Milwaukee is home to dozens of different neighborhoods.
Here’s what you need to know about the Metcalfe Park neighborhood, which has a population of about 3,000.
Where is Metcalfe Park?
Former mayor Johannes Norquist and the City of Milwaukee established the current boundaries of Metcalfe Park in 1990.
The northern boundary of Metcalfe Park is West Center Street and the southern boundary is West North Avenue. The eastern border is North 27th Street and the western border is North 38th Street.
Before Metcalfe Park got its name
The first European settlers in the Metcalfe Park neighborhood were Germans who traveled west from the Milwaukee River in the 1870s until settling in the North Division area.
Eventually, more settlers arrived and industry began to develop along North 30th Street next to the Milwaukee Road railroad. Between 1890 and 1910, the region prospered and grew into one of the largest industrial concentrations in the city, second only to the Menomonee Valley.
In 1939, Master Lock arrived and brought a national brand to the neighborhood. The company closed that historic factory in 2023.
North Avenue began to flourish for small business owners and retailers from many different backgrounds, including Germans, Chinese, Croats, Russians, Jews, Austrians, Bohemians, French Canadians, Hungarians, French, and Poles.
Businesses within the corridor included grocers, butchers, healthcare providers, cleaners, hardware stores and hairdressers. There were also two theaters.
By the late 1950s, the neighborhood’s racial makeup began to change as blacks began migrating to the neighborhood in search of housing and jobs. The migration followed the destruction of more than 8,000 homes in the historic Black Bronzeville neighborhood. Today, just under 90% of the neighborhood is black.
Deindustrialization hit Metcalfe Park hard from the 1980s, leading to job losses and an increase in crime. The city razed a number of blighted buildings nearby in the 1990s in an effort to revitalize the region.
Metcalfe Park named after an all-time Olympic athlete
As part of Norquist’s efforts to donate resources to the neighborhood whose boundaries had then recently been established, the city also decided to choose a new name for the neighborhood that would reflect the community.
Ralph Metcalfe, a graduate of Marquette University, was a U.S. gold medalist in track. The Chicago native competed in the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, where he and Jesse Owens ran for the U.S. Olympic team in the 400-meter relay. In the end, they took home the gold. Metcalfe also won a silver medal in the 100 meters, losing to Owens. Metcalfe subsequently retired from competitive sports after being one of the top sprinters in the US in the 1930s.
After a career as a teacher and coach and later in World War II, Metcalfe entered the political sphere, rising from director of Chicago’s Department of Civil Rights to alderman and temporary chairman of the City Council to member of the U.S. House of Representatives in the United States . span of 30 years.
During his time as a politician, Metcalfe helped found the Congressional Black Caucus and co-sponsored legislation that would eventually declare February as Black History Month.
There is also a street, park and school named after Metcalfe nearby.
Neighborhood group tries to change the story
Today, Metcalfe Park is still feeling the effects of the economic downturn.
The neighborhood was featured in Harvard Public Health Magazine in 2022 for being one of the unhealthiest, poorest and most unsafe communities in the country due to structural racism. According to the report, the FBI said Metcalfe Park was considered one of the three most dangerous neighborhoods in Milwaukee.
According to data from Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, the average median annual income in the neighborhood was less than $27,000 from 2015 to 2019. About 42% of residents lived below the poverty line and about 44% of households were single mothers. About one in five male residents was unemployed.
Local residents and community organizations remain committed to revitalizing the neighborhood and changing the narrative.
“If you looked up Metcalfe Park 10 years ago, the narrative around our community was, to be honest, terrible s—,” said Melody McCurtis, deputy director of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, a resident-led community organization in Metcalfe Park . . “When you look at Metcalfe Park now, you see the beauty, the magic, the joy, the resilience, the success (and) the genius of the people who live here.”
The nonprofit has worked to revitalize the neighborhood over the past decade by building “pocket parks” on vacant land and organizing their neighbors around community events, McCurtis said. The group believes in the age-old concept of mutual aid, where people take responsibility for caring for each other.
What parks, libraries, schools and pantries are in Metcalfe Park?
The pocket parks, where playground equipment, benches and games like chess are added to vacant land, are scattered throughout the neighborhood, including one at 34th and Center streets called Metcalfe Park Rising.
The Roger and Leona Fitzsimonds Boys & Girls Club provides recreational and educational opportunities for youth and is located in Metcalfe Park, 3400 W. North Ave.
A number of other educational locations are located in the Metcalfe Park neighborhood. Milwaukee College Preparatory School is on 36th Street and Clarke Street Public School is on West Clarke Street. The high school named after Ralph Metcalfe is located on North Avenue.
The Milwaukee Public Library Center Street Branch is located at the corner of Center Street and West Fond du Lac Avenue. “I really want to highlight the library,” McCurtis said. “They do a lot of great things, not just for youth, but for adults as well.”
The Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center operates a community pantry at 29th and Center streets that provides food to people and families in crisis.
“The JCC Pantry often collaborates on a lot of our health fairs, a lot of our block parties, a lot of our different events and activations that we do within the community,” McCurtis said.
There are two main city parks: Butterfly Park at 38th and Meinecke Streets and Metcalfe Park at 33rd and Meinecke Streets, which will have a new playing field.
This research comes from previous reporting in the Journal Sentinel, John Gurda’s “Milwaukee, City of Neighborhoods,” Urban Anthropology Inc and Encyclopedia of Milwaukee.
New to the area? Here’s how to access Milwaukee’s services
Metcalfe Park is part of the 15th Aldermanic District. Contact your councilor and find district news at city.milwaukee.gov/CommonCouncil/CouncilMembers/District15.
Metcalfe Park falls within Police District 3. Public meetings occur once a month at District 3, 2333 N. 49th Street. Visit https://city.milwaukee.gov/police/districts/District-3 for more information.
Find your trash and recycling schedule at city.milwaukee.gov/sanitation/GarbageRecyclingSchedules.
Learn how to register to vote and find your polling place at city.milwaukee.gov/election/Voter-Info.
Do you need to borrow tools for a home improvement project? Visit the city’s Tool Loan Center, 2500 W. Capitol Drive. More details at bit.ly/MKE_ToolLoan.
Would you like to receive email updates about police activities, new developments and more in your area? Sign up for the city’s e-notification system at city.milwaukee.gov/News-Events/enotify.
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This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Here’s a guide to Milwaukee’s Metcalfe Park neighborhood
