Author: Lee Matz

Oar powered exploration offers unique water path through downtown

The Milwaukee County Historical Society and the Milwaukee Kayak Company have partnered for another year of tours along the waterway that transformed the former immigrant settlement into a major industrial hub. While efforts to utilize the Milwaukee River as a recreation destination have finally gained momentum in recent years, going near the river was unthinkable even a generation ago. The river had helped establish the city, and allowed it to prosper economically. But the industrial pollution and sewage diversion took its toll on the precious resource. The Milwaukee River is now what city planners envisioned over a century ago,...

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Photo Essay: Emancipation and community on Juneteenth Day

The 46th Annual Juneteenth Day Festival was held June 19 along Milwaukee’s MLK Drive, between Center and Burleigh Streets, attracting a crowd of thousands to celebrate the end of slavery that still lacks a national federal holiday. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and the enslaved were free. In the early years, little interest existed outside the African American community for participation in the Juneteenth celebrations. In some cases, there was hostile resistance by forbidding the...

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