Trestle Park in Milwaukee

The Trestle of Trestle Park. FRRandP photo collection.
Trestle Park is Milwaukee's tiny answer to the growing trend of linear parks in major cities which utilize abandoned railroad corridors, in the same vein as Philadelphia's Rail Park and New York City's amazing High Line. While Trestle Park is much smaller than the other parks mentioned, after visiting it, I can say it nonetheless has a great charm in it's small size.

Looking from one end of the park to the other.
The Park opened earlier this year after being proposed and approved in 2017. The signature trestle pictured, while certainly it's namesake, isn't part of the park. The park, located in the Historic Third Ward neighborhood south of downtown Milwaukee is part of the Third Ward RiverWalk, along the Milwaukee River. It is part of a large scale redevelopment of the area as well, which was quite obvious on the drive to the park. Many new condos, restaurants, and businesses make up the nearby landscape.

One really cool thing about the park, the design incorporates the former railroad crossing signals in it's design!
According to bridgehunter.com, the Trestle was originally built in 1915 to replace an earlier 1890 bridge. Once upon a time, this was the original Chicago & Northwestern mainline through Milwaukee, carrying CNW's signature Twin Cities 400 trains over the river. 400 was so named because of the 400 minutes between Chicago, IL and Minneapolis, MN. The original Milwaukee depot is long gone, and nowadays, Amtrak's Hiawatha and Empire Builder trains use the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, paralleling the river, for it's long distance trains.

Image: Milwaukee County Historical Society via FlyerScope.

Northeast of here, the former line is now the Oak Leaf Trail, but the trestle survived much later, being used in industrial operations until the early 2000's.

Looking west toward the river from Erie St.
I'd been meaning to visit this park for some time. But I couldn't justify the 90 minute trip to Milwaukee for such a small attraction, but it was definitely on my to-do list. Upon passing through the city, we gave it a go. 

We went back and visited during a late March snowstorm, and in spite of the weather, the snow was a blast to be in!

Now I just have to see this lit up at night!

As for my personal opinion on it, it was exactly what I was expecting it to be, small but certainly charming. There are tons of benches for people to sit, relax and enjoy the neighborhood, but it is also not someplace most would visit in the winter (we were the only ones there). The trestle and nearby scenery is certainly well incorporated into the design of the park, with plenty of photo opportunities of your surroundings.

Overall, I think it is a great gem for the neighborhood, although not something that is going to attract people outside Milwaukee.

That being said, there are a couple proposals that would have the City of Milwaukee purchase the trestle and potentially expand Trestle Park onto the west side of the river, so I might be back here in a few years if that ever materializes. As of 2024, Trestle Park remains only the trestle and the area to the east of the river.

As always, thanks for reading!
Location: Trestle Park, 501 E Erie St, Milwaukee, WI 53202, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Underwater Water Slide: Fly Over at Durinrell TikiBad

Image
Have you ever wished to experience being transferred from one pool of liquid to another via a pipe? Had you visited the Dutch water park known as Durinrell , also known as Tikibad before 2010, you would have had the chance. Half water slide, half war crime, this was a unique water slide that was filled to the brim with water, leaving riders completely submerged throughout the journey. Image:  XtremeRidesNL Known as the Fly Over was an underwater water slide, which is exactly how it sounds, and transported riders from one pool to another using the water as propulsion. Built in 1994, riders dove underwater to access the slide, using gravity to transport them upwards via the Communicating Vessels Principle . Riders would be completely underwater for about 15-20 seconds. This is how I imagine those 15-20 seconds felt like while riding the slide. The slide was built to drain water in five seconds or less in case a rider got stuck in the slide or had a medical emergency, but the threat tha
Read more

Railroad Vocabulary: A List of Words and Phrases Used in the Industry - Updated February 2024

Image
As somebody who enjoyed watching trains, but was not an employee of the railroad industry ( at least growing up ), when I would interact with railfans and historians, there was often a lot of technical jargon that applied only to the railroad industry thrown back and forth that made it difficult for a newcomer to understand what they were talking about. For example, what is a dinky? It's actually a passenger train. This non-inclusive language seems to keep the loop closed to members of the community, and to uncouple (no pun intended) that technical jargon and help make it easier for people to communicate with people in the industry, I am creating a list of railroad vocabulary that I'm hoping will make the industry more transparent.  BNSF 2361 . Image: Matt Flores While I ultimately believe that such technical jargon has no place outside of perhaps technical communications between employees, I know quite well that I alone am not going to stop people from communicating in a non-i
Read more

The Abandoned Route 66 in McCook, IL

Image
Route 66, the iconic "Main Street of America," weaves through the heart of the United States, connecting communities and embodying the spirit of adventure. However, not all sections of this historic highway have stood the test of time. While much of the former US 66 is drivable in one way or another, especially in Illinois, there are some parts are not.  One of the first such roadblocks for would-be travelers heading from Chicago to Los Angeles via the Mother Road, now known as Joliet Road, comes just outside of Chicago in McCook, IL, where the former highway is closed between 55th St and East Ave, and has been for over two decades. (Link to the location on our Ghost Towns Map ) Image: Google Maps at 55th and Joliet Rd in McCook, IL The land that the quarry would eventually take over was part of Stinson Airport in the early days of Route 66, dating back to before 1930. ( Abandoned Airports map ). 1938 USGS Aerial Imagery The quarrying on the south side of the road would
Read more