Charles Foote and Laurel Maney's House
Laurel Maney and her husband Charles Foote have lived in this home for the past 17 years. The house was built in 1954. This area was formerly used for carriage houses for mansions of Back Bay Park. Maney considers this neighborhood her home. She describes how this area was nearly destroyed by the desire for better traffic flow during the O'Donnel administration. At this time mid-70's several lovely old homes which had fallen into disrepair were torn down to make a smoother traffic flow. Fortunately the "progress" stopped before the Van Alyea house and Villa Terrace were pulled down, as had been planned.
This ranch style design was just what Maney and her husband needed for their lifestyle. The selling point was the large, magnificent garden in the back of the house, hidden from the street and occupying pretty much the entire middle of the block. Gardening is her way to connect to her family tradition of gardening, passed down from grandmother and mother. She feels a connection to both of these women when she works in yard. When Maney digs in the soil she often digs into the layer of clay underneath. This has to be removed- it's so hard one can't plant through it. Often times she comes across the remains of cream city bricks, remnants of structures in the past. She becomes very excited talking about this. She says she feels "vibrations" of history coming to her through the earth. _____________________________
Laurel Maney currently teaches Chemistry and Pharmacology at MATC, (Milwaukee Area Technical College). Prior to this, she worked at Miller Brewing and made beer. She is best known for developing the recipe for Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss beer. Charles Foote is a retired advertising executive, originally from Chicago. |
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