Washington Highlands Historic District

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Washington Highlands Historic District
Washington-Highlands-Dist Aug09.jpg
Washington Highlands Historic District
Location Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
Coordinates 43°03′11″N87°59′27″W / 43.05298°N 87.99094°W / 43.05298; -87.99094
NRHP reference No. 89002121
Added to NRHPDecember 18, 1989

The Washington Highlands Historic District is a historic subdivision in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, planned by Hegemann & Peets starting in 1916. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. [1] [2]

Contents

The Washington Highlands has a rich history and is known for its large, unique, and stately homes. The Historic District is bordered by 68th Street, 60th Street, Milwaukee Avenue, and Lloyd Street. [3]

History

The land the district now sits on was once owned by Frederick Pabst, the founder of Pabst Brewing Company. [1] After Pabst's death, the land was platted for subdivisions. In 1916, Werner Hegemann and his firm designed the neighborhood that would become the district. Influenced by the garden city movement, their design preserved natural features like Schoonmaker Creek and parklands, and emphasized the natural terrain with curving streets. [1]

The neighborhood was the first in the Milwaukee area to adopt formal racial covenant exclusionary restrictions enforcing white-only residences. In 1919, the subdivision imposed the covenant that cited "at no time shall the land included in Washington Highlands or any part thereof, or any building thereon be purchased, owned, leased or occupied by any person other than of white race." [4] [5] Exceptions were possible for domestic servants. [6]

Further, financial institutions further aligned this segregation through redlining following guidelines of the Federal Housing Administration and Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) which designated the new subdivision as green or “Grade A” as a “highly restricted and exclusive area,” which prevented Black and other non-white applicants from being approved for home loans in the area. [7] The federal government justified these rules enforcing segregation, which were enacted nationally, as protecting property values and reducing “credit risk” from the “infiltration of inharmonious racial groups.” [8] A HOLC brochure in the period noted Washington Highlands “permits a wide latitude of discrimination in accepting residents,” which was considered an attractive feature. [9]

Washington Highlands, listed as A6, was one of few neighborhoods in region marked as "green" to encourage whites-only redlining. Source: US National Archives Apl-demographics-segregation-milwaukee-redlining-holc-map-crop.jpg
Washington Highlands, listed as A6, was one of few neighborhoods in region marked as “green” to encourage whites-only redlining. Source: US National Archives

These restrictions remained in place until the made illegal by the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, which was supported locally by the 1967-1968 Open Housing housing marches led by the Milwaukee chapter of NAACP Youth Council, Vel R. Phillips, and James Groppi. [10] However, the legacy of these practices continue to the present, as the neighborhood’s demographics have remained fairly consistently homogenous, with 87% of residents being white as of 2020 US Census. [11] The broader metropolitan area consistently ranks as one of the most racially-segregated in the United States. [12]

The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989, as well as designated a Wauwatosa Landmark in 1991. [1] [13]

Architectural styles

The NRHP historic district is large, including 323 contributing structures in various styles. [14] Here are some examples:

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Washington Highlands Historic District". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  2. "Washington Highlands Historic District". Landmark Hunter.com. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
  3. "About Us". Washington Highlands.org. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
  4. "How Redlining Continues To Shape Racial Segregation In Milwaukee". UW Applied Population Lab. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  5. "Racially Restrictive Covenants: The Making of All- White Suburbs in Milwaukee County". Metropolitan Integration Research Center. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  6. "Do You Have a Racist Deed?". Wisconsin Realtors Association. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  7. "How Redlining Continues To Shape Racial Segregation In Milwaukee". UW Applied Population Lab. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  8. "Federal Reserve History: Redlining". FederalReserveHistory.org. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  9. "How Redlining Continues To Shape Racial Segregation In Milwaukee". UW Applied Population Lab. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  10. "Open housing marches placed spotlight on racial discrimination, segregation". Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  11. "Race and Ethnicity in Washington Highlands, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin". Statistics Atlas. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  12. "After a half-century of federal oversight, segregated neighborhoods are still pervasive: ABC News analysis". ABC News. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  13. "Washington Highlands Historic District". Landmark Hunter.com. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Bruce E. Lynch; Cynthia D. Lynch (September 28, 1988). "NRHP Inventory/Nomination: Washington Highlands Historic District". National Park Service . Retrieved November 27, 2018. With 71 photos.
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  21. "Charles and Florence Gezelschap House". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
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  23. "6167 Washington Cir". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  24. "Nutrition Niche/Kohl's Hairdressing". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
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  27. "William H. and Harriet Powell House". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
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