more moderate support because of those actions. Republicans are also seizing upon some of her past tweets. Meanwhile, Hong is focusing on her presumed GOP opponent if she wins the primary, saying, quote, Wisconsin voters deserve serious reporting on the choices Tom Tiffany has made throughout his career and whose interests he has served. What do we know about this back and forth a day ahead of the primary? Well, Republicans are already seeing Hong as a likely Democratic nominee, and they want to try and bury her immediately with all this like... negative outpouring of stuff about her past tweets and talking about canceling Thanksgiving and not liking Halloween or Valentine's Day and talking about, you know, racial things. It's all part of an effort to discourage National Democrats from investing here because they don't want to make National Democrats say this is not a winnable race. If National Democrats abandoning Francesca Hong, if she becomes a nominee. and they don't give her immediate resources after August 11th, it would really hurt her chances of winning come November. It happened four years ago. Mandela Barnes won the Democratic nomination. National Democrats kind of abandoned him post-primary. He eventually lost by a single point, but the hole he was put in was so deep post-primary, he could never get out of it. For Democrats, the keys are going to be, can they get enough resources in to help Francesca right out of the gate? Because she's not raising a ton of money. She's definitely got a passionate following, but she's not got the resources on her own to run an effective statewide campaign. Can they get the resources in nationally? Will she accept some help on messaging post-primary last week and a half ago, whenever it was?

She was asked in the spin room afterward, hey, what about this defund the police comments you've made? She said, hey, if we're going to get tough on crime, we have to get tough on the causes of crime. It was a good line. People told me, made a lot of sense. But when you go from that to going on Fox News are talking about like canceling Thanksgiving. It's not a great, great media plan. There are better ways to approach this race than that. So will she accept help to try and write the ship that way? And, you know, then she's got to kind of build an infrastructure. Yeah, she's got a passionate following of people, but you need more than that to win a statewide race. You need the entire operation apparatus for Democrats engaged. And she's going to have some issues with the traditional Democratic coalition. For example, black voters in Milwaukee. A lot of black voters have kids who go to choice schools. Francesca Hong wants to end the choice program. That could be an issue for her. She is... calling for moratorium on data centers, which is very appealing for some voters. But for hard hat union types, those are good paying jobs building those data centers. So they're not thrilled with Francesca Hong. How does she bring them into the coalition? She's got a lot of challenges ahead of her. I mean, honestly, the best chance for Francesca Hong, if she's a nominee, is for Donald Trump to have really bad numbers come October and gas to be like four bucks a gallon or so. This is Capitol Notes. I'm Ayon Silver, speaking with J.R. Ross of WhizPolitics.com. So back to the actual primary before our immediate future. We've got a Republican primary, a Democratic primary voters can vote in only one of them. Are you hearing from Republicans that they're expecting a lot of GOP voters to vote in the Democratic primary so they can vote for Hong because they feel she'd be a more attackable opponent for governor? You know, you see some stuff like that on social media, but I've never really seen an effective campaign to do that because it's so hard to organize. And too, their contested Republican primaries up and down the ballot that Republicans would miss if they vote the Democratic primary for government. If you vote the primary for governor for Democrats, you have to vote all Democratic elect races. You can't cross over and do. other parties, races at the state senate level, lieutenant governor, on down the line. So not sure about that. The bigger thing for Republicans crossing over is we've seen... The Republican Governance Association spend $3.6 million on ads that supposedly are opposing Hong, but a lot of her seems an effort to actually boost her in the Democratic primary. I have also tracked spending by a group that has really covered its tracks very well. It's in about $1.3 million, roughly $1.2 million for Hong and mail and TV, even though it is really a Republican front group. The messages are all... Traditional Democratic talking points, all very, you know, typical Democratic like mail and TV, like messages that you would see. But when you dig down, you figure out that, hey, wait a second, the only donor of this group was accused of being a Republican front group by Nebraska Democrats because it meddled in a congressional primary there. So Republicans, again, they're really, they see Hong as a weaker candidate and they want her to win this primary.

So back to the ad buys and the fundraising, you had mentioned that Hong Adden spent a dime on traditional TV buys over the course of her campaign. And it's a stark contrast to others in the field, her other Democratic rivals, but also expected GOP nominee Tom Tiffany. He's reported $7.6 million in media expenses, including a $3.9 million buy buys on TV. What do you make of this? Oh, he's benefiting from three big donors giving money to the state Republican Party, which is then transferring money to him. Like Republicans rewrote campaign finance law back in 2015 to allow political parties and legislative campaign committees to take contributions on limited sizes and then make transfers to candidates with no cap. While they wrote the law, Democrats perfected that playbook with Governor Evers in the East Wing and Ben Wickler's state party chair. They raised money hand over a fist. It funded the entire operation. Well, now you're seeing Republicans back, you know, using that playbook again, where Diane Hendricks, the bloid billionaire of ABC supply company, Liz Euline and Dick Euline, this Illinois business couple with Euline, also GOP mega donors. They've been pumping seven-figure checks into the state GOP starting kind of late spring, early summer. Then the state GOP is transferring big money to... Tom Tiffany. It's totally legal and it's very effective. Candidates get a better rate on what they pay for their campaign ads than outside groups do. So when you're talking about Tiffany spending that 3.9 million or whatever it is these days on broadcast TV, he pays less per ad than another group does. It's more efficiently use of the money. I think at this point, He's raised 13.3 million in 2026 overall. That doesn't include what he raised before January 1st. Of that 13.3 million, 10.2 million came from the state GOP and transfers. Wow. Is there a leg here right now on the Democratic side for governor? And if so, what's the reason for it? Well, they don't have a candidate yet. So they're raising money for a fund that will go to the help the nominee, but there isn't one person. I mean, you know, and look, to be honest, if Francesca Hong wins the nomination, will she inspire national donors to invest heavily in Wisconsin? You know, that means to be seen. If it's David Crowley, will he inspire National Democrats to invest in Wisconsin? You know, they got to get to this primary and figure out who the nominee is and then make a pitch. to these national donors of why they believe they're viable, why they have a shot to beat Tom Tiffany come November. What do you think is Crowley's best approach to win the primary? Good question. You know, they've been riding on this idea that Tony Evers has this broad appeal. He's the most popular politician in Wisconsin. He could help David, you know, vault into first place. The challenge is...

They only started a couple weeks ago. If the governor, people have told me over and over again, since this is all kind of took place that if the governor really wanted to shape the primary, he should have done this six months ago, even two months ago. It would have changed the entire complexion of the race. But by waiting until like mid-July, when Francesca Allen already had momentum and was like coalescing support, it made it that much harder for them to try and stop her. It's going to be an interesting to see how he. How Evers is effective in this final pitch? Can he and David stop the Francesca Hong momentum? And, you know, there's also the fact that David Carly dropped out of the race and then got back in, and so that's kind of placing red flags to some voters. Unlike anything I've seen before, you know, you have... So, Missy Hughes drops out June 22nd. David drops out, I think, July 8th around there somewhere. Sarah Williams drops out July 17th, probably's back in July 18th. Then a week and a half later Mandela Barnes drops. I mean, it's just, it's been one drama after another. And that's not helping, whereas Francesca Hong has just been this consistent, kind of like progressive. force than the primary. And, you know, she's the only one talking about a moratorium on data centers. She's the only one connecting on these populist economic themes that resonate with primary voters. Now, remember, I'm talking about primary voters. It's a world of difference between winning a primary and winning a general election. Can she take that message and make if she wins the primary and make it fit with a purple state Wisconsin in November electorate? All right. Well, as always, thanks for the analysis, JR. And thanks for joining me on Capital Notes. Anytime. Just like Capital Notes, Lake Effect is available as a podcast. Find it wherever you get your podcasts. Then subscribe, download and listen on demand. Milwaukee's Humble Park was one of five parks first built by the city in 1890, and there's a lot of history still standing there today. We'll learn more later in the show. But first we'll explore the history of the Wisconsin State Fair. That's coming up on Lake Effect on 89.7 WUWM, Milwaukee's NPR.

You're listening to Lake Effect on 89.7 WUWM. I'm Joy Powers. Today, the Wisconsin State Fair is best known for its rides, animals, and its many classic or unusual foods. This year, it's also celebrating a momentous 175 years of history. To learn more, I headed to the Wisconsin State Fair grounds to chat with some of the top experts on the fair's history. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to head to West Dallas this week for the Wisconsin State Fair. But at the edge of the fairgrounds in an unassuming office building, there's a space that celebrates the fair year-round. The Wisconsin State Fair archives store a myriad of artifacts from the fair's 175 years of history. It has everything from ribbons and old ads to pieces of the first Milwaukee mile. But while the artifacts themselves are as old as the fair, the archive is relatively new, as archivist Tom Zimmerman explains. Around 1996, the Wisconsin State Fair recognized there was a need to collect catalog and archive all this information they were mapping. And there was a gentleman, Jerry Zimmerman, who was retired. He was my dad. There were no two rooms of archives back then. Some of it was underneath the grandstand. Some of it was in paper boxes. And a lot of it was memories and photographs. It was a monumental task, but one that Tom says his father relished. Jerry Zimmerman was an avid fairgoer who had started collecting items from the state fair long before the project began. He had his own collection because he had grown up three blocks up on Schlinger Avenue, only missed two fairs in his lifetime. And so he was a wealth of that history, which is one reason the Wisconsin State Fair asked him to volunteer. But then he reached out to other people who loved the fair just as much. Do you have any postcards? Do you have any metals, ribbons? And he started bringing them in. Today, these items fill up the two rooms that comprise the Wisconsin State Fair Archive. Zimmerman and fellow archivist John Van Beckham have been exploring the archive and documenting what's in it. Van Beckham describes some of what they found. Many of our ribbons are from livestock. From the very earliest part of the fairs, people would come and exhibit and show off their livestock. They'll show off their produce or the products that they baked. And we would have premium books. One of them right here is some 1888 that we sent out every year. And in there, you would have lists. or classes of categories that they'd be judging. And sometimes people could win prize money for it and also a ribbon. And that is still something that we do today. While some things haven't changed over the nearly two centuries of the fair's history, there's a big difference from the earliest days of the fair, the location. The first Wisconsin State Fair in 1851 was held in Janesville and would shift locations.

That quickly changed, as Zimmerman explains. A lot of people came from Milwaukee. They didn't want to have to keep moving the fair around, and at that time, the Wisconsin legislature said, we'll donate $150,000, came with strings attached, 10 miles within Milwaukee radius for the people to get there, and at least 100 acres. And so it's still where it was in 1891, lying by Greenfield Avenue in 84th Street. And since then, there's just been that progression. of construction and love that went into the state fair. The footprint of the state fair grounds has remained relatively the same over the last century. Most of the early structures have been lost, but there remain a few examples of those early buildings, as Van Beckham points out. There are still three buildings that were here from the early 1900s. You have the Dairy Building, you have the Grand Champion Hall, and the Red Brook Cattle Barn. Those are the three surviving buildings from that time. But the fare is constantly changed over time. What you're seeing on this map right here, the only thing that is still here would be the racetrack. The rest of these buildings have changed over time. Those changes include the grounds themselves. The state fair grounds used to include a grove of trees. And did you know there used to be a creek that flowed through the Wisconsin State Fair? And it's still there. just under the surface. Back in the 60s, when there was a grove of trees there near Greenfield Avenue, my grandfather would bring me over there. We'd walk the grove, throw sticks off one end of the bridge, see him go under the bridge and come out the other side. So it was a park-like atmosphere throughout and a very beautiful space. And High Creek now goes under the Expo Center. The creek was one factor in last year's flooding of the fairgrounds. for today's fairgoers who are interested in learning more about its history. This year's fair is featuring pieces of the archives on display in Grand Champion Hall. Artifacts from years past sit alongside winning entries from this year's fair, which could end up in the archives themselves. You're seeing some of the hanging quotes, you're seeing a large framed days of swines and roses, another homage to the 1980s puns. and also we have another display to the fair with cream puffs and it's made out of the cream puff boxes to the left of it we're also seeing more of the quilt work and embroidery work so there are many exhibit cases here highlighting the items that people have won here from, you know, dairy products to food, to culinary, to embroidery in the cases right here. So it's kind of melding of that tradition with the hundred and 75 years of the fair. And if you happen by the history display in Exploratory Park, you might see Zimmerman and Van Beckham.

They're always looking for new additions to the archives to ensure that every Wisconsin State Fair is celebrated and remembered. If people come here and they say, hey, I have Wisconsin State Fair artifacts, someone want to donate, please. We are more happy to take new things. I just had an individual email me a... advertisement from a 1929 Milwaukee Sentinel and he wanted to us to have it so I very grateful we took that as some very nice thank you note back and we're always looking to add to our 175 years so we keep on growing and be for another 175 years. The fair runs through August 16th. The Wisconsin State Fair is a financial supporter of WUWM. If you want to learn more about the history of the Wisconsin State Fair, you can check out their trivia challenge at their website or by scanning the quiz code at the park. We'll take one more break and then we'll explore the history of Milwaukee's humble park, which dates back to 1890. That's next on Lake Effect. On 89.7, WUWM, Milwaukee's and PR. Thank you.

This is Lake Effect on 89.7 WUWM. I'm Joy Powers. Milwaukee's Humble Park was one of five parks first built by the city in 1890, and there's a lot of history still standing there today. Last year, the Bayview Historical Society designated Milwaukee's Humble Park as a historic landmark. Today, Humboldt is home to chill on the hill, community events, fishing in the lagoon, the vine beer garden, and much more. It took a lot of work to shape the park into its current footprint. And to learn more about its history, Lake Effects Audrey Nowakowski met with Bayview historian and author Ron Winkler at the park. He begins with sharing Humble Park's creation story. It was just land that belonged to two families. It was the Mann family and their mansion still stands on Logan Avenue just north of Idaho Street. So they owned that land and then the other land that became part of Humbold Park was owned by the Wilcox family. and that was the western part. So the initial park, the boundaries were from Logan Avenue to Howell Avenue. Southern boundary was Oklahoma Avenue, which at the time was Milwaukee's southern boundary, and then Idaho Street. was the northern boundary. So that was the initial acreage that was purchased for the original Humble Park, which of course at that time was called South Park. So there were five... parks that were created in 1890. Right, and this was before we even had a Milwaukee County Park system, right? These first five parks? That's right. They were in fact created by the city of Milwaukee because there were no free public gathering places. There were a few small squares and triangles and things that were green spaces, but not very big. And there were beer gardens, but the beer gardens charged. So the city wanted to provide something for all of the citizens. So they created five parks. South Park, which became Humboldt Park, Lincoln Park, which became Casusco Park, North Park, which became Sherman Park, West Park, which became Washington Park.

and Lake Park, which is the only one that has retained its original name. Yeah, so who was the Humboldt that Humboldt Park is named after? Because it was renamed, what, a couple years after it was first established? In 1900, yes. And it was named for Baron von Humboldt, who was a lifelong resident of Berlin, which was at that time part of Prussia. And he was quite a renaissance man. He was kind of like our Wisconsin increase Lapham, but on a much larger scale. And he traveled a lot of places and did a lot of research and exploration in areas that had only been explored by Spanish-speaking people. So he did a lot of work on the western coast of South America. So what he did was to do a lot of research and it was just incredible what he found out. He even was able to determine through his studies that human-induced climate change was taking place. So he is considered the father of climatology and environmentalism. So we're sitting in front of the lagoon, which is kind of the park's main focal point central location. It's looked different over the decades, even centuries, since this park was first established, but it was built into this park, correct? That's correct. The park was opened up in 1891, and one of the first projects they did... was to create a lake or a lagoon as we refer to these in Milwaukee. So what they did was to create a small lagoon and they put a boat house on the south side of it and that was in 1893 and then in 1910 They moved that boathouse over to the present location of the pavilion. And in preparation for that, they created an island. So that was quite a big undertaking. And then they built the boathouse, which was made of concrete, and they connected it to the island, and people could. cross and have picnics and view the lagoon from that island. So that boat house had, as the name implies, rowboats that were for rent, but so did the original pavilion. And then...

They also had a warming room for ice skates and ice skating in the winter, and they also had concessions there, and it was open for meetings and gatherings and different occasions. So that was in 1910, and then in 1928, they expanded the lagoon again, because in 1920, land north of Idaho Street was purchased and then the park became its present size of roughly 73 acres. Right, so some of these buildings like the two-story boathouse, there's some photos of what this lagoon looked like at its peak, and it's so impressive. But yeah, some of these buildings aren't here yet today, but the pavilion behind us, you see some of the land and stone, some of the original historic structures. And I had always assumed, like maybe this was always here, but it turns out it was built for the park as a maintenance structure and some other things. For the building surrounding the pavilion, we also have tennis courts here. Does the general layout, is it similar to what it looked like at its peak? Yes, pretty much so. The only... difference is that there have been additions of playgrounds, the tennis courts were originally clay, and there's also a waiting pool that is adjacent to the current service building. But you mentioned about this pavilion, which originally was the service building. That was built to replace the original boathouse which was moved over here and that was of course in 1910 and then during the depression there were three WPA projects that occurred here the building of the service building the construction of the band shell and an actual enhancement of the creek that used to flow from the lagoon. It took the overflow from the lagoon and then ended at the corner of Quincy and Oklahoma Avenue. But what you mention about this looking like a farmhouse, that's spot on because It was intentionally built to look like a New England farmhouse. And in fact, there were different flowers and vines and things that were in back. If we look at the top of that building, we can see that there's a weather vein.

which is a nod to the WPA workers who built it, and they intentionally included that, and it shows a worker with a wheelbarrow. And then in 1961, when the current service building over on Howell Avenue was constructed, that was built to look like this pavilion, or the former service building. I love that weather vein nod to the WPA. I've looked at it all the time and I never made those connecting points. Now you mentioned the band shell as part of those WPA projects. Now the one that's standing here currently is they call it the more Swedish chalet style band shell, but the original one Had that classic 1900 Art Deco inspiration kind of looked like the Washington Park Banshell, right? Yes, that's correct. And in fact, it was modeled on the Hollywood Bowl and also in Chicago, but on a much smaller scale. But the Washington Park Banshell, which still exists, was... They were constructed at the same time as WPA projects. So this was in 1932, and it was the firm of Kloss and Kloss. And the way it was built, the inside was so reflective that they didn't need any lighting because the lighting from inside projected out. to the seating for the audience and there's a gradual slope uphill and they used to have benches there and it could hold up to 2,000 people. That was one of the top things in the park. There were all kinds of concerts and opera and very famous people who came here and also to Washington Park. Unfortunately, in 1976, due to arson, the band shell was destroyed. And the next year, it was rebuilt as the chateau. And that chateau was built upon the base of the old band shell. So that opened in 1977. Yeah, and it's home to chill on the hill every Tuesday in the summer. And speaking of summer concerts, I think the baby drumline is practicing in the distance over there. But that's kind of what I love about Milwaukee's County parks like these is that it's such a central point to bring people together, no matter what activities they're doing, or if they need an escape, or just need to enjoy some green space. So thinking about the work that it took to build out this park, and having grown up here, ran through here during high school cross country meets all the all the things that it's played in your life what's your favorite aspect about Humble Park

I think it's the green space, which is really what we need nowadays. It's been shown that having these green spaces in cities is very beneficial for body, mind, and spirit. And in fact, the temperature is about 10 degrees cooler when you have these green spaces. It just helps everybody's psyche to have this. And there are so many activities that people can participate in here because there's walking and running, as you mentioned, there's the playgrounds, there's fishing, there's the different events that the Humble Park Friends sponsor. And it's just being able to come here. and get a break from our urban perplexities and all of the anguish that accompanies our everyday living nowadays. It's great to see these trees and there's flowers. The Humble Park Friends, they are the reason for this green space that we have. Well, Ron, I want to thank you so much for spending a little time in the park with me today. I really enjoyed learning more about its history. Thank you very much. I once again enjoy sharing Bayview's history with you. Ron Winkler is a Bayview historian and author. He joined Lake Effects Audrey Noakowski at Humboldt Park. You can explore many historical photos of the park and how it's changed at wwm.com. And that wraps up today's show. Thank you so much for being here with us. I'm Joy Powers. If you ever miss Lake Effect, you can find all of our conversations at WUWM.com. If you'd like to take the show on the go, you can download the Lake Effect podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Tomorrow on Lake Effect, we'll learn how Wisconsin schools have recovered from last year's floods and how they're preparing for the next storm. plus how a local nonprofit is tackling inequities in dental care and expanding access to their services. Thanks so much for joining us right here on listener-supported 89.7 WUWM, Milwaukee's NPR.