Here's a guide to Milwaukee's Metcalfe Park neighborhood

Milwaukee is home to dozens of different neighborhoods.

Here's what to know about the Metcalfe Park neighborhood, which has about 3,000 residents.

Where is Metcalfe Park located?

Former Mayor John Norquist and the City of Milwaukee carved out the current boundaries of Metcalfe Park in 1990.

The northern border of Metcalfe Park is West Center Street and the southern border is West North Avenue. The eastern border is North 27th Street and the western border is North 38th Street.

Before Metcalfe Park got its name

The first European settlers in the Metcalfe Park neighborhood were Germans who traveled west from the Milwaukee River in the 1870s until they settled in the North Division area.

Eventually, more settlers arrived, industry began to develop along North 30th Street next to the Milwaukee Road railroad tracks. Between 1890 and 1910, the region was booming and grew to become one of the greatest concentrations of industry in the city, second only to the Menomonee Valley.

In 1939, Master Lock arrived, bringing a national brand to the neighborhood. The company shuttered that historic plant in 2023.

North Avenue began to flourish for small businesses owners and shopkeepers with many different backgrounds, including Germans, Chinese, Croats, Russians, Jews, Austrians, Bohemians, French Canadian, Hungarians, French and Poles.

Businesses within the corridor included grocers, butchers, health care providers, cleaners, hardware stores and barbers. There were also two theaters.

By the late 1950s, the racial makeup of neighborhood began to change as Black residents began to migrate into the neighborhood in search of housing and jobs. The migration followed the razing of over 8,000 homes in the historically Black Bronzeville neighborhood. Today, a little less than 90% of the neighborhood is Black.

Deindustrialization hit the Metcalfe Park hard beginning in the 1980s, leading to job loss and an increase in crime. The city razed a number of blighted buildings in the neighborhood in the 1990s in an effort to revitalize the region.

Metcalfe Park named after an all-time Olympic athlete

As part of Norquist's efforts to pour resources into the neighborhood whose boundaries were then-recently decided, the city also settled on a new name for the neighborhood that would reflect its community.

Ralph Metcalfe, a Marquette University graduate, was an American gold medalist in track. The Chicago native competed in the 1936 Olympics held in Nazi Germany, where he and Jesse Owens ran for the U.S. Olympic team in the 400-meter relay. They ultimately took home gold. Metcalfe also won a silver medal in the 100 meters, losing to Owens. Metcalfe then retired from competitive sports after being one of the top sprinters in the U.S. in the 1930s.

Following a career as a teacher and coach and later serving in World War II, Metcalfe entered the political sphere, rising from director of Chicago's Department of Civil Rights to city alderman and temporary City Council president to a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in the span of 30 years.

During his time as a politician, Metcalfe helped found the Congressional Black Caucus and co-sponsored legislation that would ultimately declare February as Black History Month.

There is also a street, park and school named after Metcalfe in the neighborhood.

Neighborhood group works to change the narrative

Today, Metcalfe Park still feels the effects of the economic downturn.

The neighborhood was featured in the Harvard Public Health Magazine in 2022 for being one of the unhealthiest, poorest and unsafest communities to live in the country, due to structural racism. According to the report, the FBI said Metcalfe Park was considered among the three most dangerous neighborhoods in Milwaukee.

According to data from Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, from 2015 to 2019, the average median annual income in the neighborhood was under $27,000. About 42% of residents lived below the poverty line and about 44% of households were single moms. Roughly one in five male residents were unemployed.

Area residents and community organizations continue to work to revitalize the neighborhood and change the narrative.

"If you looked up Metcalfe Park 10 years ago, the narrative around our community was, to be frank, horrible s---," said Melody McCurtis, deputy director of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, a resident-led neighborhood organization in Metcalfe Park. "If you look up Metcalfe Park now, you're seeing the beauty, the magic, the joy, the resilience, the success, (and) the genius of the folks who live here."

The nonprofit worked to help revitalize the neighborhood over the last decade by getting "pocket parks" built on vacant land and by organizing their neighbors around community events, McCurtis said. The group believes in the age-old concept of mutual aid, where people take on the responsibility of caring for one another.

What parks, libraries, schools and pantries are in Metcalfe Park?

The pocket parks, where play equipment, benches, and games like chess are added to vacant land, are throughout the neighborhood, including one on 34th and Center streets named Metcalfe Park Rising.

Providing recreational and educational opportunities to young people, the Roger and Leona Fitzsimonds Boys & Girls Club is within Metcalfe Park, 3400 W. North Ave.

A number of other educational sites are within the Metcalfe Park neighborhood. Milwaukee College Preparatory School is on 36th Street, and Clarke Street Public School is on West Clarke Street. The middle school named after Ralph Metcalfe is on North Avenue.

The Milwaukee Public Library Center Street Branch is at Center Street and West Fond du Lac Avenue. "I really want to highlight the library," McCurtis said. "They are doing a lot of amazing things, not just for young people, but for adults."

The Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center has its community pantry at 29th and Center streets, which provides food to people and families in crisis.

"The JCC Pantry often collaborates on a lot of our health fairs, a lot of our block parties, a lot of our different events and activations that we do inside of the community," McCurtis said.

There are two main city parks — Butterfly Park on 38th and Meinecke streets and Metcalfe Park on 33rd and Meinecke streets, which is getting a new playfield.

This research comes from previous Journal Sentinel coverage, John Gurda's "Milwaukee, City of Neighborhoods," Urban Anthropology Inc and Encyclopedia of Milwaukee.

New to the neighborhood? Here’s how to access Milwaukee services

Metcalfe Park is part of the 15th Aldermanic District. Contact your alderperson and find news about the district at city.milwaukee.gov/CommonCouncil/CouncilMembers/District15.

Metcalfe Park falls within Police District 3. Public meetings take place once a month at District 3, 2333 N. 49th Street. Visit https://city.milwaukee.gov/police/districts/District-3 for more information.

Find your garbage and recycling schedule at city.milwaukee.gov/sanitation/GarbageRecyclingSchedules.

Learn how to register to vote and find your polling place at city.milwaukee.gov/election/Voter-Info.

Need to borrow tools for a home improvement project? Check out the city’s Tool Loan Center, 2500 W. Capitol Drive. More details at bit.ly/MKE_ToolLoan.

Want to get emailed updates about police activity, new development and more in your neighborhood? Sign up for the city’s e-notify system at city.milwaukee.gov/News-Events/enotify.

Tell us about your Milwaukee neighborhood. We want to hear from you!

What makes your Milwaukee neighborhood special to you? Do you have any photos in the neighborhood you'd like to share? Share more at bit.ly/MKE_Neighborhoods.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Here's a guide to Milwaukee's Metcalfe Park neighborhood