Formally Black-owned and developed Milwaukee shopping center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Central City Plaza, is on its way to garnering historic status, thanks to the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, Wisconsin Public Radio reports. 

During a March 3 meeting, five out of the commission’s seven members voted for the center’s historic status after months of campaigning by preservationists.

The center was designed by the first licensed Black architect in Wisconsin, Alonzo Robinson. At a time when the city was riddled with racism, Robinson’s daughter, Kim, remembered joking with her brothers about their father’s decision to work in a city that did not welcome them.

“We’d say, ‘Hey dad, why didn’t you go to Illinois, in Chicago, and build skyscrapers there? You’d have made a lot more money,’” she remembered.

The architect, who died in 2000, would say, “Because back then, in Wisconsin and Milwaukee, there was a lot of racism and discrimination.”

The whole idea came about when Robinson would say, “Let’s develop something of our own.” In collaboration with lead developer Felmers Chaney, then-leader of Milwaukee’s NAACP chapter, the development opened in 1973. In a Black-majority area close to downtown, the center’s occupants included a Black-operated bowling alley, pharmacy, supermarket, legal offices and a restaurant that provided diverse offerings like “veal cordon bleu as well as soul food.”

Robinson was known for helping Black business owners and churches who were often turned down by white shopping center owners and accused of not paying enough money. A number of the churches and businesses the architect designed are still standing—and thriving—today. Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church and Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church were recipients of preservation grants from National Trust for Historic Preservation. 

Robinson’s daughter often visits the Fast n’ Friendly grocery store, which Robinson also designed. The owner, who still works there, remembers her father with great fondness. “Your dad Alonzo was a blessing to me because when no one else would do the work for me, your dad would do it,” the grocer said. 

Prior to the public awareness campaigns to keep the center alive, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a part of Central City Plaza was at risk of being demolished and replaced with a homeless shelter. Executive director of the Milwaukee Preservation Alliance, Emma Rudd, said she wasn’t aware of the plaza’s historic context, giving her more of a reason to try and save it.

“We are trying to preserve a story,” Rudd said. “How do you preserve a story? You get the community involved. We need people to know about this.”

The final vote for the site’s historic status is now in the hands of the Milwaukee Common Council. 

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