reprinted with permission of Author David Boucher and Washington Park Beat Newspaper (phone call verbal permission Jan 5 2004)
http://www.riverwestcurrents.org/WPB/archives/002088.html to view original text
Ninety-eight years ago, the White City Amusement Park opened amidst great fanfare on July 4 in what is now the Martin Drive neighborhood. According to the Washington Heights tour book (1992), the park’s entrance was constructed in what had been a cornfield, across from the 15-year old Washington Park and Zoo. It was at the terminus of the Vliet Street car line and was the third amusement resort to open in Milwaukee in three years, rivaling Pabst Park and Wonderland in rides and amusements. The explosion of amusement parks paralleled expanded leisure time activities and yearning for adventure by a growing middle class in Milwaukee. It also closely followed early suburban development, as attractions often spurred speculation and real estate development.
Upon entering White City, one could view the entire 20-acre, 60-building southward sloping site. At night, incandescent lights outlined all the buildings and lit the nearly mile-long roller coaster. The lagoon was longer than any in the country, and the chutes were modeled upon those at the White City of Chicago World’s Fair, first opened in 1893. Over 7,000 persons attended on opening day. All afternoon, hundreds waited to ride the roller coaster that intermittently left riders stranded for as long as 20 minutes at the 135-foot precipice, which, as the Milwaukee Journal reported, “only gave spice to the sport.”
The amusement park survived for a few seasons but little is known of its demise. Over the next 15 years, most of the Martin Drive Neighborhood was developed with single family and duplex homes to the north, and an unrivalled collection of apartment buildings overlooking the Miller Valley, developed by the Martin Drive Real Estate Company, lining Martin Drive.
Today, the neighborhood stands as a shining star among west side neighborhoods. Thanks to far-sighted officials in the early 20th century, real estate speculation and development stopped at Washington Park, leaving the neighborhood with a 100-acre front yard. The result has been a somewhat more tempered neighborhood evolution from Milwaukee’s manufacturing to service economy.
According to the 2000 census, Martin Drive is one of the most ethnically balanced west side neighborhoods. Almost one-half of the 2,200 residents are African-American, one-third are white, almost one-tenth are Asian, with the remaining tenth split between Hispanic and others, according to Making Connections Milwaukee.
High homeownership, modest (to metro standards) housing values, and high-quality rental housing have combined to make the neighborhood a desirable place for a wide cross-section of residents to call home.
reprinted with permission of Author David Boucher original text available at link below: