Goelz's Triangle

31/07/2024

I walked by the Goelz home on S. Clement Ave. with my sister and niece in June, and the owner Mr. Miller, sensing a "tour", came out.
I reminded him that I stopped by in the 1980s and gave him a picture of the home (c. 1878).
He told me he had the title packet that came with the property, dating back to c. 1850!

Too bad Ron Winkler didn't check with the owner while not doing any research on the Goelz property for his Town of Lake book.

Or was there some other purpose to mis-identifying the home since I heard Ron asked MPL to turn over my German Newspapers data to him & the Bay View Historical Soc. (A Deed of Gift agreement protects my work at MPL - although they'd be happy to ignore that, if possible.)

18/03/2024

This authentic "obituary" for Margaret Goelz, daughter of Georg & Anna Gertrud (Gassen) Goelz, is a really good evidence for who owned the property at 3273 S. Clement Ave., and for how long. When Ron Winkler included a photo of the house in his Town of Lake book you'd have thought he would've typed the address into the newspaper subscription site at the public library. Maybe Ron just being malicious because my data-file of citations from Milwaukee's German newspapers wasn't turned over to him and the Bay View Historical Society. That's not a far-fetched question in Milwaukee's world of entitled WASP Boomer Retirees.

18/03/2024

Rose Goelz, daughter of Georg & Gertrud (Gassen) Goelz, was the last of the their children. She had already signed over the remains of the farm and home on S. Clement Ave. in lieu of assisted living care at the hospital. The property that siblings Lorenz & Joh. Geo. had received fronting on Whitnall and Howell, north of Bradley was still in descendants hands, with the last lot leaving descendant's hands in about 2008.

26/07/2023

The arrangement with Alderman Paul Gauer to create "Goelz Triangle", or "Goelz's Triangle", was actually made for 2nd generation, native born, Lorenz Goelz and not his father George.

12/07/2023

Civil War Gold Star veteran Adam Gölz (1845-1865), was a nephew to Georg Goelz (1820-1913) & cousin to Lorenz Goelz (1855-1937), who inspired naming of this tiniest of Milwaukee's tiny parks. Adam's father was also a Lorenz Goelz (1817-1887).

24/03/2023

It was as simple as using the Milwaukee City Directories to track down a time-frame for "Goelz Triangle" from its creation to being "uncreated". I puzzled over the story with extended family for a while, checking different archives. But the family 'story' was easily confirmed by the directories.

20/03/2023

Landscaping plans collected from City of Milwaukee Archives. This was a City of Milwaukee Park before the entire parks system was turned over to Milwaukee County.

27/10/2022

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!" (Sir Walter Scott, 1808)

Photo of the 93 year old George Goelz, c. 1913, on his front porch on S. Clement Ave. He's reacting to Ron Winkler's misidentified picture of the Goelz home in his book of Town of Lake. Ron did absolutely NO RESEARCH on the home, and instead of saying so, wrote that the owner/builder was unknown, but possibly a "Gumber". I have showed elsewhere how easy it is to identify the Goelz family as owners of the property, going back to the 1850s/60s.

16/10/2022

Here's an entry of "Goelz Triangle" from the Milwaukee City Directory, under "Parks".

26/09/2022

Photo of the 93 year old George Goelz, c. 1913, on his front porch on S. Clement Ave. He's reacting to Ron Winkler's misidentified picture of the Goelz home in his book of Town of Lake. Ron did absolutely NO RESEARCH on the home, and instead of saying so, wrote that the owner/builder was unknown, but possibly a "Gumber". I have showed elsewhere how easy it is to identify the Goelz family as owners of the property, going back to the 1850s/60s.

11/11/2021

While Georg Gölz arrived in the USA in July 1846, his wife Anna Gertrud Gassen arrived as the youngest of her family group in August 1842. Gassen siblings purchased 20 acre parcels in the area around the current Goelz home & property on S. Clement Ave. (1858 image of property ownership).

07/11/2021

From the records of the Milwaukee Common Council ...

27/10/2021

1937 view ... before being bisected for a dangerous turn lane that pleases the engineering esthetic.

16/10/2021

15 June 1931 was an important day in the creation of Goelz Triangle in Milwaukee, WI.

15/10/2021

Goelz cousins visiting Goelz Triangle in 2008. This group represents descendants of 2 of George and Gertrude (Gassen) Goelz's children: Lorenz (& Anna Schumacher), and John Georg (& Antoinette Welbes).

15/10/2021

View from the northern tip, looking southward across the now bisected triangle.

15/10/2021

Goelz Triangle found as a park in the 1933 Milwaukee City Directory.

14/10/2021

The original documentation to create Milwaukee's "Tiniest Park" did not reference "Mrs. Georg Goelz", mother of Lorenz Goelz (part of the naming's project) or the Gassen family. She was Anna Gertrude Gassen arriving in the US in August 1842 which predates husband George Goelz's arrival in July 1846. Is it possible that George met the Gassen clan on his way to Milwaukee in 1846? The Gassens spent a couple of years in Detroit, MI.

14/10/2021

18/09/2021

The newspaper clippings tell the story, but there are many more records that show the intention, the creation, and the administration surrounding Goelz's Triangle.

18/09/2021

1937 aerial view of Goelz's Triangle before it was split by a southbound turn lane.

14/09/2021