Isaac Rowlett
@isaacrowlett
Exploring Wisconsin’s past, present and future He/him Views = mine only
imagine seeing this while driving on I-43 also: people who remember this era, was this like an actual thing?
thoughtful reflections on the racialized dynamics of Wisconsin’s Dem gubernatorial primary by 2 of the smartest people in Wisconsin politics: @angelalang8.bsky.social & @nadaelmikashfi.bsky.social full here via @danshafer.bsky.social’s Recombobulation Area: open.substack.com/pub/recombob...
Milwaukee, Wisconsin — 2026 Named for the silver dollars workers would bring home after a day at the factories in the Menomonee Valley in the 1800s, Silver City has been a diverse neighborhood of Menominee, Potawatomi, Polish, Mexican, Rohingya, & Afghan inhabitants over time.
Today Milwaukee today had its worst air quality in recorded history with a reading of 566 — above the Environmental Protection Agency's 0-500 AQI scale. Check on your friends and neighbors and stay inside if possible. There are no climate havens. We're all in this together.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin — 80 years ago vs. today In the 1960s the government demolished the Irish neighborhood of Tory Hill (foreground) and the original Red Arrow Park, First Methodist Church & other buildings for the construction of a I-43 and I-94 through the city. Sources: MPL & me
April, 1967 — City of Milwaukee residents vote 2 to 1 to build a loop of highways around downtown. A combination of litigation and newly-elected anti-freeway activists (including future Mayor Norquist) stopped this from happening in the first of Milwaukee’s freeway revolts.
One of the questions I’m exploring a bit in the book I’m writing is whether Milwaukee is uniquely change-averse, as many have observed over the past 150 years. So far it seems to be true. For example, we tend to keep our mayors for about twice as long as other cities (!)
Milwaukee, 60 years ago today Duke Ellington plays a free concert for a crowd of 22,000 at the Washington Park Bandshell.
“We love David” or “we’re already voting for him” are the two most common things I heard knocking doors today for @davidccrowley.bsky.social this morning in Shorewood 🫡
Did you know that we subsidize roads even more than we subsidize rail in Wisconsin? H/T @thetransitguy.com
Happy Juneteenth from Milwaukee, Wisconsin — home to one of the oldest and longest-running Juneteenth celebrations in the United States
