Jerome Dretzka

Cornelius Amory Pugsley Bronze Medal Award, 1952

 

Jerome Dretzka (1881-1963) received the Pugsley Bronze Medal in 1952. He served the Milwaukee County Parks Commission for 43 years, from 1920 to 1963. For 26 of these years (1926-1952) he was the Executive Secretary of the Commission. This was a period of rapid expansion for the Commission and under his leadership the Commission grew from owning 680 acres to over 7,000 acres of parks.

 

Dretzka was born on December 5, 1881 in Pozen, Poland, then a part of Germany. When he was almost 5 years old his family migrated America. They settled on Milwaukee's south side, where he attended parochial schools. He was one of eight children of Frank Dretzka. In 1893 his family moved to the village of Cudahy where he resided until his death.

 

Dretzka manifested a deep interest in civic affairs throughout his adult life. He was 30 years old when he was elected in 1912 to a four-year term as city clerk of Cudahy where he remained for four years before going to work as manager of the real estate holdings of Patrick Cudahy. His experience in real estate was subsequently a valuable asset in managing the acquisition of new park lands. He was associated with his father and his brothers in the operation of Dretzka's department of Cudahy Brothers Company. Later he established his own real estate business, which he operated with his son Hubert. The knowledge he acquired about land acquisition in these real estate businesses served him well in his later appointment as Executive Secretary of the Milwaukee County Parks Commission.

 

His real estate associate, Patrick Cudahy was influential in Dretzka first being appointed to the Park Commission in 1920. In 1926 Dretzka was named executive secretary of the Commission succeeding Charles B. Whitnall who was known as "father of the Milwaukee County Park System." He first served as secretary on a part-time basis but the park system developed so rapidly that he soon was required to devote all of his time to the secretarial duties that became a full-time salaried position. In 1913, consolidation of community parks on a county-wide basis was begun, and this culminating in the transfer of city of Milwaukee parks to the county in 1932. In 1946 he was also given the additional title of parks director to indicate that he was head of the department.

 

Dretzka was recognized a one of the "greats" in the parks field, not only because of the accomplishments of his own department, but also because of his national leadership. The Milwaukee County Park Commission, through public resolutions, recognized and commended him both at the time of his retirement from the executive secretary position and upon his death. He was a good manager of park funds and was personally instrumental in accomplishing the acquisition of many hundreds of the present park acres, so that he was called the "builder of our parks." He was credited by the Commission with building a park system that "has come to be recognized as one of the finest and most efficient park systems in the United States." The Commission also noted that he "...has made the growth and development of Milwaukee County parks and parkways a dominant purpose of his life."

 

At a testimonial dinner hosted by park employees in 1952, the president of the Park System described Drezka as "the spark plug who has been the driving force in our great park system." He commented further that "Charles B. Whitnall had the dreams, but Mr. Dretzka made them a reality." One of his peers, the director of public works said, "Mr. Dretzka has worked at his job day and night. He has given it everything he had." On other occasions his colleagues noted that Dretzka did an excellent job of handling the public and working with the county board as well as always being a fine man to work with.

 

Though he retired from county employment in 1952 when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70, he continued as a member of the Park Commission until his death in 1963. During this time he served unpaid as the official Secretary of the Commission, chairman of the buildings, grounds and real estate committees; and a member of the executive, music and recreation committees. He was the Commission's representative of the New Zoo Conference Committee and very interested in the development of the new Zoo.

 

Dretzka was president of the Park Section of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities in 1933. instrumental in organizing the Wisconsin Park and Recreation Society, served as its chapter president  in 1963 and was awarded life membership in it in 1953. He served on the board of the American Institute of Park Executives for five years from 1939 to 1943 and was elected its president in both 1944 and 1945. He served as secretary of the Park Commissioners' Section of the Institute in 1949-50, and became chairman f the section in 1951.

Contributed in part by Dale Larson and Robert Rossman