Milwaukee has more than 75 distinct neighborhoods.

Home to about 7,000 residents and surrounded by budding business corridors is Washington Heights — one of the most historic neighborhoods in Milwaukee.

Where is Washington Heights?

Located on the west side of Milwaukee, Washington Heights’ northern boundary is West North Avenue and its southern boundary is West Vliet Street.

The neighborhood’s western boundary is North 60th Street, which also marks the beginning of Wauwatosa’s Washington Highlands. The eastern edge is North 47th Street, and just east of that is Highway 175, which may be converted to boulevard, and divides the neighborhood from Milwaukee’s Washington Park.

Much of Washington Heights is old farmland

The area’s earliest nonindigenous civilization in the Washington Heights area began in 1835. George Dousman, a Michigan fur trader’s son was part of the first wave of European settlement that same year. He settled his family farm on much of what Washington Heights is today.

Dousman and his son, George P., continued to hold much of the land until the 1890s when he and his neighbors began to sell parcels to developers. This happened about the same time that the Milwaukee Park Commission Board hired Frederick Law Olmsted to design West Park — what is now Washington Park.

Nearly all of the homes that still currently stand in Washington Heights were constructed between 1910 and 1930. A number of prominent families owned homes in the area, including the Harleys and Davidsons of motorcycle fame.

As the neighborhood developed, the Germans built three churches, St. Sebastian’s Parish, Mount Olive Lutheran, and St. James’ Lutheran. A smaller Jewish community built a synagogue, Congregation Beth El.

By 1924, the boundaries of the City of Milwaukee were extended west to North 60th Street. The current set of map boundaries was established by the neighborhood association.

According to Richard “Rocky” Marcoux, Milwaukee’s longest-serving city development commissioner, Washington Heights had many attempts at establishing a neighborhood association, but finally the Washington Heights Neighborhood Association was formed in 1989.

There were two separate efforts in the 1990s and mid-2000s by residents to improve the neighborhood and its homes as realtors began to be concerned with status of the neighborhood as one of the most sought after places to live.

Where to eat, drink and hang out in Washington Heights?

Washington Heights, which is mostly a residential area, has budding business districts on both its northern and southern end.

“I love that the Heights is bookended by North Avenue and Vliet (Street),” said Sabrina Eder, president of the neighborhood association. “These budding business districts that continue to have growth and new businesses open up.”

Eder said the walkability of the neighborhood makes it possible for residents to get to restaurants and shops along the prominent Milwaukee streets. Many of the businesses along these corridors are owned by people who live in Washington Heights.

There are two main coffee shops in the neighborhood, along the southern edge is Valentine Coffee Co. at 5918 W. Vliet St. On the northern edge is Vennture Brew Co. at 5519 W. North Ave.

Many bars and pubs are in the neighborhood, including Neighborhood Draft at 5921 W. Vliet St. and McBob’s Pub & Grill at 4919 W. North Ave. — a Milwaukee staple known for its corned beef. There is also Charles E. Fromage at 5811 W. Vliet St.

For a hefty serving of barbecue check out Heavens Table BBQ at 5507 W. North Ave and for frozen custard there is Fred’s Frozen Custard & Grill at 4726 W. Vliet St., which has been around since 1967. For pizza, there is Wy’east Pizza at 5601 W. Vliet St.

What is unique about Washington Heights?

Washington Heights has many of its residents involved in the area’s events and the residents strive to get to know each other.

“We are a small town within a large city, and each block is its own community,” said Heidi Steeno, vice president of the neighborhood association. “Having lived many other places in the state of Wisconsin, I’ve never experienced the neighborliness the Heights offers.”

Many Washington Heights residents have been in the neighborhood for 20 to 40 years. Eder said there are different generations of families that were raised in the Heights, from children to grandchildren, who attend one of the many public and private schools in the neighborhood.

The residents often invest in their homes. “What is really special, is people are continuing to reinvest in their homes by updating them,” Eder said, adding that residents often ask for recommendations on contractors or painters. “So you know that people really care about their homes,” she said.

Likely the event that is most unique to Washington Heights is its nighttime trick-or-treating event it has every year called Spooktacular.

When the neighborhood association sponsored a Halloween party at Hi Mount School in 1991, the event included nighttime trick-or-treating. It was the first time a City of Milwaukee neighborhood had nighttime trick-or-treating in over 25 years.

The event was such a success it became an annual event, sparking other neighborhoods to take notice and bring back nighttime trick-or-treating. Washington Heights has the longest running nighttime trick-or-treating in Milwaukee.

Washington Heights is also home to the city’s only remaining independently owned children’s bookstore — Rainbow Booksellers at 5704 W. Vliet St. The side of the building features a mural called The Heights Dream Library and has many created book titles named by nearby residents.

“They’re not books that exist. They’re books that people would dream about finding,” said the building’s owner, Dan Schley.

Schley said the mural has become a staple in the community. “There’s been people taking wedding shots in front of it. There’s been people taking baby bump photos in front of it,” he said.

The mural was painted by artist Fred Kaems, a Washington Heights resident, amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020.

Bastille Days, the popular downtown Milwaukee festival celebrating all things French, also has a west side adaption of the festival in Washington Heights called Bastille Day West.

Two noted painters lived in Washington Heights, Karl Priebe and John Wilde, and two former mayors of Milwaukee have lived in the neighborhood, Henry Maier and Tom Barrett.

This research comes from previous Journal Sentinel coverage, John Gurda’s “Milwaukee, City of Neighborhoods,” and Urban Anthropology Inc.

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