Milwaukee needs vision for transforming lakefront. History shows us it can work. | Opinion

“The entire lakefront should belong to the people and be for their enjoyment.” — Milwaukee Alderman Cornelius Corcoran, 1892-1936.

Imagine the Milwaukee lakefront without Lincoln Memorial Drive, Bradford Beach, McKinley Marina, Veterans Park, the War Memorial, the Milwaukee Art Museum, Discovery World, or the Summerfest grounds.

You don't have to look far.

Just to the south you can see a Milwaukee lakefront dotted with railroad tracks and trains spewing smoke and blowing horns as freight cars move through the city each day. This is a lakefront largely barren of people, but full of storage for salt and fuel oil, and a sewage treatment plant spewing the aroma of sewage into downtown and the historic Third Ward each day.

In the early 1900s, Lincoln Memorial Drive was barren of beaches, kites, sailboats, coffee houses, or people. At the time, forward-looking Milwaukee residents were unhappy with the lakefront and agreed with Alderman Corcoran who wanted the entire lakefront dedicated to the people and their enjoyment.

Legislature gave Milwaukee right to massive landfill project in 1890s

In the 1890s, the state Legislature provided the city of Milwaukee the right to a 300-foot-wide strip of lakefront between Juneau and Lake Parks. In 1907, a massive landfill project that took more than 20 years to complete was started.

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The work created McKinley and Bradford Beaches, McKinley Marina, a lagoon, the Art Museum. And yes, lots of average people enjoying the previously inaccessible lakefront. A distance of nearly three miles, Lincoln Memorial Drive connected all of it when it opened in 1929. A group of average people with a big idea. The thought of re-developing three miles of lakefront, removing railroad tracks, moving millions of yards of soil for a landfill that is now a beautiful lakefront park must have seemed impossible.

I am certain there were naysayers who said it couldn't be done: Too much money. Too much traffic. Too much trouble.

The same thing could be said about the lakefront just to the south. You cannot move a sewage treatment plant. It needs to be on the water, right? Where will the salt we need for winter roads be stored? Where will the port of Milwaukee go? These are admittedly big questions.

Big ideas require big visions. Big visions have big obstacles.

Milwaukee needs a vision for other portions of lakefront

The distance from downtown Milwaukee south to Port Milwaukee and the Lake Express Ferry Terminal is approximately 2.25 miles. The distance from downtown Milwaukee north to the end of Lincoln Memorial Drive is 3 miles.

Since the completion of Lincoln Memorial Drive in 1929, billions of dollars of primarily residential real estate have been developed along the bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan, generating millions of dollars of real estate tax revenues for the city. But even more importantly, millions of people have enjoyed the beautiful lakefront created through a big vision many years ago.

Milwaukee is not unique in using landfill to fulfill the vision of average people and a long-forgotten alderman. Most of Grant Park in Chicago is landfill. Most of Battery Park in New York City is landfill, and many other cities used fill to enhance their lakefront shoreline, including Toronto, Cleveland and numerous others.

Imagine what the southern lakefront of Milwaukee might look like if we removed the sewage treatment plant, salt storage and oil storage facilities and replaced them with beautiful high rise residential communities, parks, marinas, beaches and playgrounds?

Billions of dollars of investment in real estate, and millions of dollars of tax revenues to help make Milwaukee a growing city, a safer city, and a thriving community. Milwaukee is blessed to be located on one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world.

Let’s not let it go to waste with a sewage treatment plant and salt storage. Let’s make it a place for the people and their enjoyment.

Jack Gebhardt is a retired executive at Fiserv and Deluxe Data Systems who has lived in Whitefish Bay for more than 30 years.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Travel Lincoln Memorial Drive for vision of MKE's future | Opinion