Washington Highlands is regarded as one of the best preserved suburban subdivisions in the United States today. The land had been part of a 225-acre farm in the Town of Wauwatosa owned by Captain Frederick Pabst, where the brewery owner raised hops and kept fine Percheron horses. After Pabst’s death in 1904, his three children, Frederick Jr., Gustav, and Marie, formed the Washington Highlands Company to create a planned residential subdivision. Noted city planner Werner Hegemann of New York City was hired to transform the difficult topography into streets and lot sites.

Because the former farmland rises to a high point and then drops one hundred feet into a valley, Hegemann curved most of the streets around the high ground. The one straight street, a continuation of Washington Boulevard, ends in a group of large homes designed by Milwaukee’s leading architects between 1918 and 1932. To assure the aesthetic quality of the area, the Washington Highlands Property Owners Association was formed in 1918 and continues today with all residents as members.