Cathedral Square Park is a small urban Milwaukee County Park in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, US, located to the west of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. The park only takes the name of the nearby cathedral, with the

Archdiocese of Milwaukee The Archdiocese of Milwaukee () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in southeast Wisconsin in the United States. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee is the Metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropolitan s ...

holding no ownership of the site.

History

Originally known as Courthouse Square, the land was donated by city co-founder

Solomon Juneau Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Milwaukee) Solomon Laurent Juneau, or Laurent-Salomon Juneau (August 9, 1793 – November 14, 1856) was a French Canadian fur trader, land speculator, and politician who helped found the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ...

in 1836, and housed a court house and jail. The first courthouse was built by

and Morgan L. Martin. A mob of 5,000 people converged at the jail in 1854 to rescue

Joshua Glover Joshua Glover was a fugitive slave who escaped from the United States to Canada in the 1850s. His escape from recapture was part of the chain of events that led to the Civil War and the end of slavery in the U.S. Originally from the state of M ...

, a runaway slave captured and imprisoned by federal marshals. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, parkland south of the courthouse was used as place to assemble for troops leaving for or returning from the front. A second courthouse was built on the site in 1873, and was used until 1931 when the current

Milwaukee County Courthouse The Milwaukee County Courthouse is a high-rise municipal building located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Completed in 1931, it is the third county courthouse to be built in the city and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. ...

was built. The jail was moved to another site in 1886.

Current park

The area became a park in 1939 after the second courthouse was razed. Since then, it has become a popular meeting place and host for events such as Jazz in the Park and the farmers' market, and as the site of the city's official

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen pinophyta, conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, associated with the celebration of Christmas. It may also consist of an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was deve ...

. The city currently offers free

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

service in the park, while

WISN-TV WISN-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on the west end of the Marquette University campus, and its transmitter ...

has a permanent weather observation camera overlooking the square as part of their local camera network. As of November 2, 2018, the Hop streetcar stops near the park.

References

{{Coord, 43.0419, -87.905, type:landmark_region:US-WI, display=title Parks in Milwaukee Geography of Milwaukee Tourist attractions in Milwaukee Protected areas of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin 1939 establishments in Wisconsin

History

Current park

See also

References