As the administrator of the Old Milwaukee Facebook group, amateur photographer and local history enthusiast Adam Levin has helped people of different generations connect and share photos and memories of the city’s past. The group has recently achieved an impressive number of members—32,000—with more users requesting to join daily.
Recently, Levin decided to host photo presentations of former Milwaukee landmarks and establishments at local retirement communities and senior centers. Upon audience suggestions, Levin searches for some of the thousands of photos stored in the Old Milwaukee group including Goldmann’s Department Store, Marc’s Big Boy restaurants, the Melody Top Theatre and more.
You seem to have an emotional connection to Milwaukee’s past. How did you become interested in local history and photography?
I’ve always been interested in history through photos. I used to look at old photos of Milwaukee and be amazed at what the city looked like back then—for example, there was the Lake Front Depot, which was demolished in 1968.
I got into photography while I was a senior at Nicolet High School. I took a class. I’m not really a people-photographer—I was always drawn to architecture.
A few years ago, I found these Kodachrome slides of photos of Milwaukee in the 1970s, taken by Ray Szopieray, at American Estates antique store on Kinnickinnic Avenue. He had labeled all of the boxes, and I thought, “Wow, that’s really cool.” These weren’t vacation photos or anything like that; they were gritty photos of Milwaukee. I’m not living in the past; I’m appreciating it.
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When you started your Old Milwaukee Facebook group, did you imagine it would grow as big as it has? How have you promoted the group?
People started joining the group mostly after media publicity. OnMilwaukee.com wrote a story on my Kodachrome slides in 2016, which helped the number of members increase. In 2017, the group hit 20,000 members, and Jim Stingl from the Journal-Sentinel did an article on that. After that, the number really skyrocketed. Five people were asking to join the group every 30 seconds.
I try to keep the group really focused on Milwaukee history, which helps. Old Milwaukee is a hobby of mine, and I have a day job, so it’s impossible to respond to everyone, but I try. I think people appreciate that I stay on topic, or there wouldn’t be 30,000 members.
Why did you choose senior centers and retirement communities as venues for your presentations?
Some seniors don’t use computers, and they’re not all on Facebook. I thought this would be a nice way to share the photos without them having to deal with all the technical stuff.
What are your plans for future presentations?
I don’t have anything in mind for the future of the group. I just hope it goes in a positive direction. Hopefully, people will see old photos and maybe venture out of their comfort zones and check out some areas of town where some of these landmarks used to be, and appreciate their histories. This isn’t something I can do weekly, as I have a full-time job. But I enjoy doing this. I’m hoping to do a show once or twice a month.
To browse or join the Old Milwaukee Facebook group, visit facebook.com/groups/oldmilwaukee/.
