MMSD Green Luminary® Award | Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church

Located just southwest of Milwaukee’s Bay View Neighborhood, Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church is home to the Milwaukee area’s first church-based, semi-intensive agricultural rooftop.  The semi-intensive agricultural rooftop at Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church consists of layers that waterproof, facilitate drainage, and protect the roof from plant roots, topped with special blend of lightweight growing media used to grow produce. On its own, the rooftop can manage up to 2,000 gallons of stormwater each time it rains with additional excess water collected in an underground cistern for later irrigation use in the church’s 38 organic food garden beds.  

Produce from the roof, along with the raised-bed food gardens, supports the congregation’s robust food justice ministry. Food grown on-site is given to a local soup kitchen and food pantry.  The gardens are tended in part through a collaborative effort with the church’s Divine Intervention to the Homeless ministry.

In addition to MMSD, the roof was funded in part by Fund for Lake Michigan, American Rivers Foundation, and the Presbyterian Church USA.  To expand their environmental ministries, the church has plans for a future outside green classroom featuring a green roof and rain garden.