Juneau Park

I like Juneau Park for a number of reasons.
It’s a park, but other than for watching fireworks, it’s never overly crowded. Nearby apartment dwellers like me use it as a hangout when they want to get their outdoors on. There’s open, grassy, sunny areas as well as tree-​lined, shaded spots.
Most of the time I’m there I’m sharing the park, but I can always position myself so I feel kind of secluded. There is a stellar scenic overlook of Lake Michigan. I like to tell friends that this is my backyard. Simply magnanimous!
People who are there are friendly and its a good place to greet dogs.
There’s a log cabin there which is fun to look at, and a statue of Solomon Juneau himself to enjoy.
I like to catch some sun, read a book, and generally enjoy the outdoors when I hang out there. Isn’t that what a park is for?!

So, how did I end up in Juneau Park at 10:00 at night?
Well, to make a long story short, the fiancée and the new girlfriend needed some alone time (long story in itself, not relevant to the review), and I ended up driving all around the city trying to find something to do. I considered a bar, but I wasn’t feeling in a «bar» mood, and none of my friends happened to be free that night.
My aimless cruising eventually brought me downtown, whereupon I remembered «Hey! I haven’t actually ever been to Juneau Park beyond walking or driving past. I wonder if it has a Unilocal page?» (No lie, that’s exactly what my thought process was, and how I ended up checking in late at night).
So I parked my car on Prospect and walked around the upper level for some time.
I never realized how large that statue of Soloman Juneau actually was. Up close, he really looms large over downtown Milwaukee. He’s dwarfed by the buildings only a few hundred feet away, but up close he is a colossus.
The walking trails, from what I could tell, were more than adequate for this small park. Almost too adequate, they go spidering throughout the entire upper bit of the park – there’s a moment of exciting «I wonder where that goes!» with each one before visually tracing it back to Prospect.
There are some scenic overlooks of Lincoln Memorial and Lake Michigan beyond that, which I imagine are more impressive during the day when you can actually see. Nonetheless, I took a long look and watched a ship come in towards the harbor – that was pretty neat. Looking the other direction, you get okay people-​watching and a good feeling of scale for downtown.
There was one thing a little unsettling: No matter where I walked I could hear this weird jingling sound – almost like what it sounds like when a dog is running around and the tags on its collar are hitting against each other. I thought it might be my car keys so I took them out and held them in my hand. I still heard the jingling; then I considered it might be the zipper on my jacket hitting something so I zipped it up – no dice, I still heard it. That was a really curious experience.

Juneau Park is 15.8 acres at the end of Juneau Avenue, or at the end of State Street, or the end of Kilbourn Avenue, or at the end of Wells Street, or at the end of Mason Street depending on which road you’re using to head east until it ends at Prospect. Juneau Park is sandwiched between Prospect and Lincoln Memorial Drive, with part of it on top of the bluff and part of it below. The Oak Leaf Trail passes through Juneau Park along the old right-​of-​way of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway.
On the upper level of the park, along Prospect Avenue, you’ll find a kind of a shrine to Solomon Juneau, one of the three founders of Milwaukee. Juneau came here in 1822 as part of a Canadian fur trading mission and opened a trading post. He recognized the potential of the area and bought all the land between the Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan.
In his namesake park, on the north end, you’ll find a reproduction of Juneau’s log home. Is it at the actual location of Juneau’s home? No (there’s a sky scraper there) but it is at the end of Juneau Avenue, here in Juneau Park. Further down is a statue of Solomon Juneau. Next to the log home? No, that’s a statue of Leif the Discoverer. We’ll come back to Leif, another block south of Leif is where you’ll find the Juneau Monument.
The statue of Solomon Juneau was created by Richard Henry Park, a well-​known sculptor who was active in New York and Florence, Italy. (Park also created the statue of General George Washington in the Court of Honor on Wisconsin Avenue.) The bronze statue is 15′ tall and is mounted on top of a limestone base. Juneau is looking west, and beneath him, his name is emblazoned in raised letters. On the back of the base is an inscription that reads: «The gift of Charles T. Bradley, and William H. Metcalf to the City of Milwaukee.» Bradley and Metcalf were successful shoe manufacturers.
On the north side of the base is a bronze bas-​relief sculpture of Juneau with Native Americans. An inscription reads, «Solomon Juneau, First Mayor of Milwaukee, MDCCCXXXXVI.» On the south side of the base is a bronze bas-​relief sculpture of Juneau in Congress. It also bears the inscription, «Solomon Juneau, First Mayor of Milwaukee, MDCCCXXXXVI.»
About a block north, at the foot of State Street, is a statue entitled, «Leif, the Discoverer» that is a bronze sculpture of Leif Ericson. It is a second edition of a statue created by American sculptor Anne Whitney in 1887. The original is on display in Boston on Commonwealth Avenue. The replica was commissioned by Mrs. Joseph Gilbert and, at her request, was unveiled without fanfare. Leif is approximately 8 feet tall, he is bronze, his pedestal is red sandstone. He is young and clean-​shaven, wearing mail, breast plates, a studded belt, a tunic and leggings with leather sandals. He carries a powder horn over his shoulder and a knife in a decorative sheath at his side. On the base is an inscription that reads, «Leif, the discoverer, Son of Erik, Who sailed from Iceland and landed on this continent, A.D. 1000.» On the back of the pedestal, in runic letters, it reads, «Leif, Son of Erik the Red.»
The park is long and narrow and besides the historic structures, there is also a small building that has public restrooms and a bubbler («water fountain» in the rest of the world) on the east side of the building. If Monsieur Juneau were able to turn around, he would be afforded a beautiful view of the War Memorial, the harbor and Veteran’s Park. Juneau Park is a great green spot in an urban setting, and it allows pleasant recreational opportunities and views of the lake for residents of East Town.

Juneau park is a great little urban park… a little bit city with a nice mix of trees and grass on a bluff over looking the lakefront and meeting up with the oak leaf trail. To the west its curves nicely hug prospect and It fits in well with the mix of new condos and more historic buildings on the lower eastside. It offers a beautiful view of the lakefront for sunrises and kilbourn boulevard at sunset. There’s lots of blossoming trees in springtime, usually some college kids playing frisbie at night, bootcamp classes going on early in the morning, and couples sitting on the benches over looking the lake at just about anytime day or night.
I’m also very pleased to report that the drinking fountain & bathrooms are back up and running– generally clean and in working order. My biggest annoyance with city/​county parks is lack of facilities. I don’t know if its lack of funds or fears of creepy behavior (darn u, George Michael for ruining things!) but if ur a runner/​walker/​biker/​roller blader its annoying to have to look for a starbucks to use for your pitstop.
Anywho…theres also some random historic statues scattered here (embarrased to say with the amount of time I spend here that I never pay attention to em, but hey, I never do). There’s also a small log cabin in one corner for reasons that still escape me. The park also offers one of the best (and most congested) places to watch the fireworks.

Well, Id go higher but it’s tiny. It’s still a neat experience to see the statues and the old cabin, that was awesome. I enjoy nature no matter where and this park has a little nature. Honestly, I encountered a Doe here the other night, that was very surprising and awesome. The park connects to the bike/​walk path on Linc Mem Drive so thats a huge plus, yet its also right next to Prospect avenue.
But the park is tiny so there isn’t much to see. It would be a great place for a picnic.
I may go back, but we have tons of other great parks.