Milwaukee Public Museum gives first look on ‘Milwaukee Revealed,’ a reboot of Old Milwaukee

The Milwaukee Public Museum on Friday shared a look at its “Milwaukee Revealed” gallery, the spiritual successor to the Streets of Old Milwaukee exhibit at the previous museum. Old Milwaukee became the subject of controversy when museum officials revealed they didn’t have plans to move the exhibit to Sixth and McKinley Streets in downtown Milwaukee.

Museum officials want to build a new 200,000-square foot museum away from its original location at 800 W. Wells St. The project will cost $100 million and contractors Mortenson and ALLCON were named the construction managers. The museum teamed up with New York-based Thinc Design to release a series of sneak peeks at future museum galleries.

“Milwaukee Revealed” will have the same atmosphere and interactivity of Old Milwaukee and will keep components from the 1965 gallery, museum officials said. The gallery has a new walkthrough as well, split into a commercial and neighborhoods district. The museum will use lighting and audio effects to reveal more information about historic buildings and early Milwaukee communities.

“Visitors will first encounter the Mitchell Building, a recognizable, historic building that ties the present to the past. Look long enough and the building’s façade will fade away using choreographed lighting effects to reveal the home of city founders Josette and Solomon Juneau, which once occupied the same site,” museum officials said.

The commercial district includes historical landmarks such as the Mitchell Building, Lapham House and the Schlitz Palm Gardens. Visitors will get a look at waterfront and storefronts of the early 20th century, and learn about the Cream City Medical Society, Milwaukee’s first organization of African-American physicians.

The neighborhoods will feature a streetscape with a quintessential Milwaukee street and stories about hidden systems like water and sewage systems underneath the city, museum officials said. The Haymarket Candy Shop, from the Streets of Old Milwaukee, will be a functioning store in the future museum, officials added.

The museum will announce two more galleries on May 9 and May 23.