Why Lincoln Village is Important Today
It is home to the second largest attraction in Milwaukee, the Basilica of St. Josaphat
While most Milwaukee neighborhoods were originally developed by Germans and later occupied by African Americans, Italians, Irish, and Yankees; Lincoln Village and its immediate surroundings were originally developed by Poles and later occupied by Latinos.
Only Lincoln Village accommodates a comprehensive sample of the Polish built environment, with the Polish flats, the monument and square in Kosciuszko Park, and the parapets atop Lincoln Avenue’s commercial buildings (an architectural style brought over by the Poles in the German sector of Poland).
Lincoln Village is the only Milwaukee neighborhood that has a museum on its own history—the South Side Settlement Museum at 707 W. Lincoln.
What was Historically Unique about Lincoln Village?
The target of the Fair Housing Marches of August, 1967 became Kosciuszko Park in Lincoln Village. It’s considered to be the bastion of white power on Milwaukee’s South Side. What the marchers likely did not know was that General Kosciuszko was a major civil rights leader across two continents. In fact, he left provisions in his American estate to purchase the slaves of Thomas Jefferson and free them—a request never honored by the founding father Jefferson.
Kosciuszko Park remains the center of one of Milwaukee’s famous unsolved mysteries. During the night of December 16, 1975, the Memorial to the founder of the University Settlement Club—Jane Austin Jacobs (affectionately called the “squirrel lady statue” by locals)—was stolen from a hill at the park.
Lincoln Village was the childhood home of a number of celebrities. These include 1930s movie star Gilda Gray, baseball hall-of-famer Tony Kubek, Medal of Honor recipient Robert Modrzejewski, and salsa musician Manuel Narvaez.