Bethune Community GardenA colorful sign bearing a slogan “I wanna grow up, don’t pluck,” stood at the Bethune Community Garden in 2019. Now, that board is no longer there, neither is the garden. This summer, we painstakingly searched for this lost world of dreams and hopes.
Located in 1601 N. 35th Street, Bethune Community Garden was once a vibrant public space for the community, especially for the kids who lived or went to school in the area. The garden was created by the locals such as Ms. Rosalind Cox and Mr. Muneer Bahauddeen in collaboration with Victory Garden Initiative, Bethune Academy, Westside Academy, and Our Next Generation organization. The team designed 15 garden beds filled with flowers and plants. They placed benches and playground, built a fire pit, and organized an array of colorful stones in a circle in the middle of the garden. Artist Muneer Bahauddeen, worked with local kids in order to create his signature artwork called Peace Posts. Dozens of Peace Posts were installed in the garden. Each installation contained a little strip of paper with the children’s dreams and hopes for their self, family, and the community written on them. Today the space looks abandoned, “a lot of things started disappearing from the garden,” explained Ms. Cox. The Peace Posts still stand tall alongside overgrown garden beds and the array of stones that have lost their colors. No one really knows the cause of the disappearance of this garden. We heard rumors, complaints, and a collective sense of loss. “This was a nice park…you need to bring back life…when they had the plants and things like that, that represents life to me. It’s right across the street from the school, that’s the saddest part…How can you do something like that? And these kids come outside every day, and they want to learn,” Thomas Dion White, a resident in Galena Street, expressed his concern to us. Despite its condition, some people continue to return to the Bethune Garden to find some shade on a hot summer day. Many use the cow-path to take a shortcut. Others such as Ms. Rosalind Cox regularly clean trash left in the garden. Ms. Cox explains that “Sometime I come out here and I’ll clean up. Yesterday, I got two bags, all kind of trash out there.” Located in a strategic spot, at the intersection of West Galena and North 35th Street, the area of Bethune Garden that has at least two addresses (1601 and 1607) has undergone several changes in the span of decades. Some buildings were built there, occupied by different owners, and used for purposes that frequently changed before they were demolished. 1601 N 35th Street (521 Western Avenue: old address) In 1910, local builder, J. D Steuerwald, requested a permit to the City to build a two story mixed use building with a wooden frame. A 1935 permit document shows that the first-floor store had a recessed corner entrance at that time, and a side staircase led into the upper unit. In 1922, a new owner, A. O. Meier, built a steel garage in 521 N 35th Street. The Daniel B. Danielson papers at the Milwaukee County Historical society mention one A. O. Meier as a local pharmacist. The 1910 Sanborn insurance map shows a drugstore was built on 521 Western Avenue (old address for 1601 N 35th Street). Meanwhile, the 1930 Milwaukee City Directory mentions that Parkway Pharmacy once existed at the same address. There is a possibility that both are actually the same place. We also can safely speculate that Meier operated the drugstore and lived on the upper unit. A 1924 permit for an enclosed outside stairway shows Mr. Tompson as the owner of this property. By 1935, City records show that Leo Spitz occupied the house's first floor and the lower unit served as a grocery store replacing a drug store that used to be there. In 1936, the property owner, Steve Behnke, allowed Frank Marz to open a meat market here. To support his business, Marz installed a domestic refrigerating system. In 1938, the Bureau of Building and Elevator Inspection's Preliminary and Complaint inspection records showed John R. Sficher as the owner, and it documents a complaint about an enclosed front porch construction. However, the accompanying plan of the building seems very different, with a back stair and northside entry porch. (see figure 3.)
A fire burned part of the property in March 1949. The total loss was estimated at around $1200. The fire started among rubbish in the basement and extended to the building. Not long after that, Harry Ketay, the owner of the dwelling and store building, requested a permit to repair the place. The ownership of the store and dwelling building in this address also changed a couple of times in the 1950s. A 1952 permit shows Schlitz Brewing Company as the owner of this building, but another 1953 permit shows Chas. H. Jurss as the owner. Jurss made considerable investments in the place. He requested a permit to shake insulated siding in 1953. He also erected one rope awning and installed a wall heater and gas in 1956. In the early 1960s, Purity Soap Company was operated on the first-floor store. Seven years later, a 1969 permit mentions that a retail soap store, Wash Day Soap Company, occupied the place. By 1970, Chas. H. Jurss allowed E. Schwartz to occupy the store. As mentioned in a 1970 permit, Schwartz turned the place into a general household merchandise retail sale. In the same year, the landlord granted his company, Schwartz Industrial Service Dealers in General Merchandise, a full use privilege of the building's water facility. In 1978, the 2 ½ story property owned by Helen Steiner was then demolished and razed. 1607 N. 35th Street (525 Western Avenue: old street) The 1940 manuscript census schedule mentions Susan Spehn as the owner of the house. Spehn, a 59-year-old widow, lived by herself. The 1930 City Directory shows the name Oscar Spehn who lived in 525 Western Ave (old address of 1607 N. 35th Street). He was probably her spouse or relative. Susan Spehn did not have an occupation and not looking for a job at the time. She relied on non-salary money she received from a source that was not described on the census. Susan Spehn had a frame garage in her house. A 1940 document from the City's inspector of buildings instructed the garage to be razed in 1940 because it was dilapidated. Not long after, in 1941, a new owner of the building at 1607, E. W. Marquardt, requested a permit to enclose the house's front porch (see figure 4.) Two families lived in this 1½ story house. From the plan, it could be seen the house located between two buildings: neighbors store and dwelling (1601 N. 35th Street) and another dwelling. In 1948, the house's owner transitioned to R. Buck. As noted in a 1948 permit, Buck applied for an installment of asbestos shingles over the house's wood siding. By 1954, two rooms on the first floor functioned as an office then turned into a business place. Here, the new owner, Earl Manke, opened a tv and radio service and repair. Although the purpose was changed, the building remained old. It had one dwelling unit on the first floor occupied by the owner and another one on the second floor. In Winter 1956, Manke requested a permit to install one oil conversion burner.
In March 1981, Walter C. Calvin, whose address is on 1607 N. 35th Street, received a code of violation regarding the surface of the building's parking area. The document says that the City's construction inspector ordered Calvin to make it "permanent, hard, and using dust-free surface" such as "asphalt, asphalt macadam, tarmacadam, or concrete." Only a month apart, in April 1981, a code of violation was sent to Archie Holmes with the address 1607 N. 35th Street. Based on the document, the construction inspector of the Department of Building Inspection and Safety Engineering instructed Holmes to "discontinue at once the storage of building materials and rubbish in the rear yard of the above mentioned premises." A letter issued on January 1987 and signed by the City's building inspection supervisor states the Redevelopment Authority owned the 2½ story dwelling in 1607 N. 35th Street. Further, the document explains that the building would be demolished. By February 1987, the City released a permit to raze the house. Prior to that, the city plumbing inspection issued a permit to seal the sanitary services at the house. Rosalind Cox and Thomas Dion White, interview by Ni Made Frischa Aswarini, July 2021 |
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