500 Students to Honor 22 Area Soldiers Killed in World War I By Planting Poppies in Humboldt Park on Friday, Nov. 9
WHO: Approximately 500 grade school through high school students from Downtown Montessori Academy, Humboldt Park Elementary, Indian Community School, Milwaukee Parkside School for the Arts, Reagan High School and St. Lucas School along with members of the Humboldt Park Friends, the Interorganizational Council of Bay View, the Bay View High School drum line and reenactors dressed as World War I soldiers
WHAT: Accompanied by a drum line playing somber military style music, students will march in a procession from Bay View High School to the World War I memorial in nearby Humboldt Park. There, they will plant red poppies made of plastic around the memorial and toward Park Road and Oklahoma Avenue to provide a visual remembrance to the area soldiers who died a century ago.
WHEN: Procession begins at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 9
WHERE: Beginning at Bay View High School, corner of S. Lenox Street at E. Montana Street and processing south to the memorial in Humboldt Park.
WHY: To mark the 100thanniversary of the end of the “War to End All Wars” and honor the 22 young men from the Bay View area who were killed in the war.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Surrounded by trees and situated on a hill, the memorial is a key feature of the county-owned park and is one of the largest World War I memorial structures in the area. A plaque with the names of 22 soldiers from the community who were killed in the war is part of the structure.
About 4 million U.S. soldiers were deployed to the European battlefields during 1917-18. More than 100,000 died in combat or from disease. Hostilities officially ended at 11:11 a.m. on November 11, 1918.
About Humboldt Park
Originally named South Park, Humboldt Park was one of six parks created when the City of Milwaukee established a Parks Commission in 1890. The original 45-acre park opened in 1891 and a picturesque lagoon was created two years later. In 1900, the park was renamed Humboldt Park in honor of Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt, a Prussian geographer and naturalist who did extensive work on botanical geography. Humboldt Park continues to be a center point of the Bay View neighborhood providing a wealth of events and accessible nature within an urban park setting.
About Humboldt Park Friends
Humboldt Park Friends is a non-profit organization serving as a liaison between the Milwaukee County Parks Department and the community. Established in 1997 by the late Ruth Simos, Humboldt Park Friends operates under the Park People of Milwaukee and is governed through its own elected board. Learn more at https://www.humboldtparkmilwaukee.org.
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