Lynden Hill: A Site of African American Resilience

Lynden Hill: A Site of African American Resilience. . , Lynden Hill was once the site of Wisconsin’s first state-licensed, non-profit, general hospital owned and operated by African Americans. Founded by two French Canadian nuns in 1908, Misericordia Hospital began as a charity hospital for single mothers. In 1969, the Sisters of Misericordia closed the hospital and relocated to Brookfield. The closure was a loss to the neighborhood’s economic base. In a heroic effort to save it, three African American doctors, Dr. Louis T. Maxey Sr., Dr. John Terry, and Dr. John Bryant, bought the shuttered 260-bed hospital and named it Misericordia Community Hospital. Dr. Maxey became the first African American president of a hospital in Wisconsin. When the hospital closed in 1977, the Midtown neighborhood again lost a major employer and its local healthcare provider. In 1982, the seven-story hospital was demolished, leaving a vacant lot., Over the next ten years, neighborhood guardians adopted the lot and tended it as a park. In 1992, the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee proposed new housing on the site, but the plan failed after local organizers advocated for environmental justice. In 1993, the park was named Lynden Hill. In 1999, the National Park Service chose Lynden Hill as the site for its Urban Treehouse Program, which provides outdoor education in urban areas., Lynden Hill’s long history of social justice reflects the resistance and resilience of Milwaukee’s Midtown neighborhood. Misericordia Community Hospital only lasted eight years, but it profoundly impacted the community, not only because of its services, economic impact, mission, and training school, but also because of its message of empowerment for Black people.