Manitowoc awarded $40,000 grant for Captain Carus Maritime Garden, turning asphalt patch into lively vibrant space
The two partners were awarded a $40,000 Vibrant Spaces Grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) to create the Captain Carus Maritime Garden, a 20,000-square-foot outdoor exhibit space and perennial garden at the southwest corner of Franklin and 12th Street.
First 50 artists announced for Mile of Music 2025 in Appleton
The site once housed the home of Captain Edward Carus, a Great Lakes ship captain for the Goddard Shipping Company.
Born in Manitowoc shortly after the Civil War, Carus lived and died on the same property in 1947.
He was also a maritime photographer and chronicler, with more than 3,000 of his images preserved in the museum's collection.
'This grant allows us to break ground on this park for Captain Carus,' said Kevin Cullen, executive director of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. 'He was a Great Lakes ship captain, born here in the 1860s and he lived and died on the property in 1947.'
The garden will feature maritime artifacts, native landscaping, seating areas, an outdoor classroom and improved accessibility. It will also include updated signage, lighting and building enhancements in the surrounding area.
Cullen says the museum plans to excavate the site and hopes to uncover part of the historic foundation of Carus' former home as part of a public archaeology component.
The Captain Carus Maritime Garden will be located adjacent to the museum's collection storage facility, which is also undergoing renovation and will be reintroduced as the Wisconsin Maritime Heritage Center.
The future center aims to provide more public access to thousands of artifacts currently stored behind the scenes.
'This is the first step in a public access space for seeing what other things happen behind the scenes in the museum,' Cullen said. 'We want this to be a multi-use event space for programming and a place for respite in an otherwise concrete jungle.'
The City of Manitowoc sees the project as part of a broader revitalization effort for the Franklin Street corridor, with the garden expected to boost foot traffic and community engagement in the downtown area.
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay honors inhabitants ahead of construction of new library
Additional funding for the garden comes from the Ruth St. John and John Dunham West Foundation and the Fund for Lake Michigan. Community fundraising and volunteer efforts will also support the project through its construction phase.
Groundbreaking is expected later this summer, with the garden opening to the public in 2026.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Making connections in Myanmar's fractured state
In a riverine battleground in western Myanmar, an entrepreneur hunts for reception using a makeshift bamboo antenna, his payphone kiosk providing locals a lifeline to connect with their loved ones. In commercial capital Yangon, a student flicks through apps that cloak his online identity so he can skirt social media bans that accompanied the 2021 coup. And in the mountainous east, customers at an internet cafe feverishly scroll for news from the outside, dependent on Elon Musk-owned satellites. Four years of civil war between Myanmar's military and its myriad opponents have shattered communications networks. In response, people have resorted to methods ranging from the old-fashioned to the ingenious to the hyper-modern. "I don't want to be cut off from the world," Hnin Sandar Soe, 20, said at an internet cafe in eastern Karenni state where she reads headlines, studies online and reaches out to friends and family. "It always brings a warm and comforting feeling to keep in touch with them." - Payphone lifeline - Myanmar has been under military rule for most of its post-independence history, but a decade-long democratic thaw starting in 2010 was accompanied by an astronomical growth in connectivity. That year, SIM cards cost $1,000 and fewer than five percent of the population owned a mobile phone, according to World Bank figures. Seven years later, that figure was 82 percent, as citizens seized on the rapidly developing cellular networks and novelty of free speech. But since the military toppled the civilian government and ignited the war, there has been a slide back into digital darkness. The junta has banned a slew of apps, conflict has eviscerated infrastructure and blackouts are weaponised by all sides. In western Rakhine state, where civil war has intensified long-running conflict, reliable communications are now a dim memory. Witnessing his neighbours hiking hills for mobile signal, Saw Thein Maung founded an old-fashioned payphone business six months ago. Today, he operates three phones wired to antennas on 10-metre (33-foot) poles that wobble in the wind above the delta town of Ponnagyun. The business earns him a relative fortune of up to $23 a day as customers clamour to dial out. "They don't want to stop speaking with their children elsewhere. They don't care how much they have to pay," Saw Thein Maung said. Customer Tun Lin, 27, uses the payphone to ring city-dwelling contacts to enquire about job openings. "Making phone calls is the only way," the unemployed former NGO worker said. - Satellite solutions - Activist group the Myanmar Internet Project (MIP) says there have been nearly 400 regional internet shutdowns since the junta takeover. What it calls a "digital coup" has slowed emergency responses, hampered education and hobbled the economy. "The public is experiencing hardship as a result of this insult added to injury," said MIP spokesman Han, who goes by one name. "They are looking for all kinds of ways to resist." In Karenni state, an internet cafe with a glowing blue router offers an oasis of connectivity, bypassing restrictions by tethering to Musk's Starlink satellite system. The junta has not licensed the technology, meaning it is illegal to operate. Cafe owner Marino had it smuggled over the border to his shop, where the cutting-edge web link contrasts with the corrugated roof and tarpaulin walls. "We need the internet to know what is happening in our country or the world and if our friends are doing well or not," he said. Nearby, an elderly woman chatted on her phone and a gaggle of teens played online games. - Dodging disconnection - Major cities under junta control retain reliable internet, but Facebook, Instagram, X and WhatsApp -- where opposition groups have typically organised -- are all banned. In Yangon, virtual private networks (VPNs) provide a way to dodge the bans. After the junta started blocking VPNs last year, a whisper network rippled through the city, with people sharing free options that still function. One week the best is 1.1.1.1, before JumpJumpVPN emerges as more popular, and then everyone moves to Now VPN. But the junta security forces now conduct spot checks for VPNs, said one 23-year-old student, speaking on condition of anonymity because he uses the outlawed apps. "Other countries have internet freedom and young people can learn freely," he said. "It is different in our country where everything is restricted. I feel our rights are blocked." He remains undeterred. "We young people have a mindset that we will overcome any restrictions." bur-lmg/jts/pdw/lb/sco
UPI
5 days ago
- UPI
Agriculture Department announces National Farmers Market
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins takes part in a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., in May. In a release on Thursday, she said The Great American Farmers Market is a "chance to honor the heart of our nation." File Photo by Francis Chung/UPI | License Photo July 3 (UPI) -- The Department of Agriculture has announced that it will host the Great American Farmers Market on the National Mall Aug. 3 to Aug 8., inviting local producers and growers from throughout the country to attend. "There is no greater celebration of America's legacy than through American agriculture!" Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement. "Farmers helped found our nation and for centuries have diligently passed down the craft of feeding, fueling, and clothing their fellow patriots. The Great American Farmers Market is a celebration of the almost 250 years since our inception and a chance to honor the heart of our nation." The USDA, which was founded by Abraham Lincoln as the "People's Department" during the Civil War, is the only department to be located directly on the National Mall, which officials have said signifies the importance of American agriculture. Th event has hosted a farmers market every year since 1995 to provide access for vendors in the Washington, D.C., area. This year, the event is being expanded to include farmers from all 50 states. The farmers market event is designed to recognize agriculture "as the cornerstone of our history, providing direct market access to the heart of Washington, inspiring the next generation of farmers and ranchers, and Making American Health Again with fresh food grown by our farmers," the release said. The Great American Farmers Market will be held as part of America 250, the celebration of the country's birthday.
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Yahoo
After 160 years, a New York bank plans New Jersey expansion
A New York bank that has added dozens of bankers to its ranks in the past two years is now expanding beyond the Empire State for the first time. Dime Community Bancshares, based on Long Island in Hauppauge, plans to open a branch in Lakewood, New Jersey, early next year. Dime was founded in 1864, during the Civil War, and though the planned Lakewood location would be the $14.1 billion-asset company's first office outside of New York's boundaries, it likely won't be the last. CEO Stuart Lubow referred to Lakewood as a "jumping-off point." He told American Banker that Dime expects to open additional branches north of Lakewood, which sits in the central part of the state, Ocean County. Ultimately, Dime's ambition is to become more of a regional player, raising its profile in Westchester County and Upstate New York, as well as New Jersey. "I can see us continuing our growth within the New Jersey marketplace and also enhancing our [presence] in Westchester and the lower Hudson Valley," Lubow said Monday. Dime traces its roots to Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood. Its banking subsidiary, Dime Community Bank, was founded as a mutual savings bank to serve Brooklyn's immigrant population. In the decades leading up to the turn of the 21st Century, Dime thrived as a multifamily lender. But over the past 10 years, the company has been engaged in a determined effort to refashion itself into a commercial lender that serves small and mid-size businesses. The transformation has been accelerated by Dime's recent hiring spree, which has seen it establish several new commercial-lending verticals, including health care banking, fund finance and not-for-profit banking. Between the end of 2018 and March 31, 2025, Dime more than doubled the percentage of business loans on its books to $2.8 billion, or more than 25% of its total loans and leases. Dime's increased employee count has also sparked substantial growth in deposits, which increased 9% to $11.5 billion in the two years ending March 31. "Those teams we brought on have performed exceedingly well," Lubow said. "Our pipelines are very strong, both on the deposit and loan side." Dime's economic outlook is "cautiously optimistic," Lubow said. "There' a lot of things going on. I think generally businesses are adapting to any changes and are relatively [hopeful]." In a June 17 report, Kroll Bond Rating Agency upgraded its ratings outlook for Dime from stable to positive, pointing to the company's credit quality and recent deposit growth. "Altogether, given the anticipated core deposit growth, Dime is expected to reflect an enhanced funding and liquidity profile that will position it well to execute its strategic shift in the loan portfolio," Kroll stated. Dime still maintains a significant portfolio of multifamily loans, but Kroll argued that the quality of its tenant mix, including a sizable component in the medical field, offers hope Dime's book can outperform the broader sector, which continues to experience stress. For its part, Dime is focused on getting its New Jersey expansion off to a strong start in Lakewood, according to Lubow, who has helmed the company since 2023. "Right now, our focus is going to be on getting Lakewood open and the New Jersey market. But if opportunities arise, we're certainly going to take advantage of them," he said. Lubow, who was raised near Lakewood and worked in the region as an executive prior to joining Dime in 2017, said the market has undergone a marked change over the past decade, as its commercial business base has expanded. "There's more commercial business that's moved into the suburban environment," Lubow said. "Where before, there was basically New York City and the immediate surroundings as the hub for commercial businesses, [now] they've really moved and spread out. … It's diversified the opportunities in suburban markets."Lakewood's population totaled 141,000 in 2024, up 5% from 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
