A little over a year ago, I got a look at the nearly-complete renovations at the Muellner Building in Hart Park, home to the Wauwatosa Senior Center and the Wauwatosa Curling Club. Soon after, $5 million in renovations were completed and the building re-opened.
Last weekend, Hart Park was one of the areas hardest hit by flooding caused by record-setting rainfall.
There is damage everywhere, of course, and folks have told me about destruction at local churches and schools and we’ve all seen the photos and video of flooding in homes, parks and more.
Seeing footage of a decimated Hart Park led me to ask about the Mullner Building.
“We don’t have a full picture yet,” City of Wauwatosa Communications Manager Eva Ennamorato tells me. “I’m hopeful that within a few days we’ll be able to speak to damage assessments, timelines for repair, etc.
“I think there will be some bad news but also some good news.”
In the meantime, I spoke to former Curling Club President Kelley Burian, who confirmed that so far there are definite signs of bad with some hope for good news.
“We're an odd mix of devastated and relieved,” Burian tells me. “The remodeled spaces of the Muellner – the main and second floors – fared pretty well. There was some drywall damage in the icehouse, but that's already been removed and will be replaced. So the rink itself (aka the Tosa Room) and the Firefly Room will be OK, along with the city's other remodeled spaces. Lots of relief there.”
The news was considerably worse in the basement where the Curling Club has its clubroom with a kitchen and bar, changing area and storage space for the club.
“The lower level clubroom – our original space for socializing and still in heavy use even post-remodel – is completely destroyed,” Burian says. “A small group of us got in on Tuesday to try to save some trophies/memorabilia, but our kitchen, locker room, and bar were all completely wiped out.
“Our equipment storage is on the main level, but that structure became literally part of the raging river during the flood. I's a narrow building attached to the rink that runs the length of the rink on the west side. We're still evaluating there.
“After the city pumped out our spaces, a small group of us were escorted into the building to evaluate the damage. We had some time to get a few of our sentimental items we thought we could save out and it was hot, dirty, tough work.”
As for the rink and its equipment, Burian adds, “We have high hopes for much of our larger ice prep equipment, and our relatively new – and very expensive – curling rocks are OK.
“The big question mark is the compressor in that space, which powers the cooling of the rink. It's theoretically made to take on water, but we don't have power in the building to test it. We'll know more once power is restored, and that timeline is unknown at this point.”
The club has started a GoFundMe to help fund repairs and replacement of everything damaged or lost. You can find that fundraiser here.
According to club representative Dave Traut, this is not the first time the club has been affected by flooding of the Menomonee River. A similar flood occurred in 1998, damaging the facility.
“The experience then showed the resilience of both the club and the community, and members are confident that history will repeat itself in the best way,” Traut wrote in a statement.
Read the history of the Mueller Building in this Urban Spelunking story.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press. A fifth collects Urban Spelunking articles about breweries and maltsters.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has been heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
