About Milwaukee's eagle and dove Mural of Peace

Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Updated ·1 min read

Since 1994, drivers traveling north on I-43 have seen the giant eagle and only slightly smaller dove on the wall of a National Avenue building.

Back then, Esperanza Unida director Richard Oulahan commissioned artist Reynaldo Hernandez to create a mural to reflect the heritage and aspirations of the south-side community. “The Mural of Peace,” about 80 feet by 150 feet, shows both birds with an olive branch, with a bolt of lightning between them and a background of colored stripes representing flags of different lands.

The mural is painted not on the building’s cream city brick, but on nearly 300 panels affixed to it. After a few years, weather damaged some panels. Contributors to a fund drive to restore the mural included Tippecanoe Elementary students, who raised more than $566 in a penny drive.

The Walker’s Point building at 611 W. National Ave. is now the Mercantile Lofts Apartments. During its conversion to living spaces, modifications were made that created windows on that wall for inhabitants but still kept the bold colors of Hernandez’s design visible.

64. Artist Reynaldo Hernandez created The Mural of Peace to reflect the heritage and aspirations of the south-side community. Drivers traveling north on I-43 can see them mural's giant eagle and only slightly smaller dove on the wall of a National Avenue building.
64. Artist Reynaldo Hernandez created The Mural of Peace to reflect the heritage and aspirations of the south-side community. Drivers traveling north on I-43 can see them mural's giant eagle and only slightly smaller dove on the wall of a National Avenue building.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: About Milwaukee's eagle and dove Mural of Peace