Everything about Madison Wi totally explained
Madison is the
capital of the
U.S. state of
Wisconsin and the
county seat of
Dane County. It is also home to the
University of Wisconsin–Madison.
The 2006 population estimate of Madison was 223,389, making it the second largest city in Wisconsin, after
Milwaukee, and the
82nd largest in the United States. The city forms the core of the
United States Census Bureau's Madison
Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Dane County and neighboring
Iowa and
Columbia counties. The Madison MSA had a 2006 estimated population of 543,022, and is one of the fastest-growing in Wisconsin.
History
Madison was created in 1836 when former federal judge
James Duane Doty purchased over a thousand acres (4 km²) of swamp and forest land on the isthmus between Lakes Mendota and Monona within the
Four Lakes region, with the intention of building a city on the site. The
Wisconsin Territory had been created earlier that year and the territorial legislature had convened in
Belmont, Wisconsin. One of the legislature's tasks was to choose a permanent location for the territory's capital. Doty lobbied aggressively for the legislature to select Madison as the new capital, offering buffalo robes to the freezing legislators and promising choice Madison lots at discount prices to undecided voters. He had
James Slaughter plat two cities in the area, Madison and "The City of Four Lakes," near present-day Middleton. Despite the fact that Madison was still only a city on paper, the territorial legislature voted on
November 28 in favor of Madison as its capital, largely because of its location halfway between the new and growing cities around
Milwaukee in the east and the long established strategic post of
Prairie du Chien in the west, and because of its location between the highly populated
lead mining regions in the southwest and Wisconsin's oldest city,
Green Bay in the northeast. Being named for the much-admired
founding father James Madison, who had just died, and having streets named for each of the
39 signers of the
Constitution, also helped attract votes.
The cornerstone for the Wisconsin capitol was laid in 1837, and the legislature first met there in 1838. Madison was incorporated as a village in 1846, with a population of 626. When Wisconsin became a state in 1848, Madison remained the capital, and the following year it became host to the
University of Wisconsin–Madison. The
Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad (a predecessor of what would become known as the
Milwaukee Road) connected to Madison in 1854. Madison became a city in 1856, with a population of 6,863. The original capitol was replaced in 1863. The second capitol burned in 1904, and the current capitol was built between 1906 and 1917.
During the
American Civil War, Madison served as a center of the
Union Army in Wisconsin. The intersection of Milwaukee, East Washington, Winnebago, and North Streets is known as Union Corners, as a tavern located there was the last stop for Union soldiers before heading to fight the Confederates. Camp Randall, on the west side of Madison, was built and used as a training camp, a military hospital, and a prison camp for captured
Confederate soldiers. After the war ended, the Camp Randall site was absorbed into the University of Wisconsin-
Camp Randall Stadium was built over the site in 1917. In 2004 the last vestige of active military training on the site was removed when the stadium renovation replaced a firing range used for ROTC training.
Geography and climate
Madison is located in the center of Dane County in south-central Wisconsin, west of
Milwaukee and northwest of
Chicago. The city completely surrounds the smaller
Town of Madison, as well as the villages
Maple Bluff and
Shorewood Hills. Madison shares borders with its largest suburb,
Sun Prairie, and four other communities,
Middleton,
Monona,
McFarland, and
Fitchburg. The city's boundaries also approach the villages of
Verona, Cottage Grove and
Waunakee.
According to the
United States Census Bureau, Madison has a total area of 84.7
square miles (219.3
km²), of which, 68.7 square miles (177.9 km²) of it's land and 16.0 square miles (41.5 km²) of it (18.91%) is water.
The city is sometimes described as
The City of Four Lakes, comprising the four successive lakes of the
Yahara River:
Lake Mendota ("Fourth Lake"),
Lake Monona ("Third Lake"),
Lake Waubesa ("Second Lake") and
Lake Kegonsa ("First Lake"), although Waubesa and Kegonsa are not actually in Madison, but rather just south of it. A fifth smaller lake,
Lake Wingra, is within the city as well, but not on the Yahara River chain. The Yahara flows into the
Rock River, which in turn, flows into the
Mississippi River. Downtown Madison is located on an
isthmus between Lakes Mendota and Monona. The city's trademark of "Lake, City, Lake" reflects this geography.
Madison, and all of southern Wisconsin, has a
temperate climate, or more specifically, a
humid continental climate (
Köppen: Dfa), characterized by variable weather patterns and a large seasonal temperature variance—winters see temperatures well below freezing, with moderate to occasionally very heavy snowfall; high temperatures in summer often reach the upper 80s to 90s
°F (26 to 32
°C) and very high humidity levels are not uncommon.
| Monthly average and record temperatures and precipitation |
| Month |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
| Record high °F (°C) | 56 (13.3) |
64 (17.7) |
82 (27.7) |
94 (34.4) |
93 (33.8) |
101 (38.3) |
104 (40) |
102 (38.8) |
99 (37.2) |
90 (32.2) |
76 (24.4) |
64 (17.7)
|
| Average high °F (°C) | 25.2 (-3.7) |
30.8 (-0.6) |
42.8 (6) |
56.6 (13.6) |
69.4 (20.7) |
78.3 (25.7) |
82.1 (27.8) |
79.4 (26.3) |
71.4 (21.8) |
59.6 (15.3) |
43.3 (6.3) |
30.2 (-1)
|
| Average low °F (°C) | 9.3 (-12.6) |
14.3 (-9.8) |
24.6 (-4.1) |
35.2 (1.7) |
46 (7.7) |
55.7 (13.2) |
61 (16.1) |
58.7 (14.8) |
49.9 (9.9) |
38.9 (3.8) |
27.7 (-2.4) |
15.8 (-9)
|
| Record low °F (°C) | -37 (-38.3) |
-29 (-33.8) |
-29 (-33.8) |
0 (-17.7) |
19 (-7.2) |
31 (-0.5) |
36 (2.2) |
35 (1.6) |
25 (-3.8) |
13 (-10.5) |
-11 (-23.8) |
-25 (-31.6)
|
| Precipitation in (mm) | 1.25 (31.75) |
1.28 (32.5) |
2.28 (57.9) |
3.35 (85.1) |
3.25 (82.5) |
4.05 (102.9) |
3.93 (99.8) |
4.33 (110) |
3.08 (78.2) |
2.18 (55.4) |
2.31 (58.7) |
1.66 (42.2)
|
| Snowfall in (cm) | 10.9 (27.7) |
7.9 (20.1) |
8.1 (20.6) |
2.5 (6.4) |
0.1 (0.3) |
T |
T |
T |
T |
0.3 (0.8) |
3.6 (9.1) |
10.6 (26.9)
|
| Source: US Travel Weather |
Demographics
| Madison and Wisconsin demographics |
| Wisconsin |
adison |
thnicity |
| 91% |
83.96% |
White |
| 6.48% |
5.84% |
Black |
| 1.3% |
0.36% |
Native American |
| 2.21% |
5.80% |
Asian |
| 0.09% |
0.04% |
Pacific Islander |
| N/A |
1.67% |
Other race |
| N/A |
2.32% |
Two or more races |
| N/A |
4.09% |
Hispanic |
| Note: Hispanics may be of any race. |
As of the
census of 2000, there were 208,054 people, 89,019 households, and 42,462 families residing in the city. The
population density was 3,029.7 people per square mile (1,169.8/km²). There were 92,394 housing units at an average density of 1,345.4/sq mi (519.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 83.96%
White, 5.84%
African American, 0.36%
Native American, 5.80%
Asian, 0.04%
Pacific Islander, 1.67% from
other races, and 2.32% from two or more races. 4.09% of the population were
Hispanic or
Latino of any race.
There were 89,019 households out of which 22.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.0% were
married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 52.3% were non-families. 35.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.87.
In the city the population was spread out with 17.9% under the age of 18, 21.4% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 9.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 96.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $41,941, and the median income for a family was $59,840. Males had a median income of $36,718 versus $30,551 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $23,498. About 5.8% of families and 15.0% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.
The metropolitan area of Madison as of 2003 had 526,742 inhabitants, making it the second-most populous in the state, after Milwaukee. Dane County is also one of the fastest growing counties in Wisconsin, adding around 60,000 people per decade.
Politics
Madison is associated with
"Fighting Bob" La Follette and the
Progressive movement. La Follette's Magazine,
The Progressive, founded in 1909, is still published in Madison. City voting patterns have supported the
Democratic Party in national elections in the last half-century, and a liberal and progressive majority is generally elected to the city council. Detractors refer to Madison as
The People's Republic of Madison, the "Left Coast of Wisconsin," or as "70 square miles surrounded by reality." This latter phrase was coined by former Wisconsin Republican governor
Lee S. Dreyfus while campaigning in 1978, as recounted by campaign aide, Bill Kraus.
In the 1960s and 70s, the Madison
counterculture was centered in the neighborhood of Mifflin and Bassett streets, referred to as
Miffland. The area contained many three-story apartments where students and counterculture youth lived, painted murals, and operated the co-operative grocery store, the Mifflin Street Co-op. The neighborhood often came into conflict with authorities, particularly then Republican Mayor
Bill Dyke, a one-time personality on
WISC-TV who was later to run for vice-president with segregationist
Lester Maddox. Dyke was viewed by students as a direct antagonist in efforts to protest the
Vietnam War, because of his efforts to suppress local riots that had resulted in property damage. The annual
Mifflin Street Block Party became a focal point for protest, although by the late seventies it had become a mainstream community party.
Madison is also home to the
Freedom From Religion Foundation, which attempts to influence government in matters relating to the separation of church and state. The foundation is known for its lawsuits against religious displays on public property, among other things. In recent years, they've made removal of
In God We Trust from American
currency a main focus.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, thousands of students and other citizens took part in
anti-Vietnam War marches and demonstrations, with more violent incidents drawing national attention to the city and UW campus. These include:
- the 1967 student protest of Dow Chemical Company, with 74 injured;
- the 1969 strike to secure greater representation and rights for African American students and faculty, which necessitated the involvement of the Wisconsin Army National Guard;
- the 1970 fire that caused damage to the Army ROTC headquarters housed in the Old Red Gym, also known as the Armory; and
- the 1970 late summer pre-dawn ANFO bombing of Sterling Hall which housed the Army Mathematics Research Center, killing a post-doctoral student, Robert Fassnacht. Four bombers in the "New Year's Gang" were linked to the bombing, one of whom remains at large. (see Sterling Hall bombing)
These protests were the subject of the documentary
The War at Home Tom Bates also wrote the book
Rads on the subject (ISBN 0-06-092428-4). Bates wrote that Dyke's attempt to suppress the annual Mifflin Street block party "would take three days, require hundreds of officers on overtime pay, and engulf the student community from the nearby Southeast Dorms to Langdon Street's fraternity row.
Tear gas hung like heavy fog across the Isthmus." In the fracas, student activist
Paul Soglin, then a city
alderman, was arrested and taken to
jail. Soglin was later elected mayor of Madison, serving from 1973 to 1979 and from 1989 to 1997, in his latter term aligning himself as a moderate in the regional Democratic Party.
Madison city politics remain dominated by activists of liberal and progressive ideologies. In 1992, a local third party
Progressive Dane was founded. Recently enacted city policies supported in the Progressive Dane platform have included an inclusionary zoning ordinance and a city minimum wage. The party holds multiple seats on the Madison City Council and Dane County Board of Supervisors, and is aligned variously with the Democratic and Green parties.
The city's voters are also, as a whole, much more politically liberal than voters in the rest of Wisconsin. For example, 76% of Madison voters voted against a 2006 state
constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, even though the ban passed statewide with 59% of the vote.
Mayor
Dave Cieslewicz is a member of the
Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, a
bi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition is co-chaired by
Boston Mayor
Thomas Menino and
New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg.
Religion
Madison is the
episcopal see for the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Madison.
Saint Raphael's Cathedral is the mother church of the diocese.
Economy
Wisconsin state government and the
University of Wisconsin–Madison remain the top two Madison employers. However, Madison's economy today is evolving from a government-based economy to a consumer services and high-tech base, particularly in the health, biotech and advertising sectors. Beginning in the early 1990s, the city experienced a steady economic boom and has been comparatively unaffected by recession. Much of the expansion has occurred on the city's south and west sides, but it has also affected the east side near the Interstate 39-90-94 interchange and along the northern shore of Lake Mendota. Underpinning the boom is the development of high-tech companies, many actively fostered by the UW–Madison working with local businesses and entrepreneurs to transfer the results of academic research into real-world applications, most notably bio-tech applications.
Many businesses are attracted to Madison's exceptional skill base, taking advantage of the area's high level of education. According to city-data.com, Madison has 48.2% of its population over age 25 holding a bachelor's degree or higher.
Forbes magazine reported in 2004 that Madison has the highest percentage of Ph.D.s in the nation. In 2005,
Forbes listed the city as having the lowest unemployment in the nation: 2.5%, less than half the U.S. 2004 average. In 2006, the same magazine listed Madison as number 31 in the top 200 metro areas for "Best Places for Business and Careers."
Forbes has however named Madison in the top ten several times within the past decade.
According to the
Wisconsin State Journal, Madison and the city of
Milwaukee will be cooperating to bring more business into the region. One of many hopes of this project includes the long awaited arrival of regional rail transportation. As the two cities grow ever closer, the region has occasionally been called "Madwaukee." The larger region which includes
Chicago and
Minneapolis-St. Paul has been referred to as the "Circle City."
Business
The largest employer in Madison is the Wisconsin state government, not including the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Madison is also home to companies such as
Broadcast Interactive Media, as well as the North American division of
Spectrum Brands (formerly
Rayovac),
Alliant Energy,
American Family Insurance, the
Credit Union National Association,
CUNA Mutual Group,
University of Wisconsin Credit Union. Technology companies in the area include
Netconcepts, Telephone and Data Systems,
TomoTherapy,
Broadjam,
Sonic Foundry,
Raven Software,
Human Head Studios,
Renaissance Learning,
Flame Front Software,
Epic Systems Corporation, and
Berbee Information Networks. Many biotech firms exist here as well, including PanVera, now part of Invitrogen,
Promega,
Third Wave Technologies and the
Iceland-based
Nimblegen.
Oscar Mayer has been a Madison fixture for decades, and was a family business for many years before being sold to
Kraft Foods. The pizza chains
Rocky Rococo and Pizza Pit both began in Madison.
The University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics is an important regional teaching hospital and regional trauma center, with notable strengths in nephrology, oncology, digestive disorders, and endocrinology. Other Madison hospitals include
St. Mary's Hospital,
Meriter Hospital and the
VA Medical Center.
Education
According to
Forbes magazine, Madison ranks second in the nation of top places in overall education. It is home to the
University of Wisconsin–Madison, as well as
Edgewood College,
Madison Area Technical College,
Herzing College, and
Madison Media Institute, giving the city a student population of nearly 50,000. The University of Wisconsin contributes the vast majority of these, with roughly 41,000 students enrolled. This makes it one of the largest public universities in the United States. It is consistently rated among the top public post-secondary schools in the country. In a
Forbes magazine city ranking from 2003, Madison had the highest number of Ph.D.s per capita, and third highest college graduates per capita, among ranked cities in the United States. Sports make up a large part of the campus experience at the university, both intramural and intercollegiate. The University's athletic teams, nicknamed "The Badgers", are consistently among the best in United States, drawing throngs of students, alumni, and state residents to their contests.
Additional degree programs are available through satellite campuses of
Lakeland College,
Upper Iowa University the
University of Phoenix,
Concordia University-Wisconsin, and
Cardinal Stritch University for students who maintain full-time employment.
The
Madison Metropolitan School District serves the city and surrounding area. With an enrollment of approximately 25,000 students in 46 schools, it's the second largest school district in Wisconsin behind the
Milwaukee School District. Madison has more than six times the National Merit Scholar Semifinalists than comparable school districts. The five public high schools are:
James Madison Memorial,
Madison West,
Madison East,
Madison LaFollette, and
Malcolm Shabazz City High School, an alternative school. The most notable of the private schools is
Edgewood High School, located on the
Edgewood College campus and
Wingra School which encompasses student in grades Kindergarten through 8th.
St. Ambrose Academy is a Catholic school offering grades 6-12 on the west side.
Each of Madison's high schools is known widely throughout the state for unique special attributes. James Madison Memorial has a four-time state champion
forensics team
.
With the State-imposed property tax caps, the Madison School District has found itself struggling as of late. In trying to find new methods of funding and support, the School District has tried to estimate the opinions of the public by holding public sessions on their budget. While the State-imposed mandates allow for a 3.3% increase in spending, inflation amounts to a 5.4% per year, resulting in an annual increase necessary to continue previous course offerings that's below state mandates.
Madison also has an especially strong non-credit learning community with multiple programs and many private businesses also offering classes. Examples include
Wisconsin Union Mini Courses, Madison School Community Recreation, St. Mary's HealthWorks, and the University of Wisconsin's Continuing Education program.
Transportation
Madison is served by the
Dane County Regional Airport, which serves more than 100 commercial flights on an average day, and nearly 1.6 million passengers annually.
Madison Metro operates bus routes throughout the city and to some surrounding towns. Madison has three taxicab companies, as well as several companies that provide specialized transit for individuals with disabilities.
A commuter
light rail system has been proposed, particularly for a corridor passing through the isthmus and alongside the university campus, but has remained on paper for decades. A
high-speed rail route from
Chicago through Milwaukee and Madison to
Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, has also been proposed as part of the
Midwest Regional Rail Initiative. Though for a time, former Wisconsin Governor
Tommy Thompson was the chairman of
Amtrak, the nearest train station is in
Columbus, Wisconsin. Regional buses connect Madison to
Milwaukee,
Janesville,
Beloit,
LaCrosse, and in Illinois,
Rockford,
O'Hare Airport, and
Chicago. Service is also available to
St. Paul, Minnesota.
Railroad freight services are provided in Madison by
Wisconsin and Southern Railroad (WSOR) and
Canadian Pacific Railroad (CP). Wisconsin & Southern has been operating since 1980, having taken over trackage owned since the 19th century by the
Chicago and North Western and the
Milwaukee Road. Some of the proposed light rail and commuter routes would use existing WSOR
rights-of-way, such as the line between the
Kohl Center and
Middleton. Limited commuter trains were tested along this line in the early 2000s as "football specials". The trains took passengers from the Middleton depot to Camp Randall Stadium to help alleviate parking issues on game days.
A number of bus lines connect Madison to nearby cities.
Badger Bus, connects Madison to Milwaukee running multiple buses a day.
Greyhound Lines, the national bus company, has a local stop and offers routes through most of the country.
Van Galder Bus Company, a subsidiary of
Coach USA, provides transportation through Rockford to Chicago - Downtown at the Amtrak station, O'Hare Airport and Midway Airport.
Mad-Bus provides transportation for University of Wisconsin students to the Twin Cities.
Interstates 39,
90, and
94 intersect at Madison, connecting the city to
Milwaukee;
Chicago;
Rockford, Illinois;
Minneapolis-St. Paul and
Wausau. Highways
12,
14,
18,
51 and
151 connect the city with
Dubuque, IA LaCrosse, WI Janesville, WI and
Lake Michigan. The
Beltline is a large 6 to 8
lane freeway on the south and west sides of
Madison and is the main link from downtown to the southeast and west
suburbs.
Media
Madison is home to an extensive and varied number of print publications for a city that reflect the city's role as the state capital and diverse political, cultural and academic population. The
Wisconsin State Journal (weekday circulation: ~95,000; Sundays: ~155,000) is published in the mornings, while its sister publication,
The Capital Times (Mon-Sat circulation: ~20,000) publishes in the afternoon. Though conjoined in a joint-operating agreement operated under the name
Capital Newspapers, the
Journal is owned by the national chain
Lee Enterprises, while the
Times is independently owned.
Wisconsin State Journal is the descendant of the
Wisconsin Express, a paper founded in the Wisconsin Territory in 1839.
The Capital Times was founded in 1917 by William T. Evjue, a business manager for the
State Journal who disagreed with that paper's editorial criticisms of Wisconsin Republican Senator
Robert M. La Follette, Sr. for his opposition to U.S. entry into
World War I. Through Capital Newspapers, Lee also owns many other papers in southwest Wisconsin and northeast Iowa.
The city is also home to the free weekly alternative newspaper
Isthmus (weekly circulation: ~65,000), which was founded in 1976.
The Onion, a satirical weekly, was also founded in Madison in 1988. Two student newspapers are published during the academic year,
The Daily Cardinal (Mon-Fri circulation: ~10,000) and
The Badger Herald (Mon-Fri circulation: ~16,000). The
Herald began during the turmultuous Vietnam War era as a conservative alternative to the liberal
Cardinal. Madison is also home to numerous other specialty print publications focusing on local music, politics, and sports, including
The Madison Times,
Wisconsin Sports Weekly The Mendota Beacon,
The Madison Observer, and
The Simpson Street Free Press.
Madison is also home to
The Progressive, a left-wing periodical that may be best known for the attempt of the US government in 1979 to suppress one of the Progressive's articles before publication. However, the magazine eventually prevailed in the landmark First Amendment case,
United States v. The Progressive, Inc. During the 1970s, there were two "radical" weeklies published in Madison, known as
TakeOver and
Free for All.
Madison hosts a vibrant local radio community, with two volunteer-operated and community-oriented radio stations,
WORT and
WSUM.
WORT Community Radio was founded by progressive Madisonians in 1975 and is one of the oldest volunteer-powered radio stations in the United States. WORT 89.9 FM is a listener-sponsored community radio station, broadcasting from 118 S. Bedford Street in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
WORT offers a host of diverse music and talk programming made possible by donors and volunteers.
WORT broadcasts a mix of music and talk programming. All of WORT's music programs are locally produced by local DJs. WORT airs 34 hours of news and public affairs programming, 23 of which are locally produced. All of the programmers at the station are volunteers from the community, including DJs, hosts, producers, reporters, and engineers.
WSUM 91.7 FM is a
student radio station whose programming and operation are carried out almost entirely by students.
Madison's
Wisconsin Public Radio station,
WHA, was one of the very first radio stations in the nation to begin broadcasting, and remains the longest continuously broadcasting station in the country.
Widely heard public radio programs that originate in Madison include
Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?,
To the Best of Our Knowledge, and
Calling All Pets.
See also:
List of Madison radio stations
List of Madison television stations
List of Madison magazines
List of Wisconsin daily newspapers
Air America's Madison affiliate The Mic 92.1 FM, WXXM announced on November 10, 2006 it would switch to all sports programming by the end of the year; a spokesperson for Clear Channel in Madison later announced that the station would remain an Air America affiliate after a massive public outcry against the proposed change in format. The public protest included thousands sending petitions, emails, and letters, and a public protest of 500 people along with elected officials Madison's Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison. Promising improved support and advertising sales, a local investment group plans to make Air America and The Mic more successful. Valerie Walasek, an organizer of the protests stated, "It's evidence that as people stand up and demand what they want and demand they're going to take back the airwaves, somebody will listen." The station features the Air America lineup and local programs with Matthew Rothchild's Progressive Radio and Free Thought Radio from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Culture
In 1996 Money magazine identified Madison as the best place to live in the United States. It has consistently ranked near the top of the best-places list in subsequent years, with the city's low unemployment rate a major contributor.
The main downtown thoroughfare is State Street, which links the University of Wisconsin campus with the State Capitol square, and is lined with restaurants, espresso cafes, and shops. Only pedestrians, buses, emergency vehicles, delivery vehicles and bikes are allowed on State Street.
Continuing on the other side of Capitol Square is King Street, which is now developing along the lines that State Street has, but with less of a student character, and more appeal to the growing young white-collar high-tech population in Madison. Thus, King Street has more upper-end restaurants and cafes than are found on the more student-budget State Street.
In the summer, on Saturday mornings, the Dane County Farmers' Market is held around the Capitol Square, while on Wednesday evenings, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra performs free concerts on the Capitol's lawn. The Great Taste of the Midwest craft beer festival, established in 1987 and the second longest running such event in North America, is the second Saturday in August and the highly coveted tickets sell out within an hour of going on sale in May.
Madison is host to Rhythm and Booms, a massive fireworks celebration (coordinated to music) that begins with a fly-over by several F16s from the local Wisconsin Air National Guard. This celebration is the largest fireworks display in the Midwest in terms of the length of the show, number of shells fired and the size of its annual budget.
During the winter months, Madison hosts Kites on Ice, a gathering of kite-flying enthusiasts on the ice of local Lake Mendota near the state capitol. During the rest of the year, recreation includes sailing on the local lakes, bicycling, and hiking.
In 2004 Madison was named the healthiest city in America by Men's Journal magazine. Many major streets in Madison have designated bike lanes and the city has one of the most extensive bike trail systems in the nation. Due to this, Madison has a very active cyclist culture and it's common place to see groups of friends bicycling together throughout the city on nice days. Bicycle tourism is an $800 million industry in Wisconsin, which has 20 percent of the nation's bicycling industry manufacturing capacity.
There are quite a few cooperative organizations in the Madison area, ranging from grocery stores (such as the Willy Street Cooperative) to housing co-ops (such as Madison Community Cooperative, Lothlórien Co-op, and Nottingham Housing Cooperative). The total number of co-ops in the area is relatively high when considering the small population of the city. Many larger cities have substantially fewer co-ops.
In 2005, Madison was included in Gregory A. Kompes' book, 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Place to Live. The Madison Metro area is also credited as the most liberal in the state, and has a higher percentage of gay couples than any other city in the area outside of Chicago and Minneapolis. The city was also named the number one college sports town by Sports Illustrated in 2003.
Madison has also gotten publicity in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and its consistent ranking as one of the top "party schools." Among the city's various neighborhood fairs and celebrations are two large student-driven gatherings, the Mifflin Street Block Party and the State Street Halloween Party. Rioting and vandalism at the State Street gathering in 2004 and 2005 led the city to institute a cover charge for the 2006 celebration. (External Link) In an attempt to give the event more structure (and to eliminate opportunity for vandalism), the city and student organizations worked together to schedule performances by bands, and to organize activities. The event has been named "Freakfest On State Street." (External Link) Events such as these have helped contribute to the city's nickname of "Madtown."
In the summer of 2002, Madison hosted the Honda Goldwing Motorcycle convention, with bikers from across the U.S. attending. This was a large gathering of serious bikers and large machines. With a smattering of Honda Interstates in the mix, many couples were decked out in matching jackets and helmets. The meeting was wisely held some distance from the home of Harley-Davidson.
Music
Several venues offer live music every night of the week spreading from the historic Barrymore Theatre on the eastside, to the Annex on the westside. Several small coffee houses and wine bars offer live music ever night in all formats. Closer to downtown, the High Noon Saloon is developing a national reputation for developing and breaking indie rock and local acts. The biggest headliners generally perform at the 1,800 capacity Orpheum Theatre or at the UW Theatre on campus.
The cities live music scene received a considerable bump with the purchase and renovation of the historic Majestic Theatre, located off capitol square on King Street. The theatre, built in 1906, thus making it the oldest in Madison had previous incarnations as a movie theatre and burlesque house. Until its reopening, it was being run as a hip hop dance club until violence forced the city to revoke its liquor license. The Majestic reopened on September 29, 2007 and in its first six months has hosted various acts such as Against Me!, Cowboy Junkies, Galactic, Editors, Leon Russell, and the Bill Frisell Trio. The venue also shows movies in its Brew n' View series.
The Madison Opera presents a full season of offerings providing at least two full productions and the incredibly popular Opera in the Park (which reached over 10,000 music lovers in the summer of 2005). In addition, the nationally recognized company produces recitals and its late series Opera Up Close.
The Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps has provided youth aged 16-22 opportunities to perform across North America every summer since 1938. The corps is hailed world-wide for its energetic and entertaining shows. Further, the UW-Madison Marching Band is one of the most popular marching bands in the nation, with an extensive and eclectic repertoire.
Popular bands and musicians
Garbage is the city's most recognized contemporary contribution to popular music. The multi-million album selling pop-rock band has been based out of Madison since formation in 1994 by producer-musician Butch Vig of Viroqua. Vig is well-known for producing albums for such highly regarded bands as The Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana.
Madison has a lively independent rock scene, and local independent record labels include Sector Five Records, Crustacean Records, Beeftone Music, Uvulittle Records and Art Paul Schlosser Inc which is the label for Art Paul Schlosser who has been on the WGN-TV news in Chicago and has had his songs played on the Dr Demento radio show. Another Dr. Demento and weekly live karaoke favorite is The Gomers, who have a Madison Mayoral Proclamation named after them and have performed with fellow Wisconsin residents Les Paul and Steve Miller
Madison is also home to the funky drummer Clyde Stubblefield, and musicians Roscoe Mitchell, Ben Sidran, Reptile Palace Orchestra, John Statz and Harmonious Wail.
The band We The Living, formerly known as The Profits, was started in Madison.
Music festivals
The summer months reveal the city's many excellent music festivals, most notably the Waterfront Festival, the Willy St. Fair, Atwood Summerfest, Madison Area Music Awards Show, Isthmus Jazz Festival, The Orton Park Festival, Greekfest, Madison Pop Festival, the WORT Block Party and the Madison Blues Festival, with more being added all the time. One of the latest additions is the Fête de Marquette, taking place near or on Bastille Day (7/14), at Central Park. This new festival celebrates french music, with a focus on Cajun influences.
Madison also hosts an annual electronic music festival, Reverence. The Folkball is a world music and Folk dance festival held annually in January.
Art
Museums include the UW-Madison's Chazen Museum of Art (formerly the Elvehjem Museum), the Wisconsin Historical Museum (run by the Wisconsin Historical Society), the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, the Madison Children's Museum, and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Madison is also the home of many independent art studios and galleries. It hosts the annual Art Fair on the Square, a juried exhibition, and the complementary Art Fair Off the Square.
Performing arts
The Madison Opera, the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Madison Repertory Theatre, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the Madison Ballet are just some the professional resident companies of the Overture Center for the Arts, presenting annual seasons of professional theater. The city is home to a number of smaller performing arts organizations, including a group of theater companies that present in the Bartell Theatre, a former movie palace that has been renovated into live theater spaces, and Opera for the Young, an opera company that performs for elementary school students across the Midwest. The Wisconsin Union Theater (a 1200 seat theater) is also home to many seasonal attractions as well as the professional musical theatre companies Four Seasons Theatre and Music Theatre of Madison. Madison is also home to the Young Shakespeare Players, a theater group for young people that performs uncut Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw plays.
Community-based Theater groups abound in many neighborhood of Madison including the Broom Street Theater which isn't found on Broom Street as one would expect. Milwaukee-based actor Jordan Hotzel has been known to audition at the theater. Recent productions include comic-style riffs on regional and local news stories such as Audrey Seiler, a University of Wisconsin - Madison student who faked her own kidnapping, causing a county-wide search which gained national attention for several weeks.
Madison offers one comedy club, the Comedy Club on State, and has other options for more alternative humor. Featuring several improv groups, such as The Prom Committee, Spin Cycle Improv, Atlas Improv, The Monkey Business Institute,the now defunct ARC Improv and Comedy Sportz, a sketch comedy group called The Public Drunkards, the city's comedy scene is in revival. A spear-heading organization called the WiSUC Project has led the way in recent years for this revival and annually hosts the "Funniest Comic in Madison" contest at the High Noon Saloon.
Several films have been at least partially made in Madison. One of the most notable was the documentary The War at Home, which chronicled the anti-Vietnam War movement in Madison. Another movie that made extensive use of the city as a backdrop was the 1986 comedy Back to School, starring Rodney Dangerfield. The University's Bascom Hill is used extensively, as is the local university bookstore, called (appropriately enough) The University Bookstore. The film also features many dorm buildings on campus, and various outdoor locales including the Terrace and Library Mall. More recently, the 2006 film The Last Kiss featured Madison and the University as a back-drop. One early scene in the film was also shot on the Terrace.
Madison is also home to one of the largest film archives in the nation at the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Architecture
The Wisconsin State Capitol dome, closely based on the dome of the U.S. Capitol, is the jewel of the Madison skyline, and is visible throughout the Madison area due to its position on the ridgeline of the isthmus (and a state law that limits building heights within one mile of the structure). Because of its location in the urban core, Capitol square is well integrated with everyday pedestrian traffic and commerce, and the spoke streets -- especially State Street and E. Washington -- offer dramatic views of the Capitol.
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright spent much of his childhood in Madison and studied briefly at the University, and is responsible for several Madison buildings. Monona Terrace, a meeting and convention center overlooking Lake Monona, designed by Taliesin Architect Anthony Puttnam, was based loosely on a 1938 Wright design. Wright did design the seminal Usonian House, which is located here. (Another key Wright building, the Unitarian Society Meeting House, is in the adjacent suburb of Shorewood Hills.)The Harold C. Bradley House, designed collaboratively by Louis H. Sullivan and George Grant Elmslie in 1908-1910 now serves as the Sigma Phi Fraternity in the University Heights neighborhood, along with many well-maintained early 20th-century residences.
The Overture Center for the Arts, designed by Argentina-born architect César Pelli, also stands on State Street near the Capitol. Since opening in 2004, the center has already presented shows and concerts in its Overture Hall, Capitol Theater and The Playhouse (home of the Madison Repertory Theatre). The center, also including smaller performance spaces, also houses the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. The style, unlike Pelli's Petronas Towers, leans toward sleek modernism, with simple expanses of glass framed by stone that are intended to complement the historic building facades preserved as part of the building's State Street exposure.
Many of the over 175 Madison buildings designed by the architectural firm of Claude and Starck are still standing, including Breese Stevens Field, Doty School (now converted to condominiums), and many private residences.
The UW-Madison campus includes many buildings designed or supervised by architects J.T.W. Jennings (the Dairy Barn, Agricultural Hall) and Arthur Peabody (the Memorial Union and the Carillon Tower). The UW administration building Bascom Hall sits atop a high hill overlooking Lake Mendota, and has been the site of many demonstrations and events. The density of the campus has grown to include 8 to 10 story high-rises including dormitories, research facilities, and classrooms. Several campus buildings erected in the 1960s exhibit brutalist architecture, which is now unpopular. In 2005 the University of Wisconsin embarked on a major redevelopment initiative that will transform the east end of its campus. The plan calls for the razing of a nearly a dozen 1950s to 1970s vintage buildings and the construction of new dormitories, administration, and classroom buildings, as well as the development of a new pedestrian mall extending to Lake Mendota.
The downtown and near east side is currently experiencing a building boom, with dozens of new condominium and apartment buildings being constructed.
Sports
Madison is known as a sports crazed city primarily because of the University of Wisconsin. In 2004 Sports Illustrated on Campus named Madison the #1 college sports town in the nation. This sentiment was echoed by Scott Van Pelt in July 2007 when he filled in for Dan Patrick on his ESPN radio show and dedicated the episode to proclaiming Madison the best college sports town in America. The UW-Madison teams play all of their home-field sporting events in venues in and around Madison. The football team plays at Camp Randall Stadium. In 2005 a renovation was completed which added 72 luxury suites and increased the stadium's total capacity to 80,321 although crowds of as many as 83,000 have attended games. The basketball and hockey teams play at the Kohl Center. Construction on the $76 million arena was completed in 1997. In 2006, both the men's and women's Badger hockey teams won NCAA Division I championships, and the women repeated with a second consecutive national championship in 2007. Some events are played at the county-owned Alliant Energy Center (formerly Dane County Memorial Coliseum) and the University-owned Wisconsin Field House.
Madison is home to the Madison Mallards, a college wood-bat summer baseball league team in the Northwoods League (not to be confused with the Minor League Baseball). They play in Warner Park on the city's North side from June to August.
Madison is home to the Princeton-56ers, an amateur soccer team in the National Premiere Soccer League. They play in Breese Stevens Field on East Washington Ave, just a few blocks from the State Capitol.
The Wisconsin Wolves is a women's semi-pro football team based in Madison that plays in the IWFL Independent Women's Football League. The Wolves home field located at Middleton High School.
Madison is home to the Wisconsin Rugby Club, the 1998 USA Rugby Division II National Champions, and the Wisconsin Women's Rugby Football Club, the state's only Division I women's rugby team. The city also has men's and women's rugby clubs at UW-Madison, in addition to four high school boy's teams and one high school girl's team. The most recent addition to the Madison rugby community, Madison Minotaurs United RFC, is composed largely of gay players, but is open to any player with any experience level. All ten teams play within the Wisconsin Rugby Football Union, the Midwest Rugby Union and USA Rugby.
Nearly 100 women participate in the adult women's ice hockey teams that are based in Madison (Thunder, Lightning, Freeze, UW-B and C teams), all of which play in the Women's Central Hockey League.
The active and popular Madison Gay Hockey Association is also in Madison.
Madison is home to the All-Girl Roller Derby League, Mad Rollin' Dolls, which was formed in 2004. Mad Rollin' Dolls LLC, is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association.
Madison is home to a number of notable endurance sports racing events such as the Crazylegs Classic, Paddle and Portage, the Mad City Marathon, and Ironman Wisconsin.
Madison is being considered to help the city of Chicago in hosting the Olympics if Chicago succeeds in winning the bid for 2016. Camp Randall stadium would serve as Chicago's 80,000-seat stadium.
Madison was also home to the now defunct Indoor Football League's Madison Mad Dogs.
Former professional baseball player and legendary, retired city firefighter, Don Annen continues to reside on Monona Bay with his wife, Dorothy (nee Burwell).
Madison is now home to a new football team called the Madison Mustangs, which is a semi-pro football team, part of the Ironman Football League (IFL) that originated in Milwaukee in the late 1990s. Games are typically played on Saturday during the summer months, with the home field being Middleton High School.
Madison is also one of the growing number of cities in the country with a hurling team organized as The Hurling Club of Madison.
Notable Madisonians
Notable people associated with Madison include:
Ann Althouse, law professor, scholar and blogger
Andrea Anders, actress/comedian
Brother Ali, hip hop musician
David Atwood, Mayor of Madison, newspaper publisher/editor, U.S. Representative
Tammy Baldwin, US Congresswoman
Tyrone Braxton, NFL Player.
Barry Roal Carlsen, Artist.
Connie Carpenter-Phinney, road cyclist and ice speed skater; winner of first-ever women's Olympic road race (1984)
Hulon crayton, entertainment manager, actor and music producer
Chris Farley, actor/comedian grew up in Madison
Russ Feingold, US Senator
Mike Gosling, professional baseball Player
Beth Heiden, Olympic speedskater
Eric Heiden, Olympic speedskater
Nick Hexum, musician, lead vocalist of 311
Phil Hellmuth, well-known professional poker player
Mark Johnson, 1980 Miracle on Ice USA Olympic Hockey Team gold medalist, NHL player
Alex Jordan, Jr., businessman, architect
Philip Mayer Kaiser, diplomat
Jerry Kelly, professional golfer
Phil Kessel, NHL player
Robert M. La Follette, Sr., populist, senator, attorney
Aldo Leopold, ecologist
Kid Nichols, member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
Chris Noth, actor, born in Madison
Steve Perlman, artist
Vinnie Ream, sculptor of the statue of Lincoln in the Capitol rotunda
Barry Richter, hockey player
Pleasant Rowland, businesswoman, creator of the American Girl product line
Harry Sauthoff, lawyer and politician
Bob Suter, 1980 Miracle on Ice USA Olympic Hockey Team gold medalist
Gary Suter, NHL player
Ryan Suter, NHL player
James Thomson, leading stem cell researcher
Al Toon, former professional football player
Bradley Whitford, actor, born in Madison
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, popular poet ("Laugh and the world laughs with you"), grew up in Madison
Frank Lloyd Wright, architect
Michael Flowers, NBA player
Writers and journalists include:
Lowell Bergman, TV news producer
Kevin Henkes, children's book author, graduated from UW-Madison and as of 1996 "makes his home in Madison."
Russ Lieber, a fictitious character from The Colbert Report who has a liberal radio talk show supposedly based in Madison.
David Maraniss, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
Jacquelyn Mitchard, novelist
Doug Moe (writer), newspaper columnist and author
John E. Roach, author and co-writer (along with Mary Sweeney, ex-Madisonian and wife of David Lynch) of the film The Straight Story
Thornton Wilder, playwright
Jorge Zamacona, TV and film writer and producer, born and raised in Madison, considers Madison as "home."
Radio humorist Michael Feldman and his weekly program are based in Madison. The alternative rock band Garbage was founded in the city by resident Butch Vig. The emo band Rainer Maria hails from Madison as well. Rock musicians Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs both attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Other notable musicians with Madison ties include Jean-Marie Guilfoil, one half of Australian electronic band Ground Level, blues singer Tracy Nelson, singer/guitarist Jim Schwall, bassist Richard Davis, saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, drummer Clyde Stubblefield, and composer/performers Leo and Ben Sidran.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has produced many notable achievers in diverse areas including the arts, politics, scientific research and athletics. Some are included above. One of the last US Health and Human Services Secretaries was a past chancellor of the university, Donna Shalala (and her successor was Wisconsin's then-Governor, Tommy Thompson). A number of Nobel Prize winners have been graduates or on the faculty in Madison. For a more extensive account of well-known alumni and staff of UW-Madison see:
List of University of Wisconsin-Madison people
Madison is also known unfortunately as the location of the untimely deaths of Teresa McGovern (a Madison resident and daughter of presidential candidate George McGovern) and Otis Redding. Teresa McGovern was found dead of exposure when she passed out during a Madison winter night. Otis Redding died in an airplane crash into Lake Monona. University of Wisconsin-Madison student Audrey Seiler disappeared and was later found in the marshland near the Alliant Energy Expo Center off Rimrock Road on Madison's south side in 2004, having faked her own kidnapping.
Points of interest
Alliant Energy Center The Veteran's Memorial Coliseum and Exhibition Hall
Babcock Hall Dairy Store
Camp Randall Stadium
Chazen Museum of Art
Henry Vilas Zoo
Hilldale Shopping Center
The Kohl Center
Mifflin Street
Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center
Memorial Union
Olbrich Botanical Gardens
Overture Center for the Arts
State Street
The main shopping malls, East Towne Mall and West Towne Mall
Unitarian Meeting House
University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum
University of Wisconsin Field House
University of Wisconsin Memorial Union
UW-Madison Geology Museum
Wisconsin Historical Society
Wisconsin State Capitol
Sister cities
Ainaro in East Timor, since 2001
Arcatao in El Salvador
Bac Giang in Vietnam
Cuzco in Peru
Camagüey in Cuba, since 1988
Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany, since 1986
Managua in Nicaragua, since 1987
Mantua in Italy, since 2001
Obihiro in Japan, since 2006
Oslo in Norway
Vilnius in Lithuania
Further Information
Get more info on 'Madison Wi'.
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