Sisters of St. Francis Recall Memories of Early Puerto Rican Community in Milwaukee, Discuss Hurricane Maria Aftermath

Two sisters of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Francisca Colon and Ana Martinez, have many memories of the Puerto Rican community in Milwaukee. St. Francis, a Roman Catholic Church, is home to many Puerto Ricans in the Milwaukee area. The large, inclusive church welcomes all to Mass every Sunday, but for community members who only speak Spanish, this church is one of the few places they can go to receive a Spanish mass.

The sisters have been attending St. Francis for the past 60 years, joined by their younger brother Jose Colon and their mother Alexandra Colon.

Colon and Martinez were three years old when their family moved to Milwaukee. Their dad first started working in Florida with the Migrant Workers in 1949. Then, he moved to Milwaukee and started working for the specialized motor company, Louis Allis, where he worked for over 40 years. After World War II, people from the U.S. mainland came to Puerto Rico to solicit for workers to move to the states due to many job openings. A couple years later, the family followed him to Milwaukee. Colon and Martinez recalled that they traveled in the middle of the night on “an old rickety plane” that seemed to be a “two engine plane.”

The move was difficult for the family because of the language barrier, but the first church they attended before St. Francis, Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church reached out to them. The priest was Spanish-speaking, so the family felt welcome there.

“That was our base,” Martinez said. “That was our foundation here in Milwaukee.”

A decade later, they joined St. Francis.

Father Michael Bertram, 69, is the Pastor of St. Francis and holds services in both English and Spanish. Bertram’s first language is English, and 18 years ago, he decided to learn Spanish to teach the surrounding Puerto Rican community at St. Francis. Bertram lived in an Spanish-Immersion school in Costa Rica in 2004 and 2005, where he learned and retained his Spanish vocabulary.

Early Milwaukee Puerto Rican Community

The Puerto Rican community in Milwaukee was vibrant in the 60’s and 70’s, and everyone took pride in celebrating their culture. Martinez and Colon reflected on the days in which men got together and created a Puerto Rican organization. The organization bought a building on Richards and Hubbard street in Milwaukee where they hosted dances and musical groups brought in from Puerto Rico and Chicago. Martinez proudly recalled how members of the organization helped those who had recently traveled from Puerto Rico feel welcome and create a social life in their new home. There was even a Puerto Rican parade put on down Wisconsin Ave.

“It was a wonderful organization that got the people the entertainment they needed,” she said.

However, times have changed since the 60’s and 70’s when the churches were packed full every Sunday and the community flourished. The Puerto Rican population in Milwaukee has weakened and dispersed out as families move into the suburbs.

“It was the older people that brought everything together, and most of them have gone away, moved to warmer climes or are deceased,” said Colon. “So we’ve lost a lot of our parishioners to that.”

Today when you walk into St. Francis church, one that can hold up to 350 people, most of the seats are empty. Colon expressed disappointment with the difficult time the Puerto Rican community in Milwaukee has had trying to attract younger people to the church and into the celebratory community. As a result, the community isn’t nearly as big as it used to be. Those who experienced the large community in the 60’s and 70’s have spread out and moved to the suburbs, including Martinez who lives in Franklin with her husband now and her younger brother who lives in Greendale. But they continue to come back to St. Francis every Sunday.

“This is our second home,” said Martinez. “We feel that our church community keeps us together with our culture, our roots and our traditions. The good ole’ days are always the best.”

Hurricane Maria Aftermath

Today, the two sisters still visit Puerto Rico often because they have extended family living in San Lorenzo, Caguas, Arecibo and Humacao.

Since Hurricane Maria decimated the power grid in 2017, Puerto Ricans have frequently lost power to this day.

“I was talking to my aunt and she said that they experience that (power outages) all the time,” Martinez said. “The electricity goes every so often, the water goes every so often, so they’re living with that every day.”

Her Aunt, who lives in Cayey, said they are used to losing power so often, they now have water reserves on top of the house to catch rainwater for watering plants and doing dishes. Martinez said she has family in San Lorenzo that go days without water and electricity.

According to a 2020 MIT Case Study by Yiyuan Qin,

“Hurricane Maria caused over $90 billion in damage, approximately 3,000 to 5,000 deaths, and an exodus of more than 150,000 people in the two months after.”

“A lot of people left because they lost everything,” Martinez said. “They left everything you know. They had nothing.”

None of Colon’s nor Martinez’s family lost their homes, but several family members had significant parts of their homes destroyed.

“I think it had to do with the government. They got the supplies, they were put in a warehouse and they remain there. They found all these supplies months afterwards that weren’t even given out to the people.”

The sisters agreed that the lack of response and aid after the hurricane created distrust between the government and Puerto Ricans.

“People lost jobs, schools were closed and the government along with private enterprises could no longer operate,” according to the MIT Case Study. People were left to fend for themselves.

Martinez stressed the importance of documenting her family’s history. The family is keeping a book of memories from Puerto Rico, from the church and from their lives growing up for their grandkids to see one day. Though the Puerto Rican community in Milwaukee isn’t the same as it used to be, the memories sisters Colon and Martinez have will last a lifetime. The family will continue attending St. Francis where they found a community and a place they will forever call home.