New Third Ward park would reuse railroad trestle
A small city park that would help complete Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward RiverWalk would feature a redeveloped railroad trestle.
Trestle Park would use a city-owned vacant lot at 501 E. Erie St., as well as the trestle that juts out over the Milwaukee River, under the new proposal.
The plan is to begin work creating that park this fall, with a possible completion by year’s end, according to the Department of City Development.
Trestle Park would include a RiverWalk, benches, green space and the conversion of the former railroad trestle into public space.
The proposal was approved Wednesday by the Historic Third Ward Architectural Review Board. It also will need Plan Commission and Common Council approval.
Trestle Park’s cost estimate is still being determined, said Alyssa Remington, a city economic development specialist.
Those costs would be covered by property taxes generated by nearby new commercial developments, including the neighboring Domus apartments, 441 E. Erie St.
The six-story, 132-unit Domus will open in July.
Its RiverWalk segment, along with the Trestle Park segment, will complete the RiverWalk within the Historic Third Ward.
That portion of the city’s RiverWalk system runs roughly 1 mile, from just north of E. Clybourn St. to the harbor.
The Department of City Development has planned to develop Trestle Park since buying the lot from Union Pacific Corp. in 2013.
The purchase included the railroad trestle. That trestle once connected to a railroad swing bridge, which Union Pacific still owns but no longer uses.
Trestle Park would have mostly green space on the land portion, said project architect Jim Shields, HGA vice president.
The trestle would have its
deteriorating ties replaced with a new wooden platform, enclosed by a railing.
Trestle Park would include a Bublr Bikes bike sharing station near Erie St., and several benches and planters. The end of the trestle also would have metal tables and chairs.
“So, year round, there
would be lots of places to sit,” Shields told board members. That’s a key factor in getting people to use a park, he said.
A tribute to Irish immigrants to Milwaukee might be part of Trestle Park.
Robert Lynch, a Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design professor, has been working with Barry Stapleton, who’s involved with the annual Irish Fest celebration, on the proposed memorial.
Students in a summer
MIAD class are creating a design, Lynch told board members. His hope is to have a proposed design completed when the sixweek class ends at the end of June.
However, board members Ron San Felippo and Ald. Robert Bauman said the memorial would be better suited for Erie Plaza. That public space overlooks the harbor at the end of Erie St., about two blocks southeast of Trestle Park.
Many 19th century immigrants from Ireland to Milwaukee initially settled in the Historic Third Ward.
The neighborhood includes a historic marker, at the southeast corner of N. Water and E. Erie streets, to the 1860 sinking of the Lady Elgin in Lake Michigan. At least 300 lives were lost, mainly from the Irish community.