Photos: Building Milwaukee's Marquette Interchange, the first time

This aerial view of Milwaukee's downtown before construction began in 1964 shows how much the landscape was about to change. At the center of the photo is Red Arrow Park and First Methodist Church, both of which would be removed to make way for the High-Rise Bridge and connecting to the Marquette Interchange. This photo illustratoin was published in the Nov. 24, 1964, Milwaukee Journal.

Shown in 1964, the engineers' concept for the planned Central Interchange includes the High-Rise Bridge, at the time the largest bridge ever to be constructed in Wisconsin.

Wreckers demolish the former Cohen Brothers Clothing Co. building at W. Clybourn and N. 10th streets on May 21, 1964. The building, like the surrounding empty lots, was being cleared to make way for construction of the Central Interchange. The Cutler-Hammer plant, also a target of the project, is to the right of the Cohen Brothers building. This photo was published in the May 22, 1964, Milwaukee Journal.

A bulldozer pushed dirt at N. Eighth Street and W. St. Paul Avenue, clearing the way for the southern end of the Central Interchange in downtown Milwaukee. The scene was distorted by using a telephoto lens, which makes the Hotel Schroeder (now the Milwaukee Hilton City Center, 509 W. Wisconsin Ave.) appear closer than it really was. This photo was published in the June 4, 1964, Milwaukee Journal.

The spaces get a lot more wide open in downtown Milwaukee in 1964 as demolition continues to clear the way for the new Central Interchange linking freeways going east, west, north and south to and from Milwaukee. This was at N. 10th and W. Clybourn streets. The tall spires in the background are from Gesu Church. This photo was published in the June 4, 1964, Milwaukee Journal.

One of Milwaukee's oldest neighborhoods begins to look more like a desert as demolition picks up for the Marquette Interchange project in late 1964. This is the area south of W. Wisconsin Avenue and west of N. Ninth Street; the dirt road that was N. 10th St. runs from upper left to lower right. This photo was published in the Sept. 16, 1964, Milwaukee Journal.

A sonic pile driver sinks piles for the new Central Interchange. The sonic machine was moved to the site after a conventional pile-driving hammer brought complaints that it was shaking sensitive equipment at nearby Cutler-Hammer at 12th Street and St. Paul Avenue. This photo was published in the Oct. 16, 1964 Milwaukee Journal.

A lone sidewalk superintendent checks out construction on the new Central Interchange in the former Red Arrow Park at N. 10th and W. Clybourn streets in downtown Milwaukee on Nov. 8, 1964. Already, the freeway ramps were starting to take shape in this view, looking south from downtown.

The land south of the Marquette University campus is a massive construction staging area for the Central Interchange and completion of the East-West Freeway connecting to it at the end of 1964. This photo was published in the Dec. 6, 1964, Milwaukee Journal.

The Central Interchange, later renamed the Marquette Interchange, begins taking shape in late 1965, including the eastbound freeway to about N. Eighth Street and off-ramps to North Seventh and Fifth streets. Another ramp will lead to North 13th Street and West St. Paul Avenue. The ramps will mean new access to downtown. This was published in the Nov. 26, 1965, Milwaukee Sentinel.

Fingers of the new Central Interchange (center) begin reaching for the East-West Freeway in the fall of 1965. This photo was published in the Oct. 1, 1965, Milwaukee Sentinel.

A maze of girders and and pillars takes shape on the footprint of the planned Central Interchange (later the Marquette Interchange) during the summer of 1965. At left was the then-new Greyhound office building, and at the center was the Sheraton-Schroeder Hotel (now the Milwaukee Hilton City Center). This photo was published in the Aug. 5, 1965, Milwaukee Journal.

A highway sign, possibly posted as a prank, decorates a barricade blocking the end of one of the still-under-construction ramps to the Central Interchange in downtown Milwaukee. This photo was published in the Aug. 5, 1965, Milwaukee Journal.

A construction worker stands at the end of a stub that eventually will connect to the Central Interchange. Gesu Church on the Marquette University campus is in the background. This photo was published in the Oct. 10, 1965, Milwaukee Journal.

A demolition crew begins knocking down the wall of a building at Cutler-Hammer on W. St. Paul Avenue. A completed section of the interchange loomed in the foreground in this photo, published in the Aug. 5, 1965, Milwaukee Journal.

New overpasses still reach to nowhere as work continues on the Central Interchange of the freeway system in downtown Milwaukee. The YMCA building is at upper left in this aerial view looking east over the construction area. At lower left is the start of the link for the North-South and the East-West freeways. W. Clybourn Street (center) is carrying the traffic through the construction zone. Only the General Electric Co. building (square building, right), at 940 W. St. Paul Avenue, will remain when the job is finished. It will be surrounded by freeway bridges. This was published in the Sept. 3, 1965, Milwaukee Journal.

Scaffolding is being pieced together like a giant Erector set at the site of the Central Interchange in downtown Milwaukee. The scaffolding was to support forms for a future concrete roadway that will carry traffic high above the ground. This photo was published in the April 1, 1965, Milwaukee Journal.

An aerial view of the Central Interchange (later the Marquette Interchange) in progress during the fall of 1966.

Cars get on the East-West Freeway via the new ramps at N. Seventh and Eighth streets at the still-under-construction Central Interchange in 1966.

The curves and loops of the Central Interchange are coming together, as seen from the roof of the YMCA building at N. Ninth Street and Wisconsin Avenue during the summer of 1967. This photo was published in the Aug. 22, 1967, Milwaukee Journal.

This aerial view shows construction of the Marquette Interchange looking east during 1967.

This panoramic photo shows the state of construction of the North-South Freeway at the north end of the Marquette Interchange in April 1968. This photo was published in the April 23, 1968, Milwaukee Journal.

Two engineers on the North-South Freeway project check reinforcing rods on the bridge above the Menomonee River valley, running into the Marquette Interchange, during construction of the heart of the Milwaukee freeway system during the summer of 1968. The Marquette Interchange was opened to traffic on Dec. 23, 1968, linking the north and south sides of the city. This color-separated photo was published in the June 17, 1968, Milwaukee Journal.

An aerial photo of the Marquette Interchange in April 1968 shows how much work was still to be done to get it completed by the end of the year. This photo was published in the April 17, 1968, Milwaukee Sentinel.

A construction worker crosses a still-under-construction on-ramp at the Central Interchange during construction in the spring of 1968. The project was renamed the Marquette Interchange later that fall.

Work on the County Courthouse Annex (foreground) continues during the spring of 1968, as contractors race to finish the building when the North-South Freeway and Marquette Interchange were scheduled to open at the end of 1968.

Construction workers scramble during the spring of 1968 to make progress on the new County Courthouse Annex, which will straddle the northbound North-South Freeway just north of the Marquette Interchange.

In the spring of 1968, workers still have a long way to go to get the County Courthouse Annex done in time for the opening of the North-South Freeway and the Marquette Interchange, both due open by the end of 1968.

Work continues on the High-Rise Bridge over the Menomonee River in the spring of 1968.

Work continues on the ramps to the High-Rise Bridge from the Central Interchange in the spring of 1968. (The project was renamed the Marquette Interchange that fall.) This photo was published in the June 14, 1968, Milwaukee Sentinel.

Twinkling lights stretch for miles to the south along the newly opened segments of Milwaukee's freeway system on Dec. 24, 1968. This picture, taken from the top of the YMCA building, 915 W. Wisconsin Ave., shows the Marquette Interchange and the Menomonee Valley High-Rise Bridge. The freeway sections opened to the public Dec. 23, 1968; this photo was published in the Dec. 25, 1968, Milwaukee Sentinel.

In 1965, planners envisioned Milwaukee's network of freeways as a coordinated loop. Among the freeways that weren't completed: the Park Freeway (at upper left) and the Lake Freeway (along Lake Michigan). This photo illustration, prepared for the County Expressway Commission by Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendoff, was published in the March 9, 1965, Milwaukee Sentinel.