A March 25,
2008 article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel began, “Though no doubt many
lives were saved by the rescue missions launched from its docks, repeated
efforts could not save Milwaukee’s historic U.S.
Coast Guard station, which finally fell victim to a wrecking crew Tuesday after
standing watch over Lake Michigan for almost
100 years.” Whether you considered the old coast guard station a historic
treasure in need of restoration, or an eyesore that met its destiny, its role
in Milwaukee’s
heritage and maritime history should not be forgotten.
According
to the report prepared for Historic Designation for the former US Coast Guard
Station Milwaukee was identified as a possible site for a lifesaving station in
1873. The Life Saving Service, a forerunner of what would eventually become the
U.S. Coast Guard, began as a volunteer activity. A lifesaving station was not
constructed until 1877 in the aftermath of a serious shipwreck in the fall of
1875. A two-story, Gothic Revival style building was constructed at the end of
South Pier, near the “Straight Cut” or new mouth of the Milwaukee River.
By 1886 the lifesaving station had been relocated to Jones Island,
where it was headquartered in an attractive, Shingle Style structure.
When Jones Island
became polluted due to overflow of the city’s sewerage system, efforts began to
find a new location on the lakefront. “A Milwaukee Sentinel article of May 13,
1915 reported that Captain Olsen had been dissatisfied with the illness of his
crew from the polluted conditions and the fact that the water level had been
falling at that location for several years.” This coincided with federal plans
to create a new agency called the Coast Guard – a consolidation of the previous
U.S. Lighthouse Service, the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, the U.S. Lifesaving
Service, and the Steamboat Inspection Service.
The federal
government was already in the process of finding a site along the lakefront.
Formal action was taken in court for the condemnation of lakefront property at McKinley Park on February 13, 1913. The site was
chosen because it was one of two large parcels that the city had reclaimed from
the lake bed, the other being the Northpoint Pumping Station. Both sites had
become popular recreation destinations for residents who had no other access to
the lakefront.
On May 26,
1913, the Common Council decided that “in view of the benefits to the city from
the relocation of said lifesaving station, and in view of the fact that the
United States of America has heretofore given the city a permit to fill in the
harbor for park purposes for a distance of 600 feet from the shore, the City of
Milwaukee waives any claims it may have for damages for the taking of said
piece of land for a site for the life saving station, and will accept a nominal
sum therefore (sic) as damages.” The resolution was adopted on May 13, 1915. A
newspaper account in the Milwaukee Sentinel of May 13, 1915 reported that the
Federal government would turn over its Jones Island
site in exchange for the new lakefront property.
Alfred C.
Clas, who had designed the Lake
Park pavilion with its
grand staircase and was busy with plans for the Lincoln Memorial Drive, submitted plans
for the Coast Guard Station that although not used, must have influenced the
Prairie style stucco structure.
Work on the
structure did not begin until 1915, and was completed and ready for occupancy
on April 17, 1916 when the Sentinel ran a photo of the building complete with
caption. The new facility was a three story, rectangular, Prairie Style
structure with a prominent five-story tower located at the southeast corner of
the building. It was more spacious than the Jones Island
station with accommodations for two powerboats, and other craft associated with
rescue work, private quarters for Captain Ingar Olsen and his family, and
quarters for up to eight crewmen. The new facility had a boat room and
apparatus room, but for motorized boats, not sailboats that required horses to
draw them out of the water. A one-story boathouse wing extended from the
building on its Lake Michigan façade and
extended north beyond the main block of the building.
The Coast
Guard would occupy the building until 1970. A new station was built at 2420 South Lincoln Memorial Drive
in Bay View, where they remain at present.
According
to the 3/15/08 Journal Sentinel article, “after the federal government closed
the old facility in 1971, the building was occupied in a political protest by
American Indian Movement activists and later became the first Indian Community
School in Milwaukee.” The school left the site after
1980 and the Milwaukee County Parks then considered using the facility for its
headquarters.
The county
purchased the site in 1987 for $200,000 when the federal government divested
itself of the surplus property. A National Register nomination was prepared for
the station in 1988 and the building was subsequently listed in the National
Register on August 7, 1989 based on architectural and historic significance.
Since that
time the old Coast Guard station has met with many challenges. A number of
proposals have been entertained for the building including a restaurant and
maritime museum in 1989. Objections from the DNR over private businesses on the
public lakefront quashed the restaurant proposal. A fire in the building in
1989 led the County
DPW to report the
structure as unsound.
An
environmental education center was considered for the site from 1997 to 2000
when the sponsor decided to move the facility to another location. In 2001 the
County voted to raze the building and was asked by the State Historical Society
to make a final attempt to seek proposals for the structure. A number of
proposals were received and reviewed by Milwaukee County
and the DNR among others. The HONOR proposal for a Wisconsin Indian History and
Cultural Center was considered the most
appropriate for the lakefront site. Since that time HONOR has attempted to
secure the necessary funding for the 4.1 million dollar project. The lease
between Milwaukee
County and HONOR expired
in March 2007, and the county gave the group a six-month extension. HONOR was
unable to reach its fundraising goal.
Today, if
you drive along the lakefront you will notice all that remains is the metal
pedestrian bridge that was likely built as part of the 1938 replacement of the
old Coast Guard station boathouse. The Parks Department plans to integrate the
bridge into the reconstructed bulkhead and landscaping around a proposed picnic
shelter.
Laurie M.
Albano compiled this article with information from the City of Milwaukee’s Interim Designation Study Report,
Coast Guard Station, August 2001, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and other
Milwaukee County Files
