In 1923 Charles Whitnall released his plan for the Milwaukee County Park and Parkway system. That plan, though only partially implemented, has led to the “Emerald Necklace” of parks and parkways today in Milwaukee County.
First elected as treasurer of Milwaukee in 1910—alongside the nation’s first big city socialist mayor Emil Seidel and first socialist congressman Victor Berger—Whitnall began a long career blending his deep love for preserving Milwaukee’s natural corridors with the socialist ideals of providing a clean, reformed way of life for the working people of Milwaukee. His interest in improving access to parks and cleaning up the physical and environmental hazards boomtown industrial development had wrecked on Milwaukee fell right in line with the “bread and butter” practical approach Milwaukee’s “sewer socialists” practiced.
Moreover, Whitnall’s plan focused on integrating the county parks into a unified system connected by tree lined parkways. He became an expert on the waterways of the county and the plan prioritized the creation of protected watersheds through large parks and parkways which followed the path of these waterways. The plan looked to preserve the existing natural topography and old growth in its new development. When parks required new development, it was made to mimic the surrounding natural world. Alfred Boerner, the lead landscape architect of the Regional Planning Commission was instrumental in implementing the details of Whitnall’s plan, specifying the design and use areas of each new park and parkway…