JS: The end for Milwaukee's 'little pink church' — in 1967

Parishioners carry a statue of St. Joseph in a parade as part of the annual celebration by members of Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Catholic Church honoring the saint. on June 22, 1952. This photo was pubished in the June 23, 1952, Milwaukee Journal.  

For more than 60 years, the "little pink church" was the spiritual heart of Milwaukee's Italian community.

But the church — Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Catholic Church, 419 N. Jackson St. — was also in the path of "progress," a dangerous place to be in Milwaukee in the 1960s.

Built in 1904, the church was the center of Italian Catholic life in the Third Ward for decades. But by the 1960s, urban renewal and freeway construction had left the church — known for the pink bricks it was built from and the marble statue of an angel that stood watch atop its steeple — isolated in a sea of weeds and parking lots.

On Oct. 11, 1966, the county Expressway Commission voted to offer $95,450 for the church property, so that it could be razed for the new Lake Freeway.

continue at JS

Very interesting article.  HT Cream City Catholic

Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Catholic Church, 419 N. Jackson St., was the spiritual heart of Milwaukee's Italian community for half a century. In this photo, war mothers gathered in the church to pray on Aug. 14, 1945, V-J Day. Ivan J. Mashek/Milwaukee Journal