Village of West Milwaukee will not rename Miller Park Way despite stadium name change

Last year, when the Brewers announced Miller Park would be renamed to American Family Field, one change that also needed to be considered is for the road outside the ballpark. Originally named Miller Park Way when the stadium was built, the road name doesn’t make as much sense now that the stadium is no longer named Miller Park. The city of Milwaukee has addressed this, choosing to change the name to Brewers Boulevard (which should help in the future should the stadium’s name sponsorship change again). However, the village of West Milwaukee is not as open to renaming the road, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that they have chosen to leave their portion of the road named Miller Park Way.

As discussed in an earlier article, Miller Park Way is actually in two different municipalities. The northern part is in the city of Milwaukee, and the southern part is in the village of West Milwaukee. As a result, each city would have to independently rename their portion of the road. The city has decided to update their name of the road, while the village has not. Village President John Stalewski had the following to say about it:

“The naming rights for the stadium could change back, could change into something entirely different, and that’s one reason we weren’t going to play the game of trying to rename the road every time they renamed the stadium,” he said.

Another reason, he said, has to do with inertia and familiarity.

“When you look at the fact that it’s been Miller Park Way for 20 years now and that’s how people know it, that’s how people recognize it, regardless.”

It does make some sense to keep the road with the same name, as there is familiarity with that name. It was also noted in the earlier article that there is also a cost with changing the signs, both for the cities and businesses along the road, though an earlier report said the Brewers proposed paying for those costs. Many in the village opposed the name change as well. So, despite the name of the stadium changing, Miller Park will live on along this stretch of road for the time being.

As for Brewers Boulevard, the signage change is underway for the renaming in the city of Milwaukee. The signs along I-94 are scheduled to be updated within the next month, and it should all be in place by the time the season starts. Just south of that, Miller Park Way will live on in the section of road in the village of West Milwaukee.