MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee historians call Sherman Park one of the last melting pots in our city.
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The nation watched as Sherman Park unraveled into chaos.
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Members of the community that includes Fred Curzan, Executive Director of the Sherman Park Community Association, want you to know the roughly eight blocks under turmoil, is just a fraction of the community which spans about thirty blocks.
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"Quite frankly if it happens here it can happen anywhere," said Curzan.
- SPECIAL SECTION: Sherman Park Healing
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Historian Clayborn Benson, Exec. Director of the Wisconsin Black Historical Society, shares the treasure trove of Sherman Park history that began in the early 1900's.
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"The Perrot Family granted this park to the City of Milwaukee, and the city then later changed the name to William Sherman after General Sherman, the Civil War general," said Benson.
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Benson says it was a predominately German community, but that quickly changed.
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Rabbi Chaim Twerski shows us a photo of his great great-grandfather, whose pilgrimage from Ukraine to Milwaukee in the 1920's forever changed this area.
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"I am currently raising the fifth generation of Twerski family members in the Sherman Park Neighborhood," said Rabbi Chaim Twerski.
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Rabbi Twerski's ancestors helped found Congregation Beth Jehuda. Roughly 200 Orthodox Jewish families who followed the Twerski's have never left.
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"We want to be part of whatever is going to be happening moving forward," said Rabbi Chaim Twerski.
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Diversity created in the decades that follow is what keeps the Twerski's here.
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By 1960, this neighborhood was filled with a beautiful stock of homes that stands today.
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The activism to preserve these neighborhoods over the next two decades resulted from the Sherman Park Community Association.
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"Really to stop freeway expansion that was coming through the neighborhood," said Cruzan.
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While the predominant makeup of this community today is 80 percent African American, Benson tells us the African-American community did not begin to grow here until the 1980's.
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Unfortunately, unemployment plagues several areas of Sherman Park today. Curzan tell us some homeowners are having trouble keeping up paying property taxes.
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The Sherman Park Community Association that now sits between two burned businesses, needs more help than ever.
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"We do have a capacity issue and we can barely do what we do now," said Curzan.
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This community can't do it all on their own but are ready to.
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"People are activists they'll roll up their sleeves they'll address the issues that we have," Cruzan said.
Healing in Sherman Park: More Stories
- Bud Selig Shares Stories And Memories Of Sherman Park
- Calls For Sheriff To Keep Sherman Park Open Later Than 6 p.m. Fall On Deaf Ears
- Century City Business Park Could Bring Thousands Of Jobs To The North Side
- Funeral Held for Sylville Smith
- Group Works To Bring Jobs Back to Sherman Park
- Local Leader Sees Path Forward After Violence
- Mayor Tom Barrett Looks Back On Weekend Of Violence In Sherman Park
- Milwaukee Historians Call Sherman Park One Of Last Melting Pots In The City
- Realtor Says She's Seen Little Impact On Sherman Park Listings
- Sherman Park's Washington High School Has History That Reaches 100 Years
- Skepticism And Support For Police In Wake Of Sherman Park Violence
- Suburban Family Lays Down Roots In Sherman Park
