In a ceremony sprinkled with Native American traditions on Milwaukee's lakefront, County Executive Scott Walker signed a resolution Friday calling for the renovation of a former U.S. Coast Guard station into a center for American Indian culture.

American Indian Al Kuhn played a drum and sang an Ojibwe honor song to welcome about two dozen spectators to the event. The only sounds besides his high tenor voice were the chirping of birds and the humming of a woman in the audience.

The center will offer programs in nursing, social sciences and language in Ojibwe, Potawatomi and Menominee, said Roger Thomas, who has been appointed dean of academic affairs for the center.

The Wisconsin Indian Historic, Educational and Cultural Center "will be another great reason to come down to the lakefront," Walker said. The process to renovate the building has been a long time in the making, and the resolution signing is the next step in making the center a reality, he said.

The suggestion for the center originated when the county issued a proposal request in 1989 for ideas of what to do with the building, said Sue Black, County Parks superintendent.

The building had been a U.S. Coast Guard station until 1978 when Milwaukee County acquired the property, according to Fran Rudig, communications specialist in Walker's office.

Honor Our Neighbors' Origins and Rights, an American Indian advocacy group, suggested the idea for the center, Black said.

James DeNomie, a member of the Bad River Chippewa Tribe, said HONOR will be in charge of day-to-day operations.

DeNomie said the group has two years to raise $3.5 million to restore the building.

He said one objective of the center will be to educate Wisconsin citizens about American Indian heritage and dispel stereotypes.

Thomas agrees education will be one of the center's top functions.

"We want to make our heritage accessible," he said. He wants to start a system of transferring credits from the center to schools around the city, like Marquette.

"We are very aware of the jeopardy (American Indian) languages are in," Thomas said.

Wisconsin tribes, including the Menominee, Potawatomi, Chippewa, Mohican, Stockbridge-Munsee, Oneida and Ho-Chunk, will be represented and will aid in educating non-American Indians, DeNomie said.

Black said the center's future site on the lakefront is appropriate.

"It's where land, water and sky all come together," Black said. "What a perfect place to do it."

John Clifford, president of academic affairs at the center and member of the Lakota tribe, said the building has been used as a school for American Indian children in the past.

"We continue to thank the spirits for taking care of this place," he said. "The spirits are taking care of this place even right now as we talk."

Thomas said American Indians should be proud to share their heritage.

"This is a most important occasion for the American Indian community," he said.