The rebuild of the Urban Ecology Center’s Washington Park location officially began in the fall of 2023. It reached it's cumulation January of 2025. Here's the story of UEC 's Washington Park branch remodel and re-opening!
Through this project, we:
Our Washington Park location was opened in 2007 to serve more neighborhood schools with our acclaimed Neighborhood Environmental Education Project. Located at the former site of the Milwaukee Zoo, we opened a site here to help with neighborhood revitalization efforts.And it worked! Here’s what happened just in 2021:
Unfortunately, the outdated and inefficient building limited our ability to increase our programming and did not provide the welcoming environment we wished to offer. Imagine if we could do more. Imagine what could happen if we doubled our programming, increased access to early childhood education programming, and reached more kids and adults from across the city. This historic Milwaukee County Park has so much to discover!
In 2021, we began raising funds to reimagine our Washington Park location - bringing the wonder of nature to the heart of this vibrant neighborhood. Through intentional conversations, we listened to our neighbors, to students, to community leaders, to supporters, to the County and to the City. Our dream came to life on February 1, 2025, as we introduced over 1,000 community members to our beautiful new space. We can provide even more schools, summer campers, gardeners, and community partners with the opportunity to learn about and enjoy nature.
To learn more about the project and our progress, visit our Imagine Campaign website.