funtownw.html

Funtown was open from a unknown date till the early 1970s. It was supposedly a small amusement park that existed in the parking lot of the Capitol Court Shopping Center. This Shopping Center was in the area surrounded West Fond du Lac Avenue, West Capitol Drive and North 60th Street. The park was on the northern part along Congress. Capitol Court Shopping Center opened in the 1950s and was torn down for redevelopment about 2000. It is now The Midtown Center Mall.The decline of Capitol Court, which opened in 1956, is a familiar one that has played out in many cities across the country. When it opened as one of the first shopping centers in the city, it served a wide area of Milwaukee County and outlying communities. As other competing malls opened, however, Capitol Court lost customers and retailers, including Sears in 1992 and Target in 1996. Boulder Venture began construction at Midtown Center in the spring of 2002 following the demolition of Capitol Court. The property was a dead shopping center in the middle of what was otherwise a vital neighborhood, said Julie Penman, a former Department of City Development commissioner, who is now a vice president of business development of HGA Architects, Milwaukee. Cool site. I have a few fond memories of the great city of Milwaukee. How about the old Kooky Kookie House @ Christmas in the Capitol Court mall. Or Funtown in the out lot of Capitol court. Not many people remember the in-ground trampolines on Capitol drive about 68th street.....