On a mezzanine overlooking the first floor of ThriveOn King, residents of Halyard Park gathered to reminisce and share memories of the original residents of the historic Black neighborhood on Milwaukee’s North Side.
Community members brought personal photographs and ephemera to a Memory Lounge event on Aug. 28 at ThriveOn King, 2153 N. Martin Luther King Drive, a community hub located at the nexus of the Halyard Park, Brewers Hill and Harambee neighborhoods. Residents brought their items there to be digitized to help preserve the neighborhood’s history.
“This event today is for the neighbors to come together, reminisce and share memories of their time in the neighborhood,” said Cydney Key, senior director of ThriveOn guest experience and strategic partnerships.
Key said they are digitizing some of the residents’ special memories, like photos and booklets, collected from past decades, in preparation for Halyard Park’s 50th anniversary celebration on Sept. 19.
The redevelopment of the Halyard Park neighborhood began in 1976 under the leadership of Beechie O. Brooks, a Black real estate broker and developer from Milwaukee who passed away in 2017.
Brooks envisioned a suburban-style subdivision for Milwaukee’s Black middle class. The development created over 40 single-family homes across several city blocks.
Columbia Savings & Loan Association helped finance Brooks’ development. Ardie Clark Halyard and her husband, Wilbur Halyard, founded the Black-owned institution in 1924 to help Black Milwaukeeans obtain mortgages at a time when discriminatory lending practices restricted their access to homeownership.
Lennie Mosley, Halyard Park resident
“They started building (Halyard Park) in 1980. I moved in March of 1981,” Mosley said.
What she enjoys about the neighborhood: “The quietness, the communication with the neighbors. We know each other. We have a list of the neighbors, their phone numbers, their addresses, their email addresses. We can call and take care of each other.”
Why she stays in the neighborhood: “I love it, and it’s spacious. We’re not so close together. We have monthly meetings, and those meetings are very informative. We are blessed to have such a nice area in the middle of the city of Milwaukee.”
Her concerns for the future of the neighborhood: “My main concern is that we’re getting older. The original residents in Halyard Park are being pushed out because the price of the homes has escalated so fast, and we are on fixed incomes. It’s only four of the men left. And the children who moved away, and they’re not coming back to Milwaukee. I’m just going to stay focused and stay on top of things to see how things are going to move in the next five or six years as we age out.”
Mary Johnson, Halyard Park resident
“Milwaukee’s my home, and I came here in the early ’80s. When I came to Milwaukee, I didn’t come here to stay, but then I met my husband, Samuel,” Johnson said.
How she hopes the neighborhood is remembered: “For that camaraderie that we have. When I first moved in, it was all African Americans. Everybody got along. No fighting or anything like that. We talked to each other. We got to know our neighbors, and so I hope it’s remembered for the rich history that Halyard Park has. It was our own African American community.”
Why it was important for her to include a photo of her husband: “Because he (Samuel) was a community man, he has a heart for the people and has always wanted to make things better for African Americans. He was a housing rehabber, so he owned houses, he rehabbed his own houses, and he always tried to make housing affordable for African Americans.”
Freida Webb, Halyard Park resident
“I walked to high school from this area, from 2nd and Brown, to Lincoln High School,” Webb said. “I’ve lived in the Halyard Park neighborhood as a homeowner since ’79.”
What she brought to be scanned: “This is my neighbor, Stella Love; we’ve done work together. She has had some surgery, so she’s not able to be as mobile as she’d like to be, so I brought them for her.”
Her hopes for the scanned photos: “My hope is that we have a billboard of as many original homeowners of Halyard Park at the celebration as possible, so when people tour this building, as well as tour the neighborhood, they’ll see the faces behind it.”
How she hopes the neighborhood is remembered: “For being a place where kids can go out and play without having to be worried about being disrespected, or speeding cars and things of that nature. I hope that young people see the value in these communities; many young people don’t want to live in the city.”
Kitonga Alexander, executive director of the Bronzeville Histories Institute
Why it’s important for residents to come out and bring their primary sources: “Halyard Park still exists as this singular entity, but the bigger notion is: How do we bring about another Halyard Park, or another development in similar form? This type of event becomes so important, especially when bringing in youth, because they can actually see that process. They can see what took place. These were people who had an idea and a vision, and then put that vision into application.”
Why it’s important to host these events: “The thing I think about, and of course this is my historian’s mind, is that the things we do right now are setting the groundwork. The information that we will be bringing today, especially with these photos and different artifacts, is actually going to be digitized, which then allows people to access them in easier ways. It allows future historians an easier way to access the history.”
The 50th anniversary celebration for Halyard Park is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 19. It will include the unveiling of a statue honoring Brooks at Gaines Triangle, 2043 N. 6th St., followed by a community gathering at ThriveOn King.
“I would love for folks to come and join the celebration in September because what you see today is a reflection of decades of work, effort and energy that’s been put into making this area what it is now,” Key said.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
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