Goerke's Corners (also spelled Goerkes Corner, Goerkes Corners or Goerke's Corner) is a former

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in the Town of Brookfield, in Waukesha County,

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, United States. It is now the location of a major

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

intersection, and the site of a park-and-ride lot.

History

This crossroads was originally called Storyville, after one Augustus Story who settled in the area about 1837. It was later known as Blodgett or Blodgett's Corners, probably for one Chester Blodgett who arrived in 1843. The Watertown Plank Road between

Milwaukee 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 ...

and Watertown was built through this area during 1848–54, and a spur to Waukesha in 1850. The current name comes from Frederick Goerke, blacksmith, wagonmaker, and innkeeper in this area in the 1870s. A post office was located there (under the name Blodgett) from 1885 to 1895, with Frederick Goerke as postmaster. The first segment of Interstate 94 through this area was opened in 1958. By the late 20th century, this intersection, now involving Wisconsin Highway 164, U.S. Route 18 and Interstate 94, had become one of the busiest in southeastern Wisconsin, and is the westernmost major

waypoint A waypoint is a point or place on a route or line of travel, a stopping point, an intermediate point, or point at which course is changed, the first use of the term tracing to 1880. In modern terms, it most often refers to coordinates which spe ...

in local radio and television traffic reports. It is the site of a park-and-ride lot used by Badger Bus, the Milwaukee County Transit System, and others. The former site of the settlement is now taken up by

shopping center A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

s, office buildings, hotels, apartments, and their associated parking lots. The "Goerke's Corners" name continues to be used to reference the area, although it looks much different than it did earlier. Although obscure outside metro Milwaukee, Goerke's Corners had its moment of pop culture fame. In the 1949 movie ''

It's a Great Feeling ''It's a Great Feeling'' is a 1949 American Technicolor musical comedy film starring Doris Day, Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan in a parody of what goes on behind the scenes in Hollywood movie making. The screenplay by Jack Rose and Mel Sh ...

'', Hollywood hopeful Judy Adams (

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1937, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey ...

) proudly states that she grew up there. The place is mentioned several times in the movie, and Judy eventually returns there, disillusioned, and the film closes in Goerke's Corners with Judy marrying her old sweetheart.A closer look at Goerke's Corners: Behind the name, community
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References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Waukesha County, Wisconsin Unincorporated communities in Wisconsin