To present the treasures of the past to a contemporary audience, museums, the storehouses of history, must keep pace with the present. In Milwaukee, the bigger museums have been anything but frozen in time. Last month, the Milwaukee Art Museum expanded, rehabbed and rehung its galleries to striking effect. Now, the Milwaukee Public Museum has reimagined its signature attraction, The Streets of Old Milwaukee, for a new epoch.
Originally constructed in 1965, The Streets of Old Milwaukee reopens on Friday, Dec. 11. Many familiar sights are still in place. The lighting remains dusky and the winding cobblestone streets and plank board sidewalks still lead to the candy shop with its window full of brightly colored sweets. Granny is still rocking on her porch. But while the facades still simulate an imagined circa 1915 Milwaukee, those old storefronts now cast a digital shadow. The essence of The Streets of Old Milwaukee has been transliterated into new dimensions.
Visitors downloading The Streets of Old Milwaukee app will choose from three virtual tour guides representing different occupations and social classes. Each one tells a different story about the Streets into the visitor’s earplug and, operating with Bluetooth Beacon technology, the app knows where you are as you stroll or linger on the Streets. The cast of virtual docents will change every half-year along with a rotating set of four themes (entertainment, public health, public safety and immigration) designed to put an otherwise static exhibit in a changing light. “These were themes important in Milwaukee then and mean a lot to people today—this helps us make connections with the past,” says Albert Muchka, the museum’s curator of history collections and senior collections manager.
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Muchka worked closely with Director of Exhibits and Designs Julian Jackson on weaving the technology of now into this historical simulation, starting with the streetcar that serves as the new entrance to The Streets of Old Milwaukee. “The streetcar is a time machine,” Jackson explains. It rumbles like an old trolley; the windows are animated screens whose images begin in the present and move the visitor backward in time to a century ago. “We use a variety of technology to make the experience of being in a different era deeper,” Jackson continues.
Silhouettes of workers are visible in the upper windows of the Falk building (historical naming rights was a way of working corporate sponsors into the development). Peering through the smoky glass doors of the Pfister Hotel, visitors will hear the voices of bellhops and bartenders. Passing a particular alley triggers the meow of a prowling cat. “We’ve added layers of sensory experience,” Jackson says. “There are many hidden surprises to reward the careful viewer.”
Some familiar objects are placed in new contexts. The Schloemer Motor Wagon, one of America’s oldest automobiles (and a product of Milwaukee’s first motor vehicle manufacturer) now sits in a garage surrounded by period tools. A more familiar vehicle, an early Harley-Davidson motorcycle, provides transportation for the mannequin delivery boy. The nickelodeon, furnished with wooden benches, will show a continuous loop of pre-World War I silent movies.
The Milwaukee Public Museum has always been an innovator. “We’ve had a team of artists on staff since the 1890s,” Muchka says. Jackson finishes his sentence for him. “We built on the shoulders of giants.” The museum included panoramas and dioramas among its displays long before they were common. Since the 1960s, other museums have emulated The Streets of Old Milwaukee. “It’s been replicated many times in many places,” Muchka says. But, as Jackson adds, “None of them are as deep or expressive as our new Streets of Old Milwaukee.”
