Editor, Author at Milwaukee Independent

Final work underway as Welford Sanders Historic Lofts prepares for occupancy

Posted by Editor | Feb 7, 2018 |

After more than a year of renovations, the 1916 industrial building used by the Nunn Bush shoe company will begin filling up with renters and fulfill the dream of Welford Sanders to give area families an affordable place to live. The last phase of the Welford Sanders Historic Lofts development began in February 2017 and three floors will be completed this month for rental occupancy at the beginning of March. The $21 million project was a historic renovation that transformed the underutilized and deteriorating building into office space and 59 new housing units. One of the important but least...

Black Cat Alley’s winter event combined fire, ice, and actual cats from Sip & Purr

Posted by Editor | Feb 6, 2018 |

The open air gallery, Black Cat Alley, hosted its first live art performance of the winter with “Fire on Ice” on February 3. Dozens of residents came to the alley, running from Kenilworth to Ivanhoe between Farwell and Prospect Avenues, to watch artists Renee Bebeau and Todd Mrozinski paint campfire images on a nearly six-foot-tall slab of ice. Several visitors participated in the public painting session. The weather also provided a fitting atmosphere by sprinkling more than a inch of snow during the event. “We wanted to focus on something cozy in the middle of the winter. We are...

Joyce Mallory: Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges

Posted by Editor | Feb 5, 2018 |

The Jewish Museum Milwaukee screened the film “From Swastika to Jim Crow” on February 1 to a full house, as part of a community engagement series supporting its new exhibit “Allied in the Fight: Jews, Blacks and the Struggle for Civil Rights.” Based on a book by the late author Gabrielle Simon Edgecomb, From Swastika to Jim Crow tells the little-known story of Jewish refugee scholars who escaped Nazi persecution by fleeing to America, and when faced with anti-Semitic sentiment at mainstream American universities, were hired for positions at historically black colleges and universities (HCBUs) in the then-segregated South....

Voces de la Frontera’s Annual Assembly highlights Wisconsin immigrant leadership

Posted by Editor | Jan 30, 2018 |

Hundreds of participants attended the Annual Assembly for Voces de la Frontera at Ascension Lutheran Church on January 27. The nonprofit hosted the collaborative event, which attracted the largest gathering of immigrant leaders in Wisconsin, to decide organizational goals and priorities for 2018. Among the subjects were the fight for the clean Dream Act, the campaign against 287g in Waukesha, and the anti-immigrant state bill AB190. “In the past two weeks, we have seen raids in southeast Wisconsin targeting immigrant fathers who work in the dairy and restaurant industries. We have seen 800,000 Dreamers stripped of DACA protections and...

Milwaukee celebrates 172nd birthday by “Toasting Tradition”

Posted by Editor | Jan 29, 2018 |

Incorporated in 1846, the City of Milwaukee turned 172 on January 25, with a birthday celebration held for the municipality at Bartolotta’s Grain Exchange. The Milwaukee Press Club, the oldest continuously operating press club in North America, has hosted the annual birthday party for the City of Milwaukee. It is an event that brings together business and community members to celebrate another year of Milwaukee history. For 2018, the event theme was “Toasting Tradition: A Celebration of Milwaukee’s Brewing Heritage,” and it recognized 172 years of brewing with a contest to award Milwaukee’s beer enthusiasts. The city’s heritage has...

A quiet pitch begins to save the Big Red Church

Posted by Editor | Jan 26, 2018 |

Calvary Presbyterian has existed on the corner of N. 10th Street and W. Wisconsin Avenue since it was built in 1870, and after 148 years the downtown landmark finds itself at a critical crossroad for repairs. Informally known as the Big Red Church, it was the first building in the area designed by the master architect Henry C. Koch, who later went on to design Milwaukee’s City Hall and the Pfister Hotel. In 1986, Calvary Presbyterian became one of the city’s first religious buildings to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an example of Neo-Gothic...