North Milwaukee Looks to Highway History to Reshape the Future

Before the freeways came in, Bronzeville, on Milwaukee’s North Side, was a vibrant neighborhood known for its restaurants, bars and jazz scene. The area had been home to successive waves of immigrants and most recently had become the heart of the city’s Black community.

But it suffered a major blow in the 1960s when large swaths of the neighborhood were razed to make way for elevated freeways, part of a nationwide highway construction boom.

The new highways spurred a mass exodus of white residents to the suburbs — at the expense of Black communities like Bronzeville. “It became more important to move [commuters] smoothly from their [suburban] homes to downtown,” said Clayborn Benson, the founder and executive director of the Wisconsin Black Historical Society/ Museum. “That was the ultimate goal.”

Families and businesses in areas like Bronzeville were displaced, and the ripple effects are still being felt today, Benson said.

“Eventually, those neighborhoods became economically deprived,” he said. “You can still see that today, just like you can see economic development in certain areas of the city and not others.” Today, Milwaukee is one of the most segregated cities in the United States.

“Eventually, those neighborhoods became economically deprived,” he said. “You can still see that today, just like you can see economic development in certain areas of the city and not others.” Today, Milwaukee is one of the most segregated cities in the United States.

For the residents whose homes were spared but now bordered highways, their reward was an increased exposure to pollutants, higher asthma rates and other health problems such as cardiovascular disease.

But today, cities across the country are reconsidering the highways stretching through their communities, and some are pushing for them to be torn down altogether.

In downtown Milwaukee, about five miles south of Bronzeville, Rethink I-794 is advocating for replacing Interstate 794’s overpass with a pedestrian-friendly boulevard linking the city center with the trendy Third Ward district and the waterfront.