Erie Street Plaza is a park and public space in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

that opened in 2010.

Description

Located in the

Historic Third Ward The Historic Third Ward is a historic warehouse district located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This Milwaukee neighborhood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the Third Ward is home to over 450 businesses and maintai ...

neighborhood, the plaza is connected to the

Milwaukee Riverwalk The Milwaukee Riverwalk is a continuous pedestrian walkway along the Milwaukee River in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Description Conceived in the 1990s to increase public access to the waterway, the Milwaukee Riverwalk has grown to include ar ...

and situated at the confluence of the

Milwaukee River The Milwaukee River is a river in the state of Wisconsin. It is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 19, 2011 Once a locus of industry, the river is now the c ...

and the

Kinnickinnic River Kinnickinnic River may refer to one of two rivers in the U.S. state of Wisconsin: * Kinnickinnic River (Milwaukee River tributary) in southeastern Wisconsin * Kinnickinnic River (St. Croix River tributary) The Kinnickinnic River, called the K ...

, just west of the entrance to the Milwaukee Harbor from

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

. The

Hoan Bridge The Daniel Hoan Memorial Bridge is a tied-arch bridge that connects Interstate 794 in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to the Lake Freeway across the Milwaukee River inlet. Originally called the Harbor Bridge, it was renamed after Daniel Hoan, one ...

and

Milwaukee Pierhead Light The Milwaukee Pierhead Light is an active lighthouse located in the Milwaukee harbor, just south of downtown. This aid to navigation is a 'sister' of the Kenosha North Pier Light. History The station was established in 1872. It is west of the Mi ...

are located to the east of the plaza and are visible from it. After a design competition, a proposal from Stoss Landscape Urbanism, a Boston firm, was selected. The plaza design features native prairie plants, yellow fiberglass benches that are illuminated at night, and several pathways with edges that blend into the vegetation. The original plans included installations of heated bamboo plants, but due to the cost and challenges of maintaining bamboo in Milwaukee's climate, quaking aspen trees were used instead. Additional aspects of the plaza's landscape architecture include the direct use of river water for plant irrigation, a reduction in surface temperature due to the vegetation, and fishing access compliant with the

Americans With Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...

. The plaza was completed in 2010 with a final cost of approximately $580,000 and is currently maintained by the Historic Third Ward Association. In 2013, a steel sculpture entitled ''Sunrise'' by Richard Edelman was installed.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Milwaukee Parks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin 2010 establishments in Wisconsin