West Racine Alliance

park... walk... eat... shop WEST RACINE Walkable WELCOME THINGS TO DO EVENTS VISITOR'S INFO WHAT'S NEW! CONTACT WELCOME TO WALKABLE WEST RACINE! Conveniently located along Washington Avenue and West Boulevard in Racine, Wisconsin, West Racine has a long history of being a major player in Racine’s history. It began as a rural area, predominately a woodland landscape, dotted with small homesteads until about 100 years ago. Washington Avenue was a plank road (wooden toll road) linking Racine to Rochester and then proceeded onto Janesville.

As Racine expanded, homes began to replace the pioneer farms. In the beginning, West Racine had a large Danish community and prospered. Many residents commuted from West Racine to either Milwaukee or Chicago from the train terminal near West Boulevard and Washington Avenue. Many local businesses were located in West Racine including barber shops, meat markets, grocery stores and drug stores. There were Danish bakeries that created our famous “Kringle”, now established as our state’s official pastry.