Photo loaned to KenRail by Norman Siler
A
crowd began to form outside the Kenosha Transit Center's streetcar
building before noon on June 17, 2000, prior to the official ceremony
kicking off streetcar operation.
For several days heforehand, Car 4610, painted in the colors of its Toronto origins, was seen wearing rust from the new rails and practicing for its debut, schooling the first among its new team of drivers. A front page newspaper photo foretold the grand opening, and news spread quickly to mass media in Milwaukee and Chicago.
By 12:30 PM on that stirring Saturday, a crowd milled about the Transit Center, some gazing toward the streetcar stationed for walk-through tours at its starting point, some chatting with friends and strangers in the bright sunlight, and some strolling toward the live radio broadcasters, toward the podium of smiling officials, toward the band playing and the crowd awaiting the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Photo loaned to KenRail by Norman Siler
Visitors
from many places and from many roots arrived by car to join the
festivities. At least one Illinois family availed themselves of
the Metra train arriving at 12:15 PM (Saturday only) to attend,
but mom drove the family car because no convenient return train
was available later in the afternoon.
From a block away, cars parked along newly extended 54th Street were flanked by sparse growth in the parkway and by recently flushed soil. Torrential rains a few days earlier swept soil from an almost rootless lawn onto freshly paved sidewalks. Everywhere, signs of recent construction and of new beginnings for the Harborpark district east of the Transit Center abound. Harborpark encompasses acreage formerly used for manufacturing since the 19th century, and its promenade paralleling the harbor entrance already has gained regional acclaim by a Milwaukee construction industry publication. "The mile-long Promenade ... boasts both innovative design and practicality," declared The Daily Reporter. "It also exemplifies how, with a little planning, builders can outfox the fickle forces of nature," referring to a fishing ledge meant to accommodate folks who have fished the harbor for decades.
