The City of Milwaukee may receive a grant to fund "an intensive-level" survey of the city's churches erected between 1920 and 1980.
On Monday, the City's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee recommended that the Common Council approve of a resolution to accept the $46,500 grant, which would underwrite a deep dive into the 200 churches built here during the 60-year period.
The Certified Local Government grant would come from the Wisconsin Historical Society and the survey would be overseen by the City's Historic Preservation Commission (HPC).
The council will take up the proposal on March 1.
“Milwaukee has a wealth of richly diverse and architecturally significant houses of worship built before and after World War II that deserve deeper study and documentation for today and for our future generations," said Ald. José G. Pérez, chair of the ZND Committee.
"The study will especially look at churches in neighborhoods mainly occupied by people of color that have largely been ignored. This grant will allow us to do just that.”
One such church, All Saints Catholic, 4051 N. 25th St., is pictured above.
The most recent such survey, "City of Steeples," was completed in 1996 and the goal of the current report is to expand on its predecessor by exploring later-era buildings, “with an eye toward documenting Milwaukee’s Black and non-Christian religious histories."
Only a handful of churches from the period 1920 and later were included in "City of Steeples."
You can read a PDF of "City of Steeples" here.
According to a statement issued Tuesday, "HPC will engage in citywide outreach, focusing on 20th-century targets in every aldermanic district.
"The grant will allow the HPC to initiate an outreach process in areas of the city and communities that have not traditionally interacted with the HPC, and expand public understanding of Milwaukee history and Modern architecture."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
