New street signs arrive to honor Dr. Lester Carter
Photo by Yvonne Kemp
On Friday April 5, 2024, crews installed the new street signs that bear the name of Dr. Lester Carter Jr., a pioneering pharmacist who served Milwaukee’s black residents for decades.
In 2023, the Common Council voted to rename N. 24th St., from W. Keefe Ave. to W. Center St., as ‘N. Dr. Lester Carter Drive’ Previously, N. 24th St. held an honorary name of ‘N. Dr. Lester Carter Dr.’ per a resolution passed unanimously by the Common Council in October 2017.
A longtime resident of N. 24th St., Dr. Lester Carter, Jr. was a pharmacist and pillar of the Milwaukee community for more than 50 years. It was on the corner of N. 24th and W. Burleigh Streets where Dr. Carter lived and opened his pharmacy in 1968, a time when there were few black residents in the neighborhood and fewer black doctors in the city.
Remembered fondly for sporting a bow-tie and white lab coat, the late Dr. Carter was a trusted physician, herbalist, and a fixture in Milwaukee’s black community who was perhaps best known for his holistic approach to healing and his natural remedies to people’s health challenges – remedies that often resulted in more positive health outcomes. Dr. Carter dedicated his life to the health and wellbeing of his patients and neighborhood. His legacy is a testament to a long life of service undeterred by adversity.
