Galena Park Playground“Why is this playground not placed in a more conspicuous location? It would have been a better option if it was placed on the empty lot on the other side of the street” exclaimed members of the 2021 BLC field school as they walked past the Galena Park Garden. The playground is located along the 31st street between W Walnut Street and W Galena Street. The playground has a variety of play equipment including swings, slides, and seats.
The Galena Park playground was installed in the fall of 2018. It was developed as part of the city of Milwaukee’s MKE Play Initiative- an initiative conceived by Alderman Michael Murphy, to transform 14 of Milwaukee's most deteriorated playgrounds into models for collaboration and renovation. The playground was funded by GreenBay Packers and Gorman & Company, a real estate firm that built the affordable housing development across from the playground. Deshon Kizer, a then-backup for the GreenBay packers provided manual labor during the construction phase of the playground. History of the site Records from the Milwaukee City Assessment office show that an auto repair shop with a concrete exterior stood on this site. Built around 1890, the building was 2 unit commercial structure. Interestingly, the timeline feature of the Google Maps Street view also shows that there was a building on the site in July 2007, but the building was no longer present on the site by June 2011. The Milwaukee County Land Information Parcel Report shows that the City of Milwaukee Redevelopment Authority currently owns that land, and the plot is zoned as an industrial site. Galena Park Playground, documentation by Ifedayo Kehinde, July 2021. |