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Who Killed the Streets of Old Milwaukee?
A detailed exploration into how Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley funded a private museum
and gave away the Streets of Old Milwaukee.
10 things to explore.
It can be argued that MPM, Inc. (“MPM”) was legally given control of the Streets of Old Milwaukee, along with the dioramas and almost everything else, in 2021. It could also be argued that the handoff occurred in 2025. The process is something of a maze—useful if the intent is secrecy. The arrangement traces back to the Milwaukee Public Museum’s 2021 Revised Collections Policy (“Collections Policy”) (County File 21-259).¹ That policy was enacted by the museum and approved by County Executive David Crowley.
A great way to understand this is to look at the following illustration:
We inserted the term “Antiquities” in the illustration because we felt it makes that category more relatable and understandable to the public. If you review MPM’s comments, statements, and official documents over the years, you'll notice many of these words cropping up again and again with reference to no specific items. These word choices aren't accidental—they're carefully messaged and strategically timed. To us, it's obvious this has served as a form of gradual public conditioning, normalizing major changes that affect Milwaukee's cultural legacy. But that's a deeper topic for another time.
Of course, the story in the diagram has deeper roots than what is shown; that was merely the turning point in the equation. Let's take a chronological look at how this all unfolded.
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2013: The Lease and Management Agreement (“LMA”) (County File 13-598)
In 2013 Milwaukee County signed a long-term lease agreement that allowed a private nonprofit company, MPM, Inc., to run the affairs and day-to-day operations of the Milwaukee Public Museum.² Although this new group retained the title “MPM,” it was not a public entity, rather it was a private nonprofit. In hindsight, the name should not have been allowed given how misleading the name can be.
Items in the museum were classified into one of three categories under the agreement.³
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Accessioned: Items of genuine historic or scientific significance that the museum cannot easily dispose of or transfer. (The term "antiquities" serves as a useful metaphor here.) These include irreplaceable pieces like Egyptian mummies, authentic Indian headdresses, or wooly mammoth skeletons—and they are formally cataloged and registered in the permanent collection.
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Exhibits, Dioramas and Built Environments: Individual components like a mounted bison or mannequin may not qualify as accessioned "antiquities" on their own, but when assembled into a complete diorama, they form an integral, irreplaceable part of the museum's historic experience and cultural heritage. With over 140 dioramas, a good example is the Crow Indian Bison Hunt. A bison alone may not be part of the formal collection, but replacing it with a mule would diminish the importance and authenticity of the entire diorama. Thus, it had to have certain protection as it is art in and of itself, a part of what is called the “Milwaukee Style.”
Note: Items in the first two categories remained publicly owned.
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Personal Property: These are items that, in and of themselves, do not add to the museum experience—ladders, benches, waste cans, and the like. The term “personal property” means that MPM, Inc. owns the item and can dispose of it at its discretion. Keep this term in mind; it will be used against you later.
The 2013 agreement was structured to protect the integrity of the museum’s collections and place limits on destruction or dismantling of collection material.⁴ Both the public and private portions of this agreement were followed in the best public interest.
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2019: The LMA was amended mainly to clarify financial language, while the 2013 protections for public items, terms, and their application remained fully unchanged.⁵
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2021: Revised Collections Policy (County File No. 21-259)
THIS IS THE SMOKING GUN!
MPM, Inc. (now led by CEO Ellen Censky) holds private meetings and decides to reinterpret the
“broad language” of the 2013 Lease and Management Agreement with Milwaukee County.
In 2021, museum leadership under CEO Ellen Censky adopted a revised Collections Policy that reinterpreted aspects of the earlier lease language governing museum collections.¹
This reinterpretation narrowed the definition of “collections” to only those items recognized within MPM’s internal cataloging system. Items not included within that definition—including many dioramas, exhibits, murals, and built environments—could be treated as non-collection property under MPM’s management authority.¹
The term non-collections items does not appear in this document, it simply implies that if an item is not of the collections, then it is a non-collection item. The exact term starts to show up in the media about 2023 and finally is used in a legal document in 2025. We can find no existence of this word EVER being used by an accredited museum nor the AAM. It appears very likely that it was strategically invented.
The shift places the burden of interpretation largely on MPM’s internal determinations, with no requirement for public disclosure, itemized listings, or accounting of which assets are protected within the official collection, as well as ethical commitments to preserve these cultural works.
As a result, with approval from County Executive David Crowley and the Milwaukee County Board, iconic exhibits such as the Streets of Old Milwaukee fall under MPM's unilateral authority to classify, manage, repurpose, or dispose of as non-collection personal property.¹ In a way David Crowley empowered MPM to have full authority over most of the items they don't intend to move to their new museum, think about that!
Notably, although MPM, Inc. gained the power in 2021 to unilaterally redefine museum assets (including dioramas and built environments), it held off until summer 2025 before notifying the County (File 25-586).⁶ This delay—intentional or otherwise—gave them wiggle room to sidestep direct questions about museum assets.
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2021: County Executive David Crowley approved Milwaukee Public Museum Collections Policy File 21-259
County Executive Crowley along with the entire Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors approves the agreement. The approval was just one line item in a much larger agenda. There are no records of any discussion, questions, or public input on the topic.
This maneuver effectively sealed the fate of the Streets of Old Milwaukee. It allowed CEO Ellen Censky and MPM—with only a notice—to treat anything not on their internal list (which has no public record and may or may not exist) as their own property to: control, repurpose, or sell with no clear legal barrier preventing the disposition of non-accessioned items.
Non-accessioned items, which would seem to include all dioramas and displays, will be kept,auctioned or discarded after the 2027 move, with proceeds staying with MPM rather than returning to taxpayers.
Whether the public knows it or not, David Crowley signed away virtually everything known as the Milwaukee Public Museum with nothing more than a notice.
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2022:
The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors granted County Executive David Crowley authority to negotiate and enter into agreements related to the museum project (County File 22-454).⁷ Effectively, this handed day-to-day control including funding over to the executive branch headed by David Crowley.
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2024: David Crowley, using the authority given to him by the board (County File 22-454) enters into the largest agreement in Milwaukee County history not requiring board approval. This Financial Management Agreement (FMA), commits $45 million dollars to MPM, plus $20 million over the next 20 years, plus the profits from sale of the dioramas.¹⁰
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2025 MPM informs the County that it has reclassified the dioramas as non-collection property and assumes all rights and powers under its collections framework (County File 25-586).⁶
PreserveMKE believes the delay between the 2021 policy change and the 2025 notification was done as a strategic move to limit public awareness of the policy’s implications.
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Highlights
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The Streets of Old Milwaukee and its dioramas are part of Milwaukee County’s cultural heritage, built with public support and long associated with a publicly owned museum.
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Changes approved in 2021 allowed the Milwaukee Public Museum, Inc. to redefine what counts as part of the official collection, placing many historic exhibits outside the protections that previously applied to public assets.
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These policy changes were approved by County Executive David Crowley, giving a private nonprofit broad authority over exhibits many residents believe belong to the public.
If these exhibits were created and preserved as part of Milwaukee’s public museum,
how did control over them shift so dramatically?
Sources
¹ Milwaukee County File 21-259 — Milwaukee Public Museum Revised Collections Policy (2021).
Milwaukee County Legislative File.
https://milwaukeecounty.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=9228954&GUID=D0EF52C7-3FE5-4B3F-A030-B07948EABD76
(Collections Policy defining scope of museum collections.)² Milwaukee County File 13-598 — Lease and Management Agreement between Milwaukee County and Milwaukee Public Museum, Inc. (2013).
Milwaukee County Legislative File.
https://milwaukeecounty.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=2563529&GUID=107716EB-1EAE-4CA2-980F-E33E818CDC7E
(Agreement governing museum operations and property management.)³ Lease and Management Agreement (2013), pp. 6–10.
(Sections describing museum collections and property classifications.)⁴ Lease and Management Agreement (2013), pp. 12–15.
(Provisions governing protection, transfer, or disposal of collection material.)⁵ Milwaukee County amendment to the Lease and Management Agreement (2019), Milwaukee County legislative record.
⁶ Milwaukee County File 25-586 — Museum notification regarding classification of certain exhibits as non-collection property (2025). https://milwaukeecounty.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=14729562&GUID=BB214211-91D3-44C3-AB5D-0161F2C71A65
⁷ Milwaukee County File 22-454 — Authorization for County Executive to negotiate museum project agreements (2022).
https://city.milwaukee.gov/files/county/administrative-services/EconDev/Documents/2023-Development_Agreement_EXHIBITS-_Museum_of_Nature__Culture.pdf⁸ Financial Management Agreement — Wisconsin Museum of Nature and Culture Project (2024).
Milwaukee County Department of Administrative Services.
https://county.milwaukee.gov/files/county/administrative-services/EconDev/Documents/2024-Wisconsin-Museum-of-Nature-and-Culture-Funding-and-Management-Agreement.pdfAll documents cited are public records available through Milwaukee County.
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Milwaukee County authorized up to $45 million in public bonding in 2022 to support construction of the new Wisconsin Museum of Nature and Culture.
Because public money is involved, the County must evaluate the project’s financial viability before taxpayer funds are committed.
As part of the museum’s financing process, Milwaukee Public Museum leadership was required to demonstrate fundraising progress and overall financial capacity to complete the project.
Museum leadership has publicly stated the project reached roughly 80% of its fundraising goal, figures reported in media coverage.¹ Those figures were later challenged by PreserveMKE in its video “Who Killed the Streets of Old Milwaukee,” Episode 1.²
Those representations would necessarily have been supported by financial documentation provided to Milwaukee County as part of the project’s financing process.
But the financial documentation supporting those claims — including independent verification of fundraising progress — has not been publicly released.
Instead, the public is asked to rely on what the museum tells the County and the media — while the underlying financial reports remain unseen.
PreserveMKE has filed multiple open records requests seeking documentation related to the project, but those records have not been produced.
As County Executive, David Crowley approved the agreements governing Milwaukee County’s participation in the project.
Highlights
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Milwaukee County authorized up to $45 million in taxpayer-backed funding for the project.
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Financial information demonstrating the project’s fundraising progress was provided to the County, but those reports have not been released to the public.
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These decisions occurred under the administration of David Crowley.
If public money is being committed, the public should be able
to see the financial information used to justify it.
Why hasn’t County Executive David Crowley released those records?Sources
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Tom Daykin, "Milwaukee Public Museum Raises 80% of Its $240 Million Goal for New Building," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 4, 2025. https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/real-estate/commercial/2025/03/04/milwaukee-public-museum-raises-80-of-240-million-new-building-goal/81344429007/.
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PreserveMKE, "Who Killed the Streets of Old Milwaukee Ep.1," YouTube video, 14:32, uploaded June 5, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWtnKAAxg_c - at 6:30.
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“For the museum items, they (profits from sale) would go to the museum. If it’s the County’s and the County is involved, then it would go to the County.” Ellen Censky CEO MPM, Inc.
These are some very misleading and well chosen words spoken by CEO Ellen Censky only a few days ago on March 12, 2026.
As established in Claim 1, County Executive David Crowley has given away all of the powers, except the collections (not specified), to MPM and their CEO Ellen Censky. In Claim 1 we pointed out that MPM classified ALL items presently in the museum as either collection or personal property, The term “Personal Property” is defined as MPM’s property not the public's. This means the gun collection, donated items from families tied to the European Village, any item on the Streets of Old Milwaukee, the thousands of items stored in and out of the building, even the “Woodland Indian and Whistling Swans” attached to the outside of the building now belong to MPM. Each item is at their sole discretion to keep, sell or discard.* All signed away by County Executive David Crowley.
As difficult as it may be for taxpayers to realize, County Executive Crowley has given the authority to MPM to keep the profits from the sale of virtually any museum asset which was once publicly owned.
MPM, Inc. “has the authority to sell, lease, transfer, or otherwise dispose of such property in the best interests of the Museum.”1
None of this would have been possible without the 2021 collections policy approval signed by County Executive David Crowley. We at PreserveMKE fail to understand why a deal this one-sided would be negotiated with a private museum.
Is this how a responsible government works?
Highlights
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Milwaukee County’s museum collections are public assets held on behalf of taxpayers.
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Policies approved by David Crowley transferred significant decision-making authority over those assets to the Milwaukee Public Museum.
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As a result, decisions about whether collection items are sold and how any proceeds are handled may occur largely outside direct county control.
These changes occurred under policies approved
by County Executive David Crowley.Sources
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First enacted in the 2021 Collections and Policies agreement.
Plan for Disposition of the Milwaukee Public Museum’s Surplus Personal Property and Milwaukee County Fixtures (County File No. 25-586), approved/released in late 2025 by Milwaukee County.
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There are some exceptions to what MPM is leaving for the County. For example, anything that is "permanently affixed to the building.” Most notably this would include the many murals painted on the walls used as backdrops for the dioramas.
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The Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) operates as a private nonprofit organization. It will soon own its own building — the Wisconsin Museum of Nature and Culture (WMNC) — a project supported by significant public funding and housing collections owned by Milwaukee County on behalf of the public.¹
A reasonable person might expect that meetings involving so many issues tied to the public interest would be open to public observation.
However, because MPM is structured as a private nonprofit, its board meetings are generally not subject to Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law, even while the new museum receives substantial public funding and manages publicly owned collections.²
The law technically says they do not have to — so they do not.
County Executive David Crowley could insist on greater transparency, and such requirements could have been included in the 2024 Financial Management Agreement (FMA) tied to public funding for the new museum.
Instead, MPM board meetings are generally not open to the public, meaning many discussions about the publicly supported museum project occur outside public view.
Highlights
The new Wisconsin Museum of Nature and Culture is being built with tens of millions of dollars in public funding and will house collections owned by Milwaukee County on behalf of the public.
Because the Milwaukee Public Museum operates as a private nonprofit, its board meetings are generally closed to the public, even while decisions affect publicly funded cultural assets.
As Milwaukee County Executive, David Crowley approved and supported the county’s public funding agreements for the project, yet those agreements did not require the museum’s governing board to conduct its meetings in public.
How does exploiting this loophole serve the public’s best interest?
Why should the public simply trust what MPM is doing behind closed doors?
Sources
CBS 58 News. Milwaukee County leaders sign $45M funding for new Milwaukee Public Museum building. March 21, 2022.
Wisconsin Department of Justice. Wisconsin Open Meetings Law Compliance Guide. Private nonprofit corporations are generally not subject to Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law unless they meet specific statutory definitions of a governmental body.
https://www.wisdoj.gov/Open%20Government/OML_guide.pdf
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On July 15, 2025, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley attended the topping-off ceremony for the Wisconsin Museum of Nature and Culture (WMNC) and signed the ceremonial final steel beam before it was lifted into place.¹ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZWcdfm45-I)
During the ceremony, the beam slipped from the crane rigging while it was lowered into place. It happened in front of attendees and cameras. Although a falling structural beam created a potentially dangerous situation and safety risk, no injuries were reported.²
Other than PreserveMKE no other entity including MPM, Mortenson Construction or the Crowley administration put out any statement expressing relief that no one was injured or concern over the lack of safety protocol.
No regulatory safety violations related to the event have been publicly reported. The incident nevertheless raised questions among observers about construction safety procedures and rigging practices during the event.
Following the incident:
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No detailed public statement addressing the incident from County Executive Crowley or his office was identified in media coverage of the event.
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WMNC / Milwaukee Public Museum spokesperson later confirmed that the beam was successfully installed after the incident, but the statement did not address safety concerns or whether the event prompted a review of procedures.⁴
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Preserve MKE issued a statement expressing relief that no one was injured while criticizing what it described as a serious breach of construction protocol during a public relations event.³
Highlights
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As of this writing, no detailed public explanation has been provided by County Executive Crowley or project leadership regarding the incident.
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The lack of a public explanation leaves unanswered questions about safety oversight and accountability during a publicly funded construction project supported by the County Executive.
Sources
1. WMNC Topping-Off Ceremony Video. YouTube recording showing the ceremonial beam signing and lift.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZWcdfm45-I
2. Salemme, Matt. “Steel Beam Crashes Down During Museum Ceremony in Milwaukee.” WISN 12 News, July 15, 2025.
https://www.wisn.com/article/steel-beam-crashes-down-during-museum-ceremony-in-milwaukee/65420092
3. Preserve MKE. Public statement regarding the WMNC beam incident, July 2025. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CkznXUmjh/
4. “Construction Milestone Celebrated at Site of Future Nature & Culture Museum.” CBS 58 News, July 15, 2025. https://cbs58.com/news/construction-milestone-celebrated-at-site-of-future-nature-culture-museum-of-wisconsin
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We are confident that a motivated reporter would easily uncover just what is going on. We believe the building condition report is greatly overstated and has been used to spread a very distorted message about the need to destroy the building. Even with MPM, Inc. 's initial estimates, restoring the museum building has always been the fiduciary proper choice. Based on square foot per dollar, restoration of the present museum would have been 25% of the cost.
Does anyone want to win a Pulitzer? We can help!
Who is David Crowley really answering to?Information is currently being reviewed. Please check back.
Information is currently being reviewed. Please check back.
Information is currently being reviewed. Please check back.
Information is currently being reviewed. Please check back.
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About Us
PreserveMKE is a citizen-led, nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to protecting Milwaukee’s heritage, public assets, and community voice. We advocate for transparency, responsible stewardship, and informed decision-making to ensure the city’s history and resources are preserved for future generations.