The day after Indigenous Peoples' Day was celebrated around the country, Milwaukee County Parks has announced that work to remove a marker from a Lake Park burial mound has gotten underway.
The parks department said in a statement released Tuesday that it, "has initiated a respectful process to remove the marker from the Indigenous conical burial mound located in Lake Park."
The marker was installed on Sept. 9, 1910 at the behest of the Wisconsin Archaeological Society, but in modern times, the marker is viewed as disturbing and defacing the sacred mound, in part due to its placement at the peak of the mound.
This requires anyone who wants to read the inscription on the marker to walk on the what is a sacred site for Indigenous communities.
On May 9, County Parks staff held meetings to discuss the best way to remove the marker in a sensitive way. These talks included Ho-Chunk Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Bill Quackenbush, Amy Rosebrough and Taylor Lambrigger from the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO); and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Cultural Resource Management Program's Jennifer Haas and her team.
Early pioneer Milwaukee scientist Increase A. Lapham catalogued the many Indigenous mounds that once could be found all across the area, but today very few remain after most were destroyed as the city grew.
The Lake Park mound is one of two that survive in the county. The other is a mound at State Fair Park, which you can read about here.
The Lake Park site is believed to have been a village site and according to the marker there had been a group of mounds that were "destroyed in recent years." Several of the destroyed mounds were larger than the current one.
“This is a significant first step toward rightly honoring the sacred nature of the burial mound and respecting the cultural traditions of Indigenous communities,” said Milwaukee County Parks Executive Director Guy Smith. “We are dedicated to preserving the history of this land while ensuring that future generations can appreciate these important sites with the reverence they deserve.”
The marker will be quietly removed and any damaged turf will be repaired by parks staff, according to the statement. The work is being funded by the Milwaukee Parks Foundation.
"Removal of the marker and restoration of the mound’s surface represents Milwaukee County Parks’ commitment to improved stewardship of culturally significant sites," the statement says. "This initiative aligns with ongoing efforts to preserve and uplift Indigenous history and heritage within public spaces."
Even though the marker will no longer be on the site, Milwaukee County Parks urges Lake Park visitors that proper etiquette is to avoid walking on the mound.
The statement did not suggest that a fence would be erected around the mound, nor did it say if the marker or another sign will be posted nearby. A request, made late in the day, for more information has not received a response. This post will be updated when a response is received.
“Honoring the sacred nature of the burial mound in Lake Park is a vital part of our ongoing efforts to ensure our parks reflect respect for all cultures," said Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman.
"The removal of this defacement is just the start to ensuring its preservation for generations to come."
To learn about mounds across Wisconsin, visit wisconsinmounds.com.
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.
