The Merrill Park neighborhood I grew up in in Milwaukee was always a working class neighborhood. The deadly 3rd Ward Fire in 1892 forced many people - most of them Irish - to relocate to several neighborhoods. Merrill Park skirted the northern banks of the Menomonee River Valley where the vast Milwaukee Road facilities were located and so became a haven for Irisih railroad workers. The '1906' date on the firehouse the next street over is a good indicator of when the neighborhood was built and the house I grew up in was certainly at least that old. There was even one lone gas fixture remaining in the basement! Oh BTW, Spencer Tracy the famous actor, spent a part of his youth in Merrill Park and attended the Catholic school two blocks from my house...
...but I digress. By the early 1970s the neighborhood was in decline. I remember seeing more and more buildings burning down and old established businesses changing hands. By 1978 I was outta there! But I had to come home in June 1979 for emergency leave and it was during that time I was on leave that this street fight broke out. Thinking nothing of it, I grabbed the camera and started taking pics. Afterwards when the police came to restore order they got my name and address but nothing ever came of it. Unfortunately the pics didn't turn out that good but hey, I got something to record the event. Enjoy! Opa Fritz
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