Wisconsin’s first permanent Worker’s Memorial is both in and the Zeidler Union Square Park. The People’s Park. It is Milwaukee’s oldest park having been established in 1835 which is prior to Wisconsin becoming a state. The park was named after former Milwaukee Mayor Carl Zeidler in the 1960s. Carl’s younger brother, Frank Zeidler, was mayor of Milwaukee from 1948-1960.
In the mid 1990s the Milwaukee County Board formally recognized the contributions made by labor to the building and growth of Milwaukee County. At that time a bandstand/gazebo was designed and built using donated items from the many Milwaukee and surrounding area businesses. Nearly 200 union workers worked on parts of the building and erecting of the structure which was completed in 1995.
WisCOSH along with the then Milwaukee County Labor Council (MCLC), now the Milwaukee Area Labor Council (MALC), held Worker’s Memorial Day ceremonies there every year. These events included hearing from workers, worker’s families and union representatives as well as the reading of the names of the workers known to have lost their life on the job or due to workplace exposures the previous year.
Each year WisCOSH held a fundraiser event in conjunction with Worker’s Memorial Day wherein half of the profit from the event was earmarked to a special account to be used for the maintenance and upkeep of the park and bandstand/gazebo. This even has long been held just around the corner at the hall in the American Postal Worker’s Union building. Often, weather permitting, a candlelight march would be held to or from the park. For many years WisCOSH set up markers containing the names of the lost workers and causes that took them from us prematurely. It is one thing to hear that 50 or 80 or 110+ workers died due to workplace incident the year before but it is a vastly different understanding when you see and walk amongst the markers with the names, causes, locations and employer.
In 2017 MALC undertook to institute some much needed maintenance work. Both the bandstand/gazebo and the park were given a facelift and repairs that had been needed for several years at that point. WisCOSH volunteers assisted in the installation of plants around the park as well as flowers by the bandstand/gazebo which would bloom around the time of Worker’s Memorial Day.
Within a few short years it became apparent that much more extensive repairs were needed. Some items from the bandstand/gazebo had been stolen, some had rusted away under the paint and some were not in good shape and needed replacing. During the winter and early Spring discussions and plans were put in place to rehab the bandstand/gazebo and enhance it as it is used not only for Worker’s Memorial but by many groups for many events throughout the year. And just over a week ago the work was started. Weather permitting the work will be finished later this year.
