A nearly 80 percent population increase saw more and more residents — mainly German immigrants — moving north and west of the city and transforming farmland into vital communities. The city acquired Perrigo Park from its owners and renamed it Sherman Park after the Civil War general William Sherman, completing a triangle of beautiful city parks that included Lake Park and Washington Park. A new middle class of professionals, business leaders and industrial managers grows, many of whom settle west of their plants, like A.O. Smith, on the 30th Street corridor. According to historian John Gurda, Sherman Park — with its marquee park, new zoning laws that restricted businesses to major streets like North, Burleigh and Center, and the mobility that automobiles afforded — quickly expanded, becoming one of the places to live in Milwaukee. An influx of Jewish residents from the Haymarket neighborhood just north of downtown began the diversification of Sherman Park. Six of Milwaukee’s eleven synagogues were located in the area, and Washington High School graduated some of the city’s most well-known public figures, including Bud Selig and Herb Kohl. African American residents began moving in, making up over 25 percent of the population by 1980. Residents banded together to serve and protect the community, joining the fair housing efforts and preventing the progress of the Park West freeway development. Gurda says that Sherman Park was a close-knit community with “home repair programs,” “soccer leagues” and a “sprawling network of block clubs.” Deindustrialization, however, caused widespread unemployment throughout the city. This was particularly true for those working at factories like A.O. Smith, many of whom lived in Sherman Park. The foreclosure crisis resulted in many vacant homes and boarded-up businesses. (Source: John Gurda, Milwaukee: City of Neighborhoods) So where did that leave Sherman Park? While the urban experiment of Sherman Park suffered a heavy and lingering blow through these crises, organizations like the Sherman Park Community Association (SPCA) have worked for decades to offset these challenges — and still do, along with grassroots efforts like Program the Parks, community organizations like the Boys & Girls Club, social organizations like Common Ground and revitalization efforts from the City of Milwaukee. With so many churches, synagogues and schools — as diverse as 53rd Street School, Yeshiva Elementary and the French Immersion School — a growing number of businesses and support from within and without, Sherman Park hopes to continue to be . . . a nice place to live. Check out these Sherman Park businesses if you’re looking to design your home, your body, your company’s branding or your own homemade crafts. Note: Because Sherman Park is ringed by smaller neighborhoods that are often considered, en masse, as “Sherman Park” — Grasslyn Manor, Sunset Heights, St. Joseph’s and Uptown Crossing to the west, Roosevelt Grove to the North and Metcalfe Park in the southeast — we’ll honor these neighborhood distinctions in the addresses below. 5600 W. North Ave. (Uptown Crossing) Interiorscapes by The Plant Market has taken care of Milwaukee businesses’ plant needs for over 40 years, currently servicing over 600 locations throughout Wisconsin. They recently won the 2017 AmericanHort Design Award for their Spancrete Corporate Headquarters Atrium Redesign and the Pfister Hotel’s Holiday Display. If you’re not a business, don’t fret: on the first Saturday of each month, they sell plants that they’ve switched out from businesses for 50-90 percent off the original cost. 5700 W. North Ave. (Uptown Crossing) For nearly 16 years, Atomic Tattoos & Piercing has offered professional artwork and piercing in its two Milwaukee locations (the other is on the east side), as well as multiple locations around Tampa Bay, Florida. Knowledgeable and supportive tattoo artists and body piercing technicians can accommodate your design needs, questions and concerns at this locally owned and operated organization. 5221 W. North Ave. (Uptown Crossing) According to their website, Barre District “connect[s] with people in our community to make the barre workout the way we change our bodies [and] minds” and “live a healthier lifestyle through strength, flexibility and relationships with one another.” Barre (as in ballet barre) classes mix ballet, yoga and pilates. Their Barrebase classes sculpt the lower body, and the more intense Barrefight blends barre, cardio and tabata (a form of high-intensity interval training, or HIIT). 5330 W. Burleigh St.