28. Historic Layton Boulevard Vintage Homes and The Domes Boundaries: W. Evergreen Lane, W. Burnham St., S. 16th St., S. 29th St. Distance: Approximately 4.25 miles Difficulty: Easy Parking: S. 28th St., just north of W. Burnham St. Public Transit: MCTS route 54 (Burnham) and Purple Line (Layton) Architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright was a lifelong Wisconsin resident, and his structures exist throughout the state, including an entire block of homes on the east end of the Burnham Park neighborhood. This walk spends some time on Historic Layton Boulevard, which was once Milwaukee's city limit, and circles through the Mitchell Park neighborhood and the Clarke Square neighborhood, one of Milwaukee's most densely populated. According to Urban Anthropology, the area of Mitchell Park was once a Potawatomi village and the home of Jacques Vieau, the first white settler in Milwaukee, who built a cabin there overlooking the Menomonee River in 1795. Clarke Square was established before Milwaukee became a city, basically by real estate speculators Lydia and Norman Clarke from Racine. Perhaps the most outstanding feature on this walk is the Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory, referred to simply as The Domes. Walk Description After parking on South 28th Street, which dead-ends just north of Burnham Street, walk south to the end of the block and turn left (east) onto West Burnham Street. The houses on the left side of the street comprise Frank Lloyd Wright's Burnham Block. Wright, an architect, interior designer, writer, and educator born in Richland Center, Wisconsin, designed structures that he called organic architecture, meaning he incorporated the natural habitat into his designs. Wright designed these six American System-Built Homes from 1915 to 1917 while he was also working on the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. Wright's vision was to create small, affordable housing that is believed today to have been far ahead of its time in design, philosophy, and execution. Tours run throughout the year--check the website--and if you can catch one, do so. After that, walk to the corner and take a left (north) on Historic Layton Boulevard. The wide street includes one of Milwaukee's most beloved boulevards. In the summer and fall, it is bursting with colorful flowers planted by city workers. Walk three blocks, noticing the range of housing stock, from massive Queen Annes to modest cottages. The diversity of the homes represents the economic integration of families living in the area over the times they were built. Today, some of the homes are in need of repair or are in the process of being rehabbed by artistically minded millennials. While walking, look for carriage barns and custom-built garages that mirror the architecture of the houses. On the left at West Orchard Street is the School Sisters of Saint Francis. These buildings are the Sisters' international headquarters, or mothership. Founded in 1874, the School Sisters is an international community of 1,300 women in the United States, Europe, Latin America, and India working to create a positive global impact through education and social justice. Among the ways they've done this in Milwaukee is by founding the normal school that later became Alverno College (see Walk 26, page 147) and the Layton Boulevard West Neighbors, an organization of community partners that focuses on housing rehabilitation and economic redevelopment to strengthen the neighborhoods of Silver City, Layton Park, and Burnham Park, where the Sisters' mothership is located. Take a left (west) on busy National Avenue. The Mitchell Park Shopping Center was the site of a streetcar station for many decades until it was torn down in 1959 for this bit-of-an-eyesore strip mall. Today, one can thrift shop at the Value Village, one of a chain of secondhand shops, or grab a doughnut at the old-school Honeydip Donuts. Continue west on National to North 29th Street and take a right. The houses here are just as varied as on Historic Layton. Walk north to the dead end and see the old Falk Brewery, which is partially obscured by trees. German immigrants Frederick Goes and Franz Falk opened the brewery in 1856 under the name Bavaria Brewery and by the late 1800s had changed the name to Falk, Jung & Borchert. It was, at one time, the fourth-largest brewery in Milwaukee, after Pabst, Schlitz, and Blatz. The brewery experienced two fires in the late 1800s and after the second fire the company was sold to Pabst in 1892. In 2019, according to OnMilwaukee's Bobby Tanzilo, members of MobCraft Brewing, a craft brewery in Madison and Milwaukee's Walker's Point neighborhood (Walk 12, page 66), collected wild yeast from the existing lagering caves on the site and made a beer, called Gier Bier, out of it. Turn around and go back to West Pierce Street. Take a left (east). Go one block and then turn left on South 28th Street. Tucked away on this otherwise quiet residential street is the headquarters of Hatco Corporation. The employee-owned company has been in the business of developing and manufacturing food-service equipment since 1950. Turn right on West Evergreen Lane. This street crosses Layton and leads right into Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory. The conservatory features three 85-foot-high glass domes that are filled with plant life. The Show Dome is the main dome, with seasonal themes; the Tropical Dome has more than 1,000 plants, many of which bear fruit; and the Arid (Desert) Dome displays plants from the dustier climes of the Americas and Africa. The sunny, temperature-controlled domes are particularly coveted on very warm or extremely cold days because they provide a few-hour "vacation" for guests.... Excerpted from Walking Milwaukee: 31 Tours of Brew City's Neighborhoods, Landmarks, and Entertainment Districts by Royal Brevvaxling, Molly Snyder All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
