You’ve always loved it when Dad chose to enter downtown Milwaukee by way of the Wisconsin Avenue viaduct, haven’t you? The new freeway is a faster way to get downtown, of course, and goes right past the stadium, which is always fun. And the routes of the busses and trackless trolleys through the city’s South Side also have their unique charms and points of interest. But to you, the Wisconsin Avenue viaduct has always been the Yellow Brick Road leading to the heart of the Emerald City. You are almost a teenager now, so you know there are bigger cities in the world, and you know that the Land of Oz doesn’t exist. But you still find some magic in this particular approach to downtown and you always will.

This probably goes back to when you were very little, and during a drive into the city overheard Mom mention something about a neighborhood beneath the viaduct. She called it Pigsville and described it as a cozy little place that seemed hidden away from the rest of the world. Your imagination took over from there. Pigsville, you decided, was a combination of Lilliput and Munchkin City populated by lovable gnomes (they’re supposed to live under bridges, right?). They raised pigs of course, but were also magical and musical and tended lovingly to the maintenance of the bridge. But they themselves were never seen. Your Pigsville was an enchanted world of enchanted hidden people. And you nurtured that fantasy for a long, long time.

Well, the real Pigsville is nothing like that, is it? Technically it’s not even known as Pigsville but Valley Park. And the origin of the Pigsville (or Piggsville) nickname has always been something of a mystery. According to some it’s because some early resident did actually raise pigs there. Others say that it got its name from a somewhat notorious saloonkeeper named George Pigg (two g’s). Still others insist that it had something to do with the pig iron from a nearby foundry where many of the residents worked. Well, whether one “g” or two, the neighborhood is still small and cozy and its people still seem hidden from the rest of the world. And that still makes Pigsville intriguing.

You are only now beginning to figure out that there are many, MANY different kinds of people in Milwaukee and the world, and that if anyone has been hidden it’s been you. The people on your block—which, to this point, has been your entire world—all look and act pretty much like you. That is to say, your world has always been homogenized…like milk…and just as white. But as you get older and more inquisitive you’ll encounter all sorts of people who had been hidden from you only by your lack of experience. There are Germans and Serbs and Italians and Poles. They play soccer and bocce ball, and eat foods you’ve never heard of and couldn’t pronounce. There are people who speak strange languages and who practice different religions. There are people in Milwaukee whose great-great grandparents were once slaves, and people who moved to Milwaukee from Mexico and Central America to make a better life for their families. And there are the people who were here before anyone else—the people we mistakenly call “Indians.” These not-really-hidden people are the ones who have always made Milwaukee the interesting place it is. They’re the ones who made America the truly great and unique country it is. As you get older, you’ll want to know as many of them as you can. Your life and your world will be the better for it. And the food will be amazing!

Many years from now, in the faraway future, some Americans will be clamoring to build walls to keep such people from living here, to keep them hidden…forever. Perhaps when the time comes you’ll remember the beautiful Wisconsin Avenue Viaduct. And you’ll be able to remind yourself (and others) that it’s always better to build bridges than walls.

Viaduct    1993    John T. McCarthy, Jr.     8-color silkscreen

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