Big change is underway in West Allis, and because of that you can own a piece of history.
Last spring, after spending hours walking through the entire former St. Aloysius Catholic Church and school campus in West Allis, I shared this deep dive into its history.
The architecturally important 1957 church and its associated buildings – which closed after the parish merged with two others – are being replaced by a residential complex, developed by F Street.
At the moment, says F Street’s E. J. Herr, “all of the former St. Al's buildings are down and we’re targeting new construction to start on the South end of the campus in mid-November.”
Before that work begins, The MRD Group, which is F Street’s abatement and demolition contractor, is holding a sale of items they were able to save during the razing of the Brust & Brust-designed church, rectory and school (which was also designed in part by Herbst & Kuenzli) at 92nd and Greenfield.
The items include stained glass in concrete "frames," stone carvings and aluminum letters.
The sale will be held at the south end of the property, where the school parking lot was located, at 1405 S. 92nd St., on Friday, Oct. 3, from noon until 4 p.m.
Items are sold on a first-come first-serve basis and in as-is condition.
Prices range from $20 to more than $100 and the sale is cash only.
Folks from The MRD Group will be able to help load heavy items into vehicles, but please note that some items, like stone carvings, are extremely heavy and require a trailer or pick-up truck for transport.
Any items that go unsold will be donated to the City of West Allis Historical Society, Herr says.
To read an in-depth history of the parish and these buildings, and learn about the plan for the future, read this heavily illustrated 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.