Old World Third Street likely to become Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive with unanimous Milwaukee Common Council support

By Allison Dirr, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

North Old World Third street offers a variety of shops and restaurants with outdoor seating. Angela Peterson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Old World Third Street, from West McKinley Avenue to West Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee’s downtown, would be renamed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive under a proposal with the support of all members of the city’s Common Council.

“Personally, I think it’s about time,” said Ald. Robert Bauman, whose district includes all but one block of the six-block stretch.

The remaining block from McKinley to West Juneau Avenue is in the district of Ald. Milele Coggs, the measure’s lead sponsor. Her district also includes the current King Drive, which now becomes North Old World Third Street south of McKinley.

Coggs said in a statement Friday that the effort to rename the stretch would “serve as inspiration, hope, healing and encouragement” for the quest for justice and racial equity.

“Every time one drives southbound on King Drive, as it abruptly turns into Old World Third Street, they may be reminded of the 1984 political fight over the street renaming, the tremendous effort to limit the King street naming from entering downtown Milwaukee and the vestiges of systemic racism and segregation that have been pervasive in this city,” Coggs said. 

The geographic division between today’s North Old World Third Street and King Drive reflects the Black-white racial divisions readily apparent during the debate about renaming the street in 1984, according to previous Journal Sentinel coverage.

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