Madison, Wisconsin
Encyclopedia
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
.
As of the 2010 census, Madison had a population of 233,209. making it the second largest city in Wisconsin, after Milwaukee
, and the 81st 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. Madison's suburbs include DeForest, Fitchburg
, Maple Bluff
, McFarland
, Middleton
, Monona
, Oregon
, Shorewood Hills
, Stoughton
, Sun Prairie
, Verona
, and Waunakee
. The Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area had a 2008 estimated population of 561,505.
Project
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. Doty named the city Madison for James Madison, the 4th President of the U.S. who had died on June 28, 1836 and he named the streets for the other 38 signers of the U.S. Constitution. Even though 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
, may have also helped attract votes.
Creation and expansion
The cornerstone for the Wisconsin capitol was laid in 1837, and the legislature first met there in 1838. On October 9, 1839, Kintzing Prichett
registered the plat
of Madison at the registrar's office of the then-territorial Dane County
. 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, leaving the unincorporated remainder as a separate Town of Madison
. 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.
The City of Madison continued annexations from the town almost from the date of the city's incorporation, leaving the latter (by the end of the 20th century) a collection of discontinuous areas subject to annexation. In the wake of continued controversy and an effort in the state legislature to simply abolish the town, an agreement was reached in 2003 to provide for the incorporation of the remaining portions of the Town into the City of Madison and the City of Fitchburg
by October 30, 2022.
Madison is located in the center of Dane County in south-central Wisconsin, 77 miles (124 km) west of Milwaukee
and 122 miles (196 km) northwest of Chicago
. The city completely surrounds the smaller Town of Madison
, the City of Monona
, and the villages of Maple Bluff
and Shorewood Hills
. Madison shares borders with its largest suburb, Sun Prairie
, and three other communities, Middleton
, McFarland
and Fitchburg
. The city's boundaries also approach the villages of Verona
, Cottage Grove
, DeForest, and Waunakee
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, Madison's area is 84.7 square miles (219.4 km²), of which, 68.7 square miles (177.9 km²) of it is land and 16 square miles (41.4 km²) of it (18.9%) 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; it is connected to the Yahara River chain by Wingra Creek. 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.
Local identity varies in different parts of Madison, although there are over 120 officially recognized neighborhood associations. Neighborhoods on and near the eastern part of the isthmus, some of the city's oldest, have the strongest sense of identity and are the most politically liberal. Historically, the north, east, and south sides were blue collar
while the west side was white collar
, and to a certain extent this remains true. Students dominate on the University of Wisconsin campus and to the east into downtown, while to its south and in Shorewood Hills
on its west, faculty have been a major presence since those neighborhoods were originally developed. The turning point in Madison's development was the university's 1954 decision to develop its experimental farm on the western edge of town; since then, the city has grown substantially along suburban lines.
Madison, along with the rest of the state, has a humid continental climate
(Köppen
: Dfb/Dfa), characterized by variable weather patterns and a large seasonal temperature variance: winter temperatures can be well below freezing, with moderate to occasionally heavy snowfall; high temperatures in summer average in the lower 80s °F (27–28 °C), reaching 90 °F (32.2 °C) on an average 12 days per year, often accompanied by high humidity levels. The warmer months usually see the greater precipitation.
As of the census
of 2010, there were 233,209 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 108,843 housing units at an average density of 1,345.4 per square mile (519.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 83.96% White, 7.07% African American
, 0.36% Native American, 7.34% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 1.67% from other races
and 2.55% from two or more races. 6.83% 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.
Madison is the larger principal city of the Madison-Baraboo CSA, a Combined Statistical Area
that includes the Madison metropolitan area (Columbia, Dane and Iowa counties) and the Baraboo micropolitan area
(Sauk County
), which had a combined population of 556,999 at the 2000 census
.
, known as the Common Council
, consists of 20 members, one from each district. The mayor is elected in a citywide vote.
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 "78 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.
The city's voters are generally 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.
was founded. Recently enacted city policies supported in the Progressive Dane platform have included an inclusionary zoning
ordinance, later abandoned by the mayor and a majority of the city council, 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.
In early 2011, Madison was the site for large protests
against a bill proposed by Governor Scott Walker
that removed most (or in some cases all) collective bargaining rights for most public worker unions. The protests in and surrounding the capitol building ranged from 10,000 to over 100,000 people, and the protests all together lasted for several months.
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 during the administration of Republican mayor Bill Dyke, a one-time personality on WISC-TV
who was later to run for U.S. 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 protests that had resulted in property damage. The annual Mifflin Street Block Party
became a focal point for protest, although by the late 1970s it had become a mainstream community party.
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:
These protests were the subject of the documentary The War at Home
. Tom Bates 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 twice and taken to jail. Soglin was later elected mayor of Madison, serving from 1973 to 1979, 1989 to 1997, and is the current mayor, elected again in April, 2011. During his middle term he led the construction of the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Monona Terrace
. David Maraniss
wrote a book, They Marched into Sunlight
, which incorporated the 1967 Dow protests into a larger Vietnam War
narrative.
, 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, and for advocating removal of "In God We Trust
" from American currency
.
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.
for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Madison
. Saint Raphael's Cathedral
, damaged by arson in 2005 and demolished in 2008, was the mother church of the diocese.
The world's largest congregation of Unitarian Universalists, First Unitarian Society of Madison, makes its home in the historic Unitarian Meeting House, designed by one of its members, Frank Lloyd Wright
.
Madison also has a Buddhist temple, a Hindu
temple, three mosques and several synagogues, a Bahá'í
community centre, an LDS stake, and a Unity Church
congregation.
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA
has its headquarter there.
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 less affected 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 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 skill base, taking advantage of the area's high level of education. According to city-data.com, 48.2% of Madison's population over the age of 25 holds at least a bachelor's degree. Forbes
magazine reported in 2004 that Madison has the highest percentage of individuals holding Ph.D.s in the United States. 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 also named Madison in the top ten Best Cities several times within the past decade. In 2009, in the midst of the late-2000s recession, Madison had an unemployment rate of 3.5% and was ranked number one in a list of "ten cities for job growth".
, a public university
that is part of the University of Wisconsin System
, and University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics
employees, although both groups of workers are considered state employees).
The University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics is an important regional teaching hospital and regional trauma center, with strengths in transplant medicine, oncology, digestive disorders, and endocrinology. Other Madison hospitals include St. Mary's Hospital
, Meriter Hospital and the VA Medical Center.
Madison is home to companies such as Spectrum Brands
(formerly Rayovac
), Alliant Energy
, American Family Insurance
, American Girl
(a subsidiary company of Mattel
), the Credit Union National Association
and its CUNA Mutual Group
, University of Wisconsin Credit Union
, Dean Health Systems, Pacific Cycle
, and Sub-Zero & Wolf Appliance
. Technology companies in the area include Netconcepts
(recently purchased by Covario,) Telephone and Data Systems
, TomoTherapy
, Broadjam
, Sonic Foundry
, FSBO Madison
, Raven Software
, Human Head Studios
, Epic Systems Corporation
, and Berbee
Information Networks. Many biotech firms exist there, including Panvera (now part of Invitrogen)
, Promega
, and the Iceland
-based Nimblegen. The contract research organisation Covance
is a big employer in the area.
Oscar Mayer
has been a Madison fixture for decades, and was a family business for many years before being sold to Kraft Foods
. The Onion
newspaper and the pizza chains Rocky Rococo
, the Glass Nickel Pizza Company
, and Ian's Pizza originated in Madison.
, which had changed its name to Google, Kansas, saying that its move was a cheap stunt.
According to Forbes
magazine, Madison ranks second in the nation in education. It is home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison
, Edgewood College
, Madison Area Technical 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, of whom 30,750 are undergraduates. 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.
Additional degree programs are available through satellite campuses of Cardinal Stritch University
, Concordia University-Wisconsin, Globe University, Lakeland College, the University of Phoenix
, and Upper Iowa University
. Madison also has a non-credit learning community with multiple programs and many private businesses also offering classes.
The Madison Metropolitan School District
serves the city and surrounding area. With an enrollment of approximately 25,000 students in 46 schools, it is the second largest school district in Wisconsin behind the Milwaukee School District. The five public high schools are: James Madison Memorial
, Madison West, Madison East
, Madison LaFollette
, and Malcolm Shabazz City High School
, an alternative school.
Among private church-related high schools are Abundant Life Christian School
, Edgewood High School, located on the Edgewood College
campus, and St. Ambrose Academy
, a Catholic school offering grades 6–12 on the west side. Madison Country Day School
is a private high school that has no religious affiliation. Both EAGLE School and Wingra School are private secular schools which enroll students from Kindergarten through 8th grade.
, 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 five taxicab companies, as well as several companies that provide specialized transit for individuals with disabilities. Most major General Aviation
operations take place at Morey Field in Middleton 15 miles (24 km) away from the city center.
route from Chicago
through Milwaukee and Madison to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, was proposed as part of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative
. Funding for the railway connecting Madison to Milwaukee was approved in January, 2010, but Governor-elect Scott Walker's opposition to the project led the Federal Railroad Administration to retract the $810 million in funding and reallocate it to other projects. The nearest passenger train station is 28 miles (45.1 km) away, in Columbus, Wisconsin
, from which the eastbound Empire Builder provides daily service to Milwaukee and Chicago, while the westbound Empire Builder provides daily service to the west.
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.
Railroad freight services are provided in Madison by Wisconsin and Southern Railroad
(WSOR) and Canadian Pacific Railway
(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.
, Beloit
, La Crosse
, and in Illinois, Rockford
, O'Hare Airport
, and Chicago
. Service is also available to St. Paul, Minnesota.
The Badger Bus
connects Madison to Milwaukee running multiple buses a day. Greyhound Lines
, a nationwide 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. Jefferson Lines
provides transportation to the Twin Cities. First Student offers charter bus rental services to groups in the Madison and Milwaukee area.
, Chicago
, Rockford, Illinois
, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Wausau
. U.S. Routes US-12, US-14, US-18, US-51 and US-151 connect the city with Dubuque, Iowa
, the Wisconsin cities of La Crosse and Janesville
and Lake Michigan
. The Beltline
is a six-to-eight lane
freeway on the south and west sides of Madison and is the main link from downtown to the southeast and western suburb
s. Several carsharing
services are available in Madison, with the first being Community Car a locally-owned company, followed by U-Haul
subsidiary U Car Share
.
(weekday circulation: ~95,000; Sundays: ~155,000) is published in the mornings, while its sister publication, The Capital Times (Thursday supplement to the Journal) is published online daily. 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 home to the free weekly alternative newspaper Isthmus
(weekly circulation: ~65,000), which was founded in 1976. The Onion
, a satirical weekly, was 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 tumultuous Vietnam War era as a conservative alternative to the liberal Cardinal. Madison is 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, Madison Magazine, The Simpson Street Free Press and fantasy sports web site RotoWire.com. There is a strong community of local blogs including Althouse
, dane101, and The Critical Badger
.
Madison is 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, as well as a Madison edition of the Bugle-American
underground newspaper.
Madison hosts two volunteer-operated and community-oriented radio stations, WORT
and WSUM
. WORT Community Radio (89.9 FM), founded by progressive Madisonians in 1975, is one of the oldest volunteer-powered radio stations in the United States. A listener-sponsored community radio station broadcasting from 118 S. Bedford Street, WORT offers diverse music and talk programming that is locally produced and hosted by local DJs. 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 first radio stations in the nation to begin broadcasting, and remains the longest continuously broadcasting station in the nation.
Widely heard public radio programs that originate in Madison include Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?
, Zorba Pastor On Your Health, To the Best of Our Knowledge and Calling All Pets.
In September 2004, Madison became home to the first state Air America affiliate, "The Mic 92.1 FM" (WXXM
). "Madison's Progressive Talk" arrived within weeks of the 2004 national elections, which positioned it well for audience appeal. It initially carried the full Air America lineup. Over time, its schedule included other progressive content from national and local programs, such as Matthew Rothchild's Progressive Radio and Free Thought Radio from the Freedom From Religion Foundation
.
WXJ-87 is the NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards
station located on Madison's west side, with broadcasts originating from the National Weather Service
in Sullivan, Wisconsin.
See also:
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.
On the other side of Capitol Square is King Street, which is developing along State Street, but with less of a student character and more appeal to the growing young white-collar high-tech population in Madison. King Street has more upper-end restaurants and cafes than are found on the more student-budget State Street.
On Saturday mornings in the summer, the Dane County Farmers' Market
is held around the Capitol Square,. This market attracts countless of vendors who sell fresh produce, meat and cheese among other products. This market is also notable for offering spicy cheese bread produced by Stella’s Bakery. In addition, 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 F-16s from the local Wisconsin Air National Guard
. This celebration is the largest fireworks display in the Midwest in length, number of shells fired and the size of its annual budget.
During the winter months, sports enthusiasts enjoy ice-boating, ice-skating, ice fishing
, cross-country skiing
, playing ice hockey
and snowkiting
. 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. Madison has an active cyclist culture and it is commonplace to see groups of bicyclists in 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 many 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
and Nottingham Housing Cooperative) to worker cooperatives (including and engineering firm and a cab company). In addition, there are several credit unions.
In 2005, Madison was included in Gregory A. Kompes' book, 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places 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.
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. 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." Events such as these have helped contribute to the city's nickname of "Madtown."
In 2009, the Madison Common Council voted to name the plastic pink flamingo as the official city bird.
Several venues offer live music every night of the week, spreading from the historic Barrymore Theatre and High Noon Saloon on the eastside. Several small coffee houses and wine bars offer live music every 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 Orpheum Theatre, the Overture Center
or at the UW Theatre on campus. Other popular rock and pop venues include the Majestic Theater, the Frequency, and as of late, the Great Dane Pub or check out a busker on State Street. During the summer, the Memorial Union Terrace on the University of Wisconsin campus, offers live music five nights a week. The Union is located on the shores of Lake Mendota and offers beautiful scenery and sunsets.
The Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps
has provided youth aged 16–22 opportunities to perform across North America every summer since 1938. The University of Wisconsin Marching Band
is a popular marching band
.
is the city's most recognized contemporary contribution to popular music. The multi-million album selling alternative-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 Bongzilla
, The Smashing Pumpkins
, Nirvana
, Fall Out Boy
, Green Day
and Against Me!
.
Madison has a lively independent rock scene, and local independent record labels include Crustacean Records
, Science of Sound, Kind Turkey 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 Paul Kowert of Punch Brothers
, Mama Digdown's Brass Band
, Clyde Stubblefield
of Funky Drummer
fame, and musicians Roscoe Mitchell
, Richard Davis, Ben Sidran
, Reptile Palace Orchestra
, Killdozer
, Polydream
, and Harmonious Wail
.
, most notably the Waterfront Festival, the Willy St. Fair, Atwood Summerfest, Isthmus Jazz Festival, The Orton Park Festival, Forward Music Festival, 94.1 WJJO's Band Camp, Greekfest, Madison Pop Festival, the WORT Block Party and the Sugar Maple Traditional Music 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
and Folkball, a world music
and Folk dance
festival held annually in January. More recently Madison is home to the LBGTQA festival Fruit Fest, celebrating queer culture and LGBT
allies. The second annual Fruit Fest was June 18, 2011 and featured Tiffany
, Erin McKeown
, Bitch
, Athens Boys Choir
, and local Madison group Little Red Wolf
.
(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.
, the Madison Symphony Orchestra
, Forward Theatre Company, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra
, and the Madison Ballet
are some of the professional resident companies of the Overture Center for the Arts
. The city is also 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 was 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 1300 seat theater) is home to many seasonal attractions and is the main stage for Four Seasons Theatre, a community theater company specializing in musical theater, and other groups. 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 neighborhoods of Madison including the Broom Street Theater which is not on Broom Street. Past productions have included 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 that gained national attention for several weeks. Other groups include Children's Theatre of Madison, Strollers Theatre, Madison Theatre Guild and the Mercury Players.
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 Co.
, The Monkey Business Institute, the now defunct ARC Improv and Comedy Sportz, and sketch comedy groups The Public Drunkards and The Rabid Badger Theatre Company. A spearheading organization called the WiSUC Project 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 noted was the documentary The War at Home
, which chronicled the anti-Vietnam War
movement in Madison. Another film 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 was used extensively, as was the University Bookstore. The film also showed many campus dormitories, and various outdoor locales, including the Union terrace
and Library Mall. More recently, the 2006 film The Last Kiss
used Madison and the university as a back-drop. One early scene in the film was also shot on the Union terrace. In 2008, scenes were shot at the state capitol and surrounding area for use in the 2009 film Public Enemies featuring Christian Bale
and Johnny Depp
.
Madison is also home to one of the largest film archives in the nation at the Wisconsin Historical Society
.
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 because of its position on the high point of the isthmus (and a state law that limits building heights within one mile (1.6 km) of the structure). The Wisconsin capitol's dome is the second tallest in the nation, after that of the capitol in Washington D.C. 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 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
, and led by Flad Architects
and Potter Lawson (Madison-based firms) as executive architect, 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. 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 steep 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.
. In 2008, Men's Health magazine ranked Madison as the "Least Armed and Dangerous" city in an article about "Where Men Are Targets" throughout the US. Between 2004 and 2007, 17 murders were reported. In 2008, Madison Police reported 10 homicides
Madison's reputation as a sports city exists largely 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 2010 on Dan Patrick
's ESPN radio show when he proclaimed Madison the best college sports town in America.
The UW–Madison teams play 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 that added 72 luxury suites and increased the stadium's 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, 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.
Despite Madison's strong support for college sports, it has proven to be an inhospitable home for professional baseball. The Madison Muskies
, a Class A, Midwest League
affiliate of the Oakland A's, left town in 1993 after 11 seasons. The Madison Hatters
, another Class A, Midwest League team, played in Madison for only the 1994 season. The Madison Black Wolf
, an independent Northern League franchise lasted five seasons, (1996–2000) before decamping for Lincoln, Nebraska
. Madison is currently 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.
The now defunct Indoor Football League's Madison Mad Dogs
were once located in the city. In 2009 indoor football returned to Madison as the Continental Indoor Football League's Wisconsin Wolfpack
, who call the Alliant Energy Center home.
Madison is home to a new football team called the Madison Mustangs
, a semi-pro football team that is part of the Ironman Football League 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.
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 is located at Middleton High School.
The Blackhawk Ski Club, formed in 1947, provides ski jumping, cross country skiing and alpine skiing. The club's programs have produced multiple Olympic ski jumpers, two Olympic ski jumping coaches and one Olympic ski-jumping director. The club had the first Nordic ski facility with lighted night jumping.
The Madison 56ers is a Madison amateur soccer team in the National Premier Soccer League
. They play in Breese Stevens Field
on East Washington Avenue.
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 Rugby Club, is composed largely of gay players and is Wisconsin's first and only IGRAB team, 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 popular Madison Gay Hockey Association is also in Madison.
Madison is also one of the growing number of cities in the country with a hurling
team organized as The Hurling Club of Madison.
The All-Girl Roller Derby League, Mad Rollin' Dolls
, was formed in Madison in 2004. Mad Rollin' Dolls LLC, is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association
.
Madison is home to several endurance sports racing events, such as the Crazylegs Classic
, Paddle and Portage, the Mad City Marathon
, and Ironman
Wisconsin, which attracts over 45,000 spectators.
Madison was part of Chicago's 2016 Olympics bid. If the Chicago 2016 bid had been successful, 80,000-seat Camp Randall Stadium would have served as one of Chicago's stadiums during the Games.
Former sister cities include:
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
and the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Dane County
Dane County, Wisconsin
As of the census of 2000, there were 426,526 people, 173,484 households, and 100,794 families residing in the county. The population density was 355 people per square mile . There were 180,398 housing units at an average density of 150 per square mile...
. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
.
As of the 2010 census, Madison had a population of 233,209. making it the second largest city in Wisconsin, after Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
, and the 81st largest in the United States. The city forms the core of the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
's Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area
Madison metropolitan area
The Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of three counties in Wisconsin, anchored by the city of Madison. As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 568,593.-Definitions:...
, which includes all of Dane County and neighboring Iowa
Iowa County, Wisconsin
Iowa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2000, the population was 22,780. Its county seat and largest city is Dodgeville.Iowa County is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:According to the U.S...
and Columbia
Columbia County, Wisconsin
-Unincorporated communities:*Anacker*Belle Fountain*Durwards Glen*East Friesland*Harmony Grove*Ingle*Keyeser*Lake Wisconsin*Leeds*Lowville*Marcellon*North Leeds*Okee*Otsego-External links:***...
counties. Madison's suburbs include DeForest, Fitchburg
Fitchburg, Wisconsin
Fitchburg is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 25,260 at the 2010 census. Fitchburg is a suburb of Madison and is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, Maple Bluff
Maple Bluff, Wisconsin
Maple Bluff is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,358 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Madison and is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, McFarland
McFarland, Wisconsin
McFarland is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States, on the eastern shore of Lake Waubesa. The population was 7,808 at the 2010 census...
, Middleton
Middleton, Wisconsin
Middleton is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. It is a western suburb of the state capital, Madison but it was actually founded before Madison. It got its name from Middletown, Connecticut; the "w" being dropped was due to a paper work error made by long time historian Edward Kromrey...
, Monona
Monona, Wisconsin
Monona is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 8,046 as of 2007. It is completely surrounded by Madison and is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Monona is located at ....
, Oregon
Oregon, Wisconsin
Oregon is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The current population of Oregon is 9498. It is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area and is a suburb of Madison. The village is located mostly within the Town of Oregon....
, Shorewood Hills
Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin
Shorewood Hills is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. Established in 1927, the population was 1,732 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Madison and part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
, Stoughton
Stoughton, Wisconsin
Stoughton is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States and is a neighbor of Madison. It straddles the Yahara River about 20 miles southeast of the capital, Madison. Stoughton is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, Sun Prairie
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
Sun Prairie is a city in Dane County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. A suburb of Madison it is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. The 2010 US Census estimates the city's population to be 29,364. It is the sixth-fastest growing city in Wisconsin, and the fastest-growing among cities...
, Verona
Verona, Wisconsin
Verona is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, in the United States and is a suburb of Madison. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 7,052. With an estimated 2009 population of 11,486, Verona is among the fastest growing municipalities in the state. The city is located ten miles southwest of...
, and Waunakee
Waunakee, Wisconsin
Waunakee is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States . The population was 12,097 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. Waunakee bills itself as "The Only Waunakee in the World." The village was named as #78 in CNN Money's "Top 100 Best Places to...
. The Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area had a 2008 estimated population of 561,505.
History
Madison was created in 1836, when former federal judge James Duane Doty
James Duane Doty
James Duane Doty was a land speculator and politician in the United States who played a large role in the development of Wisconsin and Utah Territory.-Legal career:...
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
Wisconsin Territory
The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin...
had been created earlier that year and the territorial legislature had convened in Belmont, Wisconsin
Belmont, Wisconsin
Belmont is a village in Lafayette County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 871 according to the 2000 census.-History:Founded in 1835 by land speculator John Atchison, Belmont was the original capital of the Wisconsin Territory, and the original territorial capitol building is preserved...
. 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
American Bison
The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...
robes to the freezing legislators and promising choice Madison lots at discount prices to undecided voters. He had James Slaughter plat
Plat
A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....
two cities in the area, Madison and "The City of Four Lakes," near present-day Middleton. Doty named the city Madison for James Madison, the 4th President of the U.S. who had died on June 28, 1836 and he named the streets for the other 38 signers of the U.S. Constitution. Even though 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
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
Prairie du Chien is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,911 at the 2010 census. Its Zip Code is 53821....
in the west, and because of its location between the highly populated lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
mining regions in the southwest and Wisconsin's oldest city, Green Bay
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
in the northeast. Being named for the much-admired founding father
Founding Fathers of the United States
The Founding Fathers of the United States of America were political leaders and statesmen who participated in the American Revolution by signing the United States Declaration of Independence, taking part in the American Revolutionary War, establishing the United States Constitution, or by some...
James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
, who had just died, and having streets named for each of the 39 signers
Philadelphia Convention
The Constitutional Convention took place from May 14 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from...
of the Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
, may have also helped attract votes.
Creation and expansion
The cornerstone for the Wisconsin capitol was laid in 1837, and the legislature first met there in 1838. On October 9, 1839, Kintzing Prichett
Kintzing Prichette
Kintzing Prichette was an American political figure. He was primarily a political appointee within the federal government's various departments, which at the time included U.S. Territories...
registered the plat
Plat
A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....
of Madison at the registrar's office of the then-territorial Dane County
Dane County, Wisconsin
As of the census of 2000, there were 426,526 people, 173,484 households, and 100,794 families residing in the county. The population density was 355 people per square mile . There were 180,398 housing units at an average density of 150 per square mile...
. 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
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
. The Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
The Milwaukee Road, officially the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until its merger into the Soo Line Railroad on January 1, 1986. The company went through several official names...
(a predecessor of what would become known as the Milwaukee Road
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
The Milwaukee Road, officially the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until its merger into the Soo Line Railroad on January 1, 1986. The company went through several official names...
) connected to Madison in 1854. Madison became a city in 1856, with a population of 6,863, leaving the unincorporated remainder as a separate Town of Madison
Madison (town), Wisconsin
Madison is a town in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 7,005 at the 2000 census...
. 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
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Madison served as a center of the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National 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
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
soldiers. After the war ended, the Camp Randall site was absorbed into the University of Wisconsin—Camp Randall Stadium
Camp Randall Stadium
Camp Randall Stadium is an outdoor stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. It has been the home of the Wisconsin Badgers football team in rudimentary form since 1895, and as a complete stadium since 1917. It is located on the center-southern region of the University of Wisconsin campus. The stadium seats...
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.
The City of Madison continued annexations from the town almost from the date of the city's incorporation, leaving the latter (by the end of the 20th century) a collection of discontinuous areas subject to annexation. In the wake of continued controversy and an effort in the state legislature to simply abolish the town, an agreement was reached in 2003 to provide for the incorporation of the remaining portions of the Town into the City of Madison and the City of Fitchburg
Fitchburg, Wisconsin
Fitchburg is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 25,260 at the 2010 census. Fitchburg is a suburb of Madison and is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
by October 30, 2022.
Geography and climate
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
and 122 miles (196 km) northwest of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. The city completely surrounds the smaller Town of Madison
Madison (town), Wisconsin
Madison is a town in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 7,005 at the 2000 census...
, the City of Monona
Monona, Wisconsin
Monona is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 8,046 as of 2007. It is completely surrounded by Madison and is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Monona is located at ....
, and the villages of Maple Bluff
Maple Bluff, Wisconsin
Maple Bluff is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,358 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Madison and is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area....
and Shorewood Hills
Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin
Shorewood Hills is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. Established in 1927, the population was 1,732 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Madison and part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
. Madison shares borders with its largest suburb, Sun Prairie
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
Sun Prairie is a city in Dane County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. A suburb of Madison it is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. The 2010 US Census estimates the city's population to be 29,364. It is the sixth-fastest growing city in Wisconsin, and the fastest-growing among cities...
, and three other communities, Middleton
Middleton, Wisconsin
Middleton is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. It is a western suburb of the state capital, Madison but it was actually founded before Madison. It got its name from Middletown, Connecticut; the "w" being dropped was due to a paper work error made by long time historian Edward Kromrey...
, McFarland
McFarland, Wisconsin
McFarland is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States, on the eastern shore of Lake Waubesa. The population was 7,808 at the 2010 census...
and Fitchburg
Fitchburg, Wisconsin
Fitchburg is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 25,260 at the 2010 census. Fitchburg is a suburb of Madison and is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
. The city's boundaries also approach the villages of Verona
Verona, Wisconsin
Verona is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, in the United States and is a suburb of Madison. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 7,052. With an estimated 2009 population of 11,486, Verona is among the fastest growing municipalities in the state. The city is located ten miles southwest of...
, Cottage Grove
Cottage Grove, Wisconsin
Cottage Grove is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 6,248 at the 2010 census. It is a fast growing suburb of Madison and shares a school district with Monona...
, DeForest, and Waunakee
Waunakee, Wisconsin
Waunakee is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States . The population was 12,097 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. Waunakee bills itself as "The Only Waunakee in the World." The village was named as #78 in CNN Money's "Top 100 Best Places to...
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, Madison's area is 84.7 square miles (219.4 km²), of which, 68.7 square miles (177.9 km²) of it is land and 16 square miles (41.4 km²) of it (18.9%) is water.
The city is sometimes described as The City of Four Lakes, comprising the four successive lakes of the Yahara River
Yahara River
The Yahara River is a tributary of the Rock River, about long , in southern Wisconsin in the United States. Via the Rock River, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River...
: Lake Mendota
Lake Mendota
Lake Mendota is the northernmost and largest of the four lakes near Madison, Wisconsin. The lake borders Madison on the north, east and south, Middleton on the west, Shorewood Hills on the southwest, Maple Bluff on the northeast, and Westport on the northwest....
("Fourth Lake"), Lake Monona
Lake Monona
Lake Monona is a freshwater drainage lake in Dane County, Wisconsin surrounded on three sides by the city of Madison, Wisconsin and on the south side by the city of Monona, Wisconsin. It is the second-largest of a chain of four lakes along the Yahara River in the area and forms the south shore of...
("Third Lake"), Lake Waubesa
Lake Waubesa
Lake Waubesa is one of the four lakes in Madison, Wisconsin. The lake has a surface area of slightly over ....
("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
Lake Wingra
Lake Wingra is a small lake located inside the city limits of the U.S. city of Madison, Wisconsin.The smallest of the five major lakes drained by the Yahara River in Dane County, Lake Wingra is bordered by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum on the south and west and the City of Madison...
, is within the city as well; it is connected to the Yahara River chain by Wingra Creek. The Yahara flows into the Rock River
Rock River (Illinois)
The Rock River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long, in the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Illinois. It rises in southeast Wisconsin, in the Theresa Marsh near Theresa, Wisconsin in northeast Dodge County, Wisconsin approximately south of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin...
, which in turn, flows into the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. Downtown Madison is located on an isthmus
Madison Isthmus
The Madison Isthmus is an isthmus in Madison, Wisconsin between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona. It is located between Madison's Northeast side to the east and the University of Wisconsin campus to the west. The south portion of the isthmus is home to the Wisconsin State Capitol, State Street, and...
between Lakes Mendota and Monona. The city's trademark of "Lake, City, Lake" reflects this geography.
Local identity varies in different parts of Madison, although there are over 120 officially recognized neighborhood associations. Neighborhoods on and near the eastern part of the isthmus, some of the city's oldest, have the strongest sense of identity and are the most politically liberal. Historically, the north, east, and south sides were blue collar
Blue-collar worker
A blue-collar worker is a member of the working class who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled, manufacturing, mining, construction, mechanical, maintenance, technical installation and many other types of physical work...
while the west side was white collar
White-collar worker
The term white-collar worker refers to a person who performs professional, managerial, or administrative work, in contrast with a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor...
, and to a certain extent this remains true. Students dominate on the University of Wisconsin campus and to the east into downtown, while to its south and in Shorewood Hills
Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin
Shorewood Hills is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. Established in 1927, the population was 1,732 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Madison and part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
on its west, faculty have been a major presence since those neighborhoods were originally developed. The turning point in Madison's development was the university's 1954 decision to develop its experimental farm on the western edge of town; since then, the city has grown substantially along suburban lines.
Madison, along with the rest of the state, has a humid continental climate
Humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters....
(Köppen
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
: Dfb/Dfa), characterized by variable weather patterns and a large seasonal temperature variance: winter temperatures can be well below freezing, with moderate to occasionally heavy snowfall; high temperatures in summer average in the lower 80s °F (27–28 °C), reaching 90 °F (32.2 °C) on an average 12 days per year, often accompanied by high humidity levels. The warmer months usually see the greater precipitation.
Demographics
| Madison and Wisconsin demographics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin | Madison | Race |
| 91% | 75.66% | White |
| 6.48% | 7.07% | Black African American African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States... |
| 2.21% | 7.34% | Asian Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,... |
| 1.3% | 0.32% | Native American |
| 0.09% | 0.04% | Pacific Islander |
| N/A | 6.83% | Hispanic |
| N/A | 2.55% | Two or more races |
| N/A | 1.67% | Other race |
| Note: Hispanics may be of any race. | ||
As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2010, there were 233,209 people, 89,019 households and 42,462 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 3,029.7 people per square mile (1,169.8/km²). There were 108,843 housing units at an average density of 1,345.4 per square mile (519.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 83.96% White, 7.07% African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, 0.36% Native American, 7.34% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 1.67% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
and 2.55% from two or more races. 6.83% of the population were Hispanic or Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
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
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
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
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
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.
Combined Statistical Area
Combined Statistical Area
The United States Office of Management and Budget defines micropolitan and metropolitan statistical areas. Metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas consist of one or more counties...
that includes the Madison metropolitan area (Columbia, Dane and Iowa counties) and the Baraboo micropolitan area
Sauk County, Wisconsin
Sauk County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2000, the population was 55,225. Its county seat and largest city is Baraboo. Sauk County is included in the Baraboo Micropolitan Statistical Area and in the Madison Combined Statistical Area....
(Sauk County
Sauk County, Wisconsin
Sauk County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2000, the population was 55,225. Its county seat and largest city is Baraboo. Sauk County is included in the Baraboo Micropolitan Statistical Area and in the Madison Combined Statistical Area....
), which had a combined population of 556,999 at the 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...
.
Government
Madison is governed by a mayor-council system. Madison's city councilMadison Common Council
Madison Common Council is a city council: the legislative branch of the government of the City of Madison in Wisconsin. The Madison Common Council consists of 20 aldermen elected from 20 wards who serve two-year terms. The Common Council considers ordinances and resolutions whose subject matter...
, known as the Common Council
Madison Common Council
Madison Common Council is a city council: the legislative branch of the government of the City of Madison in Wisconsin. The Madison Common Council consists of 20 aldermen elected from 20 wards who serve two-year terms. The Common Council considers ordinances and resolutions whose subject matter...
, consists of 20 members, one from each district. The mayor is elected in a citywide vote.
Politics
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
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 "78 square miles surrounded by reality." This latter phrase was coined by former Wisconsin Republican governor Lee S. Dreyfus
Lee S. Dreyfus
Lee Sherman Dreyfus was an American politician and member of the Republican Party who served as the 40th Governor of Wisconsin from January 4, 1979 to January 3, 1983....
, while campaigning in 1978, as recounted by campaign aide Bill Kraus.
The city's voters are generally 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
Wisconsin Referendum 1 (2006)
Wisconsin Referendum 1 of 2006 was a referendum on an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution that would invalidate same-sex marriages or civil unions in the state. The referendum was approved by 59% of voters during the general elections in November 2006...
, even though the ban passed statewide with 59% of the vote.
Current Politics
Madison city politics remain dominated by activists of liberal and progressive ideologies. In 1992, a local third party Progressive DaneProgressive Dane
Progressive Dane is an independent, progressive political party in Dane County, Wisconsin founded in the fall of 1992.Focusing exclusively on local elections, Progressive Dane endorses candidates and lobbies for issues decided on by its membership...
was founded. Recently enacted city policies supported in the Progressive Dane platform have included an inclusionary zoning
Inclusionary zoning
Inclusionary zoning, also known as inclusionary housing, is an American term which refers to municipal and county planning ordinances that require a given share of new construction to be affordable by people with low to moderate incomes...
ordinance, later abandoned by the mayor and a majority of the city council, 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.
In early 2011, Madison was the site for large protests
2011 Wisconsin protests
The 2011 Wisconsin protests were a series of demonstrations in the state of Wisconsin in the United States beginning in February involving at its zenith as many as 100,000 protestors opposing the Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill. Subsequently, anti-tax activists and other conservatives, including tea...
against a bill proposed by Governor Scott Walker
Scott Walker (politician)
Scott Kevin Walker is an American Republican politician who began serving as the 45th Governor of Wisconsin on January 3, 2011, after defeating Democratic candidate Tom Barrett, 52 percent to 47 percent in the November 2010 general election...
that removed most (or in some cases all) collective bargaining rights for most public worker unions. The protests in and surrounding the capitol building ranged from 10,000 to over 100,000 people, and the protests all together lasted for several months.
Historical Politics
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Madison countercultureCounterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
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 during the administration of Republican mayor Bill Dyke, a one-time personality on WISC-TV
WISC-TV
WISC-TV is the CBS affiliate television station for Madison, Wisconsin. The station is the flagship of Madison-based Morgan Murphy Media, and has been affiliated with CBS since its launch on June 24, 1956...
who was later to run for U.S. vice president with segregationist Lester Maddox
Lester Maddox
Lester Garfield Maddox was an American politician who was the 75th Governor of the U.S. state of Georgia from 1967 to 1971....
. Dyke was viewed by students as a direct antagonist in efforts to protest the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, because of his efforts to suppress local protests that had resulted in property damage. The annual Mifflin Street Block Party
Mifflin Street Block Party
The Mifflin Street Block Party is an annual celebration held on Mifflin Street in Madison, Wisconsin on the first Saturday of May. The 2011 Mifflin Block Party is scheduled for April 30th. It is one of two large parties held in Madison, the other being the Halloween party on State Street. In 2005,...
became a focal point for protest, although by the late 1970s it had become a mainstream community party.
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 CompanyDow Chemical CompanyThe Dow Chemical Company is a multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. As of 2007, it is the second largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization .Dow...
, 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 GuardUnited States National GuardThe National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...
; - 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 predawn ANFOANFOANFO is a widely used bulk industrial explosive mixture. It consists of 94 percent porous prilled ammonium nitrate , that acts as the oxidizing agent and absorbent for the fuel — six percent Number 2 Fuel Oil...
bombing of Sterling Hall which housed the Army Mathematics Research Center, killing a postdoctoral 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 bombingSterling Hall bombingThe Sterling Hall Bombing that occurred on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus on August 24, 1970 was committed by four young people as a protest against the University's research connections with the US military during the Vietnam War...
)
These protests were the subject of the documentary The War at Home
The War at Home (1979 film)
The War at Home is a documentary film about the anti-war movement in the Madison, Wisconsin area during the time of the Vietnam War. It combines archival footage and interviews with participants that explore the events of the period on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus...
. Tom Bates 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
Paul Soglin
Paul Soglin is the mayor of Madison, Wisconsin.-Early life and education:Soglin was raised in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago...
, then a city alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
, was arrested twice and taken to jail. Soglin was later elected mayor of Madison, serving from 1973 to 1979, 1989 to 1997, and is the current mayor, elected again in April, 2011. During his middle term he led the construction of the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Monona Terrace
Monona Terrace
Monona Terrace is a convention center on the shores of Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin.-Controversy:...
. David Maraniss
David Maraniss
David Maraniss is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author. As a reporter for The Washington Post he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his stories about the life and career of candidate Bill Clinton in the 1992 campaign for the U.S...
wrote a book, They Marched into Sunlight
They Marched into Sunlight
They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967 is a book written by Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author David Maraniss, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2004 and won the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize...
, which incorporated the 1967 Dow protests into a larger Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
narrative.
Notable political groups and publications
Madison is home to the Freedom from Religion FoundationFreedom From Religion Foundation
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is an American freethought organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. Its purposes, as stated in its bylaws, are to promote the separation of church and state and to educate the public on matters relating to atheism, agnosticism and nontheism. The FFRF publishes...
, 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, and for advocating removal of "In God We Trust
In God We Trust
"In God We Trust" was adopted as the official motto of the United States in 1956. It is also the motto of the U.S. state of Florida. The Legality of this motto has been questioned because of the United States Constitution forbidding the government to make any law respecting the establishment of a...
" from American currency
Currency
In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
.
Madison is associated with "Fighting Bob" La Follette
Robert M. La Follette, Sr.
Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette, Sr. , was an American Republican politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was the Governor of Wisconsin, and was also a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin...
and the Progressive movement
Progressive Party (United States, 1924)
The Progressive Party of 1924 was a new party created as a vehicle for Robert M. La Follette, Sr. to run for president in the 1924 election. It did not run candidates for other offices, and it disappeared after the election except in Wisconsin. Its name resembles the 1912 Progressive Party, which...
. La Follette's magazine, The Progressive
The Progressive
The Progressive is an American monthly magazine of politics, culture and progressivism with a pronounced liberal perspective on some issues. Known for its pacifism, it has strongly opposed military interventions, such as the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The magazine also devotes much coverage...
, founded in 1909, is still published in Madison.
Religion
Madison is the episcopal seeEpiscopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Madison
Roman Catholic Diocese of Madison
The Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, is the Roman Catholic Diocese for the southwest corner of Wisconsin. It comprises Columbia, Dane, Grant, Green, Green Lake, Iowa, Jefferson, LaFayette, Marquette, Rock and Sauk counties. The area of the diocese is approximately...
. Saint Raphael's Cathedral
Saint Raphael's Cathedral, Madison, Wisconsin
Saint Raphael's Cathedral is the Cathedral parish for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Madison. The parish is located in downtown Madison, Wisconsin at 222 West Main Street. In March 2005 the building was heavily damaged in a fire...
, damaged by arson in 2005 and demolished in 2008, was the mother church of the diocese.
The world's largest congregation of Unitarian Universalists, First Unitarian Society of Madison, makes its home in the historic Unitarian Meeting House, designed by one of its members, Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
.
Madison also has a Buddhist temple, a Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
temple, three mosques and several synagogues, a Bahá'í
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
community centre, an LDS stake, and a Unity Church
Unity Church
Unity, known informally as Unity Church, is a religious movement within the wider New Thought movement and is best known to many through its Daily Word devotional publication...
congregation.
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA is an inter-denominational, evangelical Christian, student-led ministry which for the past 70 years has been dedicated to establishing witnessing communities on U.S. college and university campuses...
has its headquarter there.
Economy
Wisconsin state government and the University of Wisconsin–MadisonUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
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 less affected 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 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 skill base, taking advantage of the area's high level of education. According to city-data.com, 48.2% of Madison's population over the age of 25 holds at least a bachelor's degree. Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine reported in 2004 that Madison has the highest percentage of individuals holding Ph.D.s in the United States. 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 also named Madison in the top ten Best Cities several times within the past decade. In 2009, in the midst of the late-2000s recession, Madison had an unemployment rate of 3.5% and was ranked number one in a list of "ten cities for job growth".
Business
The largest employer in Madison is the Wisconsin state government (excluding employees of the University of Wisconsin–MadisonUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
, a public university
Public university
A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. A national university may or may not be considered a public university, depending on regions...
that is part of the University of Wisconsin System
University of Wisconsin System
The University of Wisconsin System is a university system of public universities in the state of Wisconsin. It is one of the largest public higher education systems in the country, enrolling more than 182,000 students each year and employing more than 32,000 faculty and staff statewide...
, and University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics
University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics
University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics is a 471-bed academic medical center with 80 outpatient clinics in Madison, Wisconsin. It is an American College of Surgeons designated Level I adult and pediatric trauma center, one of two Level I trauma centers in Wisconsin- the other in Milwaukee...
employees, although both groups of workers are considered state employees).
The University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics is an important regional teaching hospital and regional trauma center, with strengths in transplant medicine, oncology, digestive disorders, and endocrinology. Other Madison hospitals include St. Mary's Hospital
St. Mary's Hospital (Madison)
St. Mary's is a hospital located in Madison, Wisconsin, serving the southern Wisconsin area.-External links:...
, Meriter Hospital and the VA Medical Center.
Madison is home to companies such as Spectrum Brands
Spectrum Brands
Spectrum Brands is a diversified company established in 2005 as the successor company to Rayovac Corporation. Rayovac had been located in Wisconsin since its conception as The French Battery Company in 1906, but then in 2004, as Spectrum Brands, located its Corporate headquarters just north of...
(formerly Rayovac
Rayovac
Rayovac is a brand of batteries owned by Spectrum Brands of Madison, Wisconsin, United States.- History :...
), Alliant Energy
Alliant Energy
Alliant Energy Corporation is a public utility holding company that incorporated in Madison, Wisconsin in 1981. It consists of two subsidiaries:...
, American Family Insurance
American Family Insurance
American Family Insurance is a private mutual company that focuses on property, casualty and auto insurance, but also offers commercial insurance, life, health, and homeowners coverage, as well as investment and retirement-planning products...
, American Girl
American Girl
American Girl is a line of dolls, books, and accessories.American Girl may also refer to:* American Girl , a magazine published by the American Girl company* American Girl , a 2002 American film...
(a subsidiary company of Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
), the Credit Union National Association
Credit Union National Association
The Credit Union National Association, commonly known as CUNA , is a national trade association for both state- and federally-chartered credit unions located in the United States. CUNA provides member credit unions with trade association services, such as lobbying, professional development, and...
and its CUNA Mutual Group
CUNA Mutual Group
CUNA Mutual Group is a mutual insurance company that provides financial services to cooperatives, credit unions, their members, and other customers worldwide. CUNA Mutual Group sells commercial and consumer insurance and protection products....
, University of Wisconsin Credit Union
University of Wisconsin Credit Union
The University of Wisconsin Credit Union is a credit union headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin.As of January 2011, UW Credit Union has over 150,000 members with over $1 billion in assets and is the second largest credit union in the state of Wisconsin...
, Dean Health Systems, Pacific Cycle
Pacific Cycle
For the Taiwan-based folding bicycle company see: Pacific CyclesPacific Cycle, Inc. is an American bicycle importer and distributor founded in 1977 by Chris Hornung. The company owns the following brands; Schwinn, Mongoose, Roadmaster DYNO , InSTEP, Pacific Outdoors, Powerlite and Cannondale....
, and Sub-Zero & Wolf Appliance
Sub-Zero Refrigerator
Sub-Zero Refrigerator is a brand of residential refrigeration and wine preservation products built in the USA. The company also manufactures kitchen appliances under the Wolf brand name.- History :...
. Technology companies in the area include Netconcepts
Netconcepts
Netconcepts is a web marketing and web development agency founded and headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, specializing in SEO for Fortune 500 ecommerce companies and major media brands. In January, 1995 then web development company, Internet Concepts was started, eventually renaming itself to its...
(recently purchased by Covario,) Telephone and Data Systems
Telephone and Data Systems
Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. is a Chicago-based telecommunications service company providing wireless, telephone and broadband services to more than 7 million customers in 36 states through its business units TDS Telecom and U.S. Cellular , the sixth-largest wireless service provider in the U.S...
, TomoTherapy
TomoTherapy
Tomotherapy is a type of radiation therapy in which the radiation is delivered slice-by-slice...
, Broadjam
Broadjam
Broadjam is a US-based music community website, founded in September 1999. The service is aimed primarily at independent musicians. Users can interact with other artists, enter contests, and collaborate with peers through email, reviews, blogs and other social networking tools...
, Sonic Foundry
Sonic Foundry
Sonic Foundry is the former developer of various media software suites, which were purchased by Sony in late 2003 for $18 million in cash and the assumption of certain liabilities and obligations...
, FSBO Madison
FSBO Madison
FSBO Madison is a real estate company based in Madison, Wisconsin. It pioneered the use of the internet as an alternative to the realtor-backed Multiple Listing Service system. The company is considered the largest for-sale-by-owner website in the United States...
, Raven Software
Raven Software
Raven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...
, Human Head Studios
Human Head Studios
Human Head Studios is a computer game development company located in Madison, Wisconsin.It was founded in October 1997 by a group of six developers formerly from Raven Software: Chris Rhinehart, Paul MacArthur, Shane Gurno, Ben Gokey, James Sumwalt, and Ted Halsted—later joined by game producer Tim...
, Epic Systems Corporation
Epic Systems Corporation
Epic Systems Corporation is a privately held health care software company founded in 1979 by Judy Faulkner. Originally headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, Epic began moving staff to a new $300 million campus in Verona, Wisconsin in late 2005. Nearly all of Epic's staff are based in the greater...
, and Berbee
Berbee
Berbee Information Networks Corporation, until its purchase by CDW in 2006, was a privately-held company in the United States of America. Berbee was founded in 1993 by James G. Berbee and it grew to over 300 million USD in revenue and more than 800 employees at the time of its sale in October 2006...
Information Networks. Many biotech firms exist there, including Panvera (now part of Invitrogen)
Invitrogen
Invitrogen Corporation was a large, multinational biotechnology company headquartered in Carlsbad, California. In November 2008, a merger between Applied Biosystems and Invitrogen was finalized...
, Promega
Promega
Promega Corporation is a manufacturer of enzymes and other products for biotechnology and molecular biology.-History :Promega Corporation was founded by Bill Linton in 1978 to provide restriction enzymes for biotechnology...
, and the Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
-based Nimblegen. The contract research organisation Covance
Covance
Covance, Inc. , formerly Corning Incorporated, with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, USA, is a contract research organization , providing drug development and animal testing services...
is a big employer in the area.
Oscar Mayer
Oscar Mayer
Oscar Mayer is an American meat and cold cut production company, owned by Kraft Foods, known for its hot dogs, bologna, bacon and Lunchables products.-History:...
has been a Madison fixture for decades, and was a family business for many years before being sold to Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...
. The Onion
The Onion
The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
newspaper and the pizza chains Rocky Rococo
Rocky Rococo
Rocky Rococo is a chain of North American restaurants, which specializes in selling pan-style pizza by the slice. Wayne Mosley and Roger Brown opened their first store in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1974. They sold the franchise rights of the company to Tom Hester and a group of investors in 1987...
, the Glass Nickel Pizza Company
Glass Nickel Pizza Company
The Glass Nickel Pizza Co. is a mid-sized delivery, carry-out and dine-in Italian restaurant based in Madison, Wisconsin. Currently, the restaurant has seven locations throughout Wisconsin.- History :...
, and Ian's Pizza originated in Madison.
Utilities
In the mid 2000s Madison partnered with Merrimac Communications to develop and build a wireless internet infrastructure. In early 2010 a grass-root effort began to bring Google's new high-speed fiber Internet to Madison and failed. In a public forum in March 2010, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz (chez-LEV-itch) criticized Topeka, KansasTopeka, Kansas
Topeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
, which had changed its name to Google, Kansas, saying that its move was a cheap stunt.
Education
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine, Madison ranks second in the nation in education. It is home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
, Edgewood College
Edgewood College
Edgewood College is a Dominican Catholic liberal arts college in Madison, Wisconsin, in the Diocese of Madison. Overlooking the shores of Lake Wingra, it occupies on Madison's near west side....
, Madison Area Technical College
Madison Area Technical College
Madison Area Technical College is a technical and community college headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. It serves parts of 12 counties in south-central Wisconsin: Adams, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Juneau, Marquette, Richland, Rock, and Sauk...
and Madison Media Institute
Madison Media Institute
Madison Media Institute, a Media Arts College is a private for profit college with it's main campus located in Madison, Wisconsin and branch location in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Degree programs are designed for the entertainment and media industry and accept enrollments year round...
, 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, of whom 30,750 are undergraduates. 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.
Additional degree programs are available through satellite campuses of Cardinal Stritch University
Cardinal Stritch University
Cardinal Stritch University is a private Roman Catholic university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.The university also has sites located in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and Rochester, Minnesota, as well as multiple Outreach programs throughout Wisconsin.Cardinal...
, Concordia University-Wisconsin, Globe University, Lakeland College, the University of Phoenix
University of Phoenix
The University of Phoenix is a for-profit institution of higher learning. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Apollo Group Inc. which is publicly traded , an S&P 500 corporation based in Phoenix, Arizona...
, and Upper Iowa University
Upper Iowa University
Established in 1857, Upper Iowa University is a private institution of higher education with its residential campus located in northeast Iowa near the Volga River in the rural community of Fayette, where around 900 students are enrolled....
. Madison also has a non-credit learning community with multiple programs and many private businesses also offering classes.
The Madison Metropolitan School District
Madison Metropolitan School District
Madison Metropolitan School District is a public school district headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. It serves the cities of Madison and Fitchburg, the villages of Shorewood Hills and Maple Bluff, and the towns of Blooming Grove, Burke, and Madison. It includes four regular high schools, one...
serves the city and surrounding area. With an enrollment of approximately 25,000 students in 46 schools, it is the second largest school district in Wisconsin behind the Milwaukee School District. The five public high schools are: James Madison Memorial
James Madison Memorial High School
James Madison Memorial High School is a public school located at 201 South Gammon Road, Madison, Wisconsin, 53717, serving students in grades 9 through 12. It is part of the Madison Metropolitan School District...
, Madison West, Madison East
Madison East High School
Madison East High School is one of four comprehensive four-year high schools in Madison, Wisconsin. It was established in 1922, making it the oldest high school still operating in Madison. The school mascot is the "Purgolder", an animal resembling a puma. Madison East athletes compete in the WIAA...
, Madison LaFollette
Madison LaFollette High School
La Follette High School is a public school located in Madison, Wisconsin, teaching students grades 9-12. It is a part of the Madison Metropolitan School District. One of five Madison public high schools, it is commonly known as "La Follette". The school is named after former lawmaker and 1924...
, and Malcolm Shabazz City High School
Malcolm Shabazz City High School
Malcolm Shabazz City High School is a four-year alternative public high school in Madison, Wisconsin. Shabazz was founded in 1971. The educational program at Shabazz places special emphasis on service learning and respect for diversity. Shabazz has a strong anti-harassment policy offering a safe...
, an alternative school.
Among private church-related high schools are Abundant Life Christian School
Abundant Life Christian School
Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin is the largest non-sectarian private school in the area. ALCS was founded by Lake City Church in 1978. The school's mission is to promote "Christian character and academic excellence." This K4–12 school shares its campus with Lake City Church ...
, Edgewood High School, located on the Edgewood College
Edgewood College
Edgewood College is a Dominican Catholic liberal arts college in Madison, Wisconsin, in the Diocese of Madison. Overlooking the shores of Lake Wingra, it occupies on Madison's near west side....
campus, and St. Ambrose Academy
St. Ambrose Academy
St. Ambrose Academy is a Roman Catholic middle school and high school located in Madison, Wisconsin. The school's stated purpose is to offer "a classical education rooted in the Catholic faith."...
, a Catholic school offering grades 6–12 on the west side. Madison Country Day School
Madison Country Day School
Madison Country Day School is a nonsectarian, private day school in Dane County, Wisconsin for grades PreK through 12. It is the only non-religious private high school in Dane County, and has an enrollment of around 275 students...
is a private high school that has no religious affiliation. Both EAGLE School and Wingra School are private secular schools which enroll students from Kindergarten through 8th grade.
Transportation
Madison is served by the Dane County Regional AirportDane County Regional Airport
-Statistics:-External links:* Dane County Regional Airport: * Wisconsin Airport Directory: * * - Listen live to Madison's Air Traffic Control...
, which serves more than 100 commercial flights on an average day, and nearly 1.6 million passengers annually. Madison Metro
Madison Metro
Madison Metro Transit operates extensive bus service throughout the city of Madison, Wisconsin and to the surrounding communities of Middleton, Fitchburg, and Verona. Systemwide, fixed route ridership was 13.4 million in 2008...
operates bus routes throughout the city and to some surrounding towns. Madison has five taxicab companies, as well as several companies that provide specialized transit for individuals with disabilities. Most major General Aviation
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
operations take place at Morey Field in Middleton 15 miles (24 km) away from the city center.
Railways
A high-speed railHigh-speed rail
High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...
route from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
through Milwaukee and Madison to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, was proposed as part of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative
Midwest Regional Rail Initiative
The Chicago Hub Network is a collection of proposed fast conventional and high-speed rail lines in the Midwestern United States including of track. Since the 1990s, there have been multiple proposals to improve the links from Chicago, Illinois to major destinations including Indianapolis, Indiana,...
. Funding for the railway connecting Madison to Milwaukee was approved in January, 2010, but Governor-elect Scott Walker's opposition to the project led the Federal Railroad Administration to retract the $810 million in funding and reallocate it to other projects. The nearest passenger train station is 28 miles (45.1 km) away, in Columbus, Wisconsin
Columbus, Wisconsin
Columbus is a city in Columbia and Dodge Counties in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 4,991 at the 2010 census. Columbus is located about northeast of Madison on the Crawfish River. It is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, from which the eastbound Empire Builder provides daily service to Milwaukee and Chicago, while the westbound Empire Builder provides daily service to the west.
A commuter light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
system has been proposed, particularly for a corridor passing through the isthmus and alongside the university campus, but has remained on paper for decades.
Wisconsin and Southern Railroad
The Wisconsin and Southern Railroad is a Class II regional railroad in the southern portion of Wisconsin and the northeast corner of Illinois. It operates former Chicago, Milwaukee, St...
(WSOR) and Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
(CP). Wisconsin & Southern has been operating since 1980, having taken over trackage owned since the 19th century by the Chicago and North Western
Chicago and North Western Railway
The Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was a Class I railroad in the Midwest United States. It was also known as the North Western. The railroad operated more than of track as of the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s...
and the Milwaukee Road
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
The Milwaukee Road, officially the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until its merger into the Soo Line Railroad on January 1, 1986. The company went through several official names...
. Some of the proposed light rail and commuter routes would use existing WSOR rights-of-way
Right-of-way (railroad)
A right-of-way is a strip of land that is granted, through an easement or other mechanism, for transportation purposes, such as for a trail, driveway, rail line or highway. A right-of-way is reserved for the purposes of maintenance or expansion of existing services with the right-of-way...
, such as the line between the Kohl Center
Kohl Center
The Kohl Center is an arena and athletic center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, United States. The building, which opened in 1998, is the home of the university's men's and women's basketball and ice hockey teams. Seating capacity is variable, as the center can be rearranged to accommodate...
and Middleton
Middleton, Wisconsin
Middleton is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. It is a western suburb of the state capital, Madison but it was actually founded before Madison. It got its name from Middletown, Connecticut; the "w" being dropped was due to a paper work error made by long time historian Edward Kromrey...
. 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.
Buses
Regional buses connect Madison to Milwaukee, JanesvilleJanesville, Wisconsin
Janesville is a city in southern Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat of Rock County and the principal municipality of the Janesville, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 62,998.-History:...
, Beloit
Beloit, Wisconsin
Beloit is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2010 census, Beloit had a population of 36,966. The greater Beloit area is home to more than 91,000 residents.-Claim to fame:...
, La Crosse
La Crosse, Wisconsin
La Crosse is a city in and the county seat of La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States. The city lies alongside the Mississippi River.The 2011 Census Bureau estimates the city had a population of 52,485...
, and in Illinois, Rockford
Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...
, O'Hare Airport
O'Hare International Airport
Chicago O'Hare International Airport , also known as O'Hare Airport, O'Hare Field, Chicago Airport, Chicago International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major airport located in the northwestern-most corner of Chicago, Illinois, United States, northwest of the Chicago Loop...
, and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Service is also available to St. Paul, Minnesota.
The Badger Bus
Badger Bus
The Badger Bus is an interurban bus line operating between Madison, Wisconsin and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It also offers charters and tours, and operates school buses under contract.-History:...
connects Madison to Milwaukee running multiple buses a day. Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, operating under the well-known logo of a leaping greyhound. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and...
, a nationwide bus company, has a local stop and offers routes through most of the country. Van Galder Bus Company
Van Galder Bus Company
Van Galder Bus Company, legally Sam Van Galder, Inc. is a subsidiary of Coach USA, headquarterd in Janesville, Wisconsin. It had been a family-owned business for over 50 years, until it was sold in 1999 to the Stagecoach Group, who retained Stephen Van Galder as president, under the Coach USA banner...
, a subsidiary of Coach USA
Coach USA
Coach USA LLC is a holding company for various American transportation service providers providing scheduled intercity bus service, local and commuter bus transit, city sightseeing, tour, yellow school bus, and charter bus service...
, provides transportation through Rockford to Chicago – Downtown at the Amtrak station, O'Hare Airport and Midway Airport. Jefferson Lines
Jefferson Lines
Jefferson Lines is a regional intercity bus company operating in United States. The company's name originates in the Jefferson Highway, a north-south route in the early National Auto Trail system which once ran from Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada, south to New Orleans, Louisiana. The service to...
provides transportation to the Twin Cities. First Student offers charter bus rental services to groups in the Madison and Milwaukee area.
Highways
I-39, I-90 and I-94 expressways intersect at Madison, connecting the city to MilwaukeeMilwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Rockford, Illinois
Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...
, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Wausau
Wausau, Wisconsin
Wausau is a city in and the county seat of Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. The Wisconsin River divides the city. The city is adjacent to the town of Wausau.According to the 2000 census, Wausau had a population of 38,426 people...
. U.S. Routes US-12, US-14, US-18, US-51 and US-151 connect the city with Dubuque, Iowa
Dubuque, Iowa
Dubuque is a city in and the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. In 2010 its population was 57,637, making it the ninth-largest city in the state and the county's population was 93,653....
, the Wisconsin cities of La Crosse and Janesville
Janesville, Wisconsin
Janesville is a city in southern Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat of Rock County and the principal municipality of the Janesville, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 62,998.-History:...
and Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
. The Beltline
U.S. Route 12 in Wisconsin
In the U.S. state of Wisconsin, U.S. Route 12 runs east–west across the western to southeast portions of the state...
is a six-to-eight lane
Lane
A lane is a part of the roadway within a road marked out for use by a single line of vehicles in such a way as to control and guide drivers for the purpose of reducing traffic conflicts. Most public roads have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each direction, separated by Lane markings...
freeway on the south and west sides of Madison and is the main link from downtown to the southeast and western suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
s. Several carsharing
Carsharing
Car sharing or Carsharing is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. They are attractive to customers who make only occasional use of a vehicle, as well as others who would like occasional access to a vehicle of a different type than they use...
services are available in Madison, with the first being Community Car a locally-owned company, followed by U-Haul
U-Haul
U-Haul International, Inc. is an American equipment rental company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, that has been in operation since 1945. The company was founded by Leonard Shoen U-Haul International, Inc. is an American equipment rental company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, that has been in operation...
subsidiary U Car Share
U Car Share
UhaulCarShare is a for-profit carsharing service offered by U-Haul in selected cities across the United States, billable hourly or by the day.-Schools Served:* University of Utah* Lynn University* Kenyon College* Northwood University...
.
Media
Madison is home to an extensive and varied number of print publications for a small city, reflecting the city's role as the state capital and diverse political, cultural and academic population. The Wisconsin State JournalWisconsin State Journal
The Wisconsin State Journal is a daily newspaper published in Madison, Wisconsin by Lee Enterprises. The newspaper, the second largest in Wisconsin, is primarily distributed in a 19 county region in south-central Wisconsin...
(weekday circulation: ~95,000; Sundays: ~155,000) is published in the mornings, while its sister publication, The Capital Times (Thursday supplement to the Journal) is published online daily. Though conjoined in a joint-operating agreement operated under the name Capital Newspapers
Capital Newspapers
Capital Newspapers is a partnership between Lee Enterprises and The Capital Times Company that operates 27 publications and several web sites in Wisconsin. The corporate name of the company is Madison Newspapers Inc...
, the Journal is owned by the national chain Lee Enterprises
Lee Enterprises
Lee Enterprises is a publicly traded American media company. It publishes 54 daily newspapers in 23 states, and more than 300 weekly, classified, and specialty publications. Lee Enterprises was founded in 1890 by A.W. Lee and is based in Davenport, Iowa....
, 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.
Robert M. La Follette, Sr.
Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette, Sr. , was an American Republican politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was the Governor of Wisconsin, and was also a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin...
for his opposition to U.S. entry into World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Through Capital Newspapers, Lee also owns many other papers in southwest Wisconsin and northeast Iowa.
The city is home to the free weekly alternative newspaper Isthmus
Isthmus (newspaper)
Isthmus is an alternative weekly newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1976, and has built a reputation for authoritative writing on news, arts and features. The paper prints more than 60,000 copies each Thursday, reaching an estimated 40% of all adults in Dane County, which includes...
(weekly circulation: ~65,000), which was founded in 1976. The Onion
The Onion
The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
, a satirical weekly, was founded in Madison in 1988. Two student newspapers are published during the academic year, The Daily Cardinal
The Daily Cardinal
The Daily Cardinal is a student newspaper that serves the University of Wisconsin–Madison community. The sixth oldest daily student newspaper in the country, it began publishing on Monday, April 4, 1892...
(Mon-Fri circulation: ~10,000) and The Badger Herald
The Badger Herald
The Badger Herald is a newspaper serving the University of Wisconsin–Madison community. Founded in 1969, it is one of America's first independent daily student newspapers. The paper is published Monday through Friday during the academic year...
(Mon-Fri circulation: ~16,000). The Herald began during the tumultuous Vietnam War era as a conservative alternative to the liberal Cardinal. Madison is 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 Mendota Beacon
The Mendota Beacon was a free, privately funded biweekly published newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin between 2005 and 2007. Its first issue was on February 12, 2005, Republican president Abraham Lincoln's birthday...
, The Madison Observer, Madison Magazine, The Simpson Street Free Press and fantasy sports web site RotoWire.com. There is a strong community of local blogs including Althouse
Ann Althouse
Ann Althouse is an American law professor and blogger. Raised in Newark and Wilmington, Delaware , Althouse has a degree in fine art from the University of Michigan, B.F.A. 1973, and graduated first in her class from New York University School of Law, J.D. 1981. She clerked for Judge Leonard B...
, dane101, and The Critical Badger
The Critical Badger
The Critical Badger was a blog based in Madison, Wisconsin focused on higher education and local and state politics. Created in late 2006, the site had nearly half a million viewers and notability in some parts of the blogosphere. It is primarily known for and coverage of public affairs in its...
.
Madison is home to The Progressive
The Progressive
The Progressive is an American monthly magazine of politics, culture and progressivism with a pronounced liberal perspective on some issues. Known for its pacifism, it has strongly opposed military interventions, such as the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The magazine also devotes much coverage...
, 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, as well as a Madison edition of the Bugle-American
Bugle (newspaper)
The Bugle or Bugle-American was an underground newspaper based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and distributed throughout Wisconsin from September 1970 to 1978, publishing mostly weekly for a total of 316 issues in all...
underground newspaper.
Madison hosts two volunteer-operated and community-oriented radio stations, WORT
WORT
WORT is a listener-sponsored community radio station, broadcasting from 118 S. Bedford St. in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. WORT offers a range of programming....
and WSUM
WSUM
WSUM is a student radio station in Madison, Wisconsin, affiliated with the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The station schedule consists of a wide range of music and talk programming serving the campus and Madison community.-History:...
. WORT Community Radio (89.9 FM), founded by progressive Madisonians in 1975, is one of the oldest volunteer-powered radio stations in the United States. A listener-sponsored community radio station broadcasting from 118 S. Bedford Street, WORT offers diverse music and talk programming that is locally produced and hosted by local DJs. 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
Wisconsin Public Radio
Wisconsin Public Radio is a network of 32 radio stations in the state of Wisconsin. WPR's network is divided into two distinct analog services, the Ideas Network and the NPR News and Classical Network, as well as the "HD2 Classical Service," a digital-only, full-time classical music service.-Ideas...
station, WHA
WHA (AM)
-External links:*Jeff Miller . *Randall Davidson. PortalWisconsin.org...
, was one of the first radio stations in the nation to begin broadcasting, and remains the longest continuously broadcasting station in the nation.
Widely heard public radio programs that originate in Madison include Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?
Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?
Whad'Ya Know? is an American comedy, interview, and quiz radio show. Hosted by Michael Feldman, it was created in 1985. It is produced by Wisconsin Public Radio and distributed weekly by Public Radio International...
, Zorba Pastor On Your Health, To the Best of Our Knowledge and Calling All Pets.
In September 2004, Madison became home to the first state Air America affiliate, "The Mic 92.1 FM" (WXXM
WXXM
WXXM is a radio station owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications and serving the Madison, Wisconsin metropolitan area. The station airs a progressive talk format, and is noted for surviving a planned 2007 format change from that format to all-sports radio after an organized outpouring...
). "Madison's Progressive Talk" arrived within weeks of the 2004 national elections, which positioned it well for audience appeal. It initially carried the full Air America lineup. Over time, its schedule included other progressive content from national and local programs, such as Matthew Rothchild's Progressive Radio and Free Thought Radio from the Freedom From Religion Foundation
Freedom From Religion Foundation
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is an American freethought organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. Its purposes, as stated in its bylaws, are to promote the separation of church and state and to educate the public on matters relating to atheism, agnosticism and nontheism. The FFRF publishes...
.
WXJ-87 is the NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards
NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards
NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is a network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Service office. It is operated by the NWS, an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the United States Department of...
station located on Madison's west side, with broadcasts originating from the National Weather Service
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...
in Sullivan, Wisconsin.
See also:
- List of radio stations in Wisconsin
- List of television stations in Wisconsin
- List of Madison magazines
- List of Wisconsin daily newspapers
Culture
In 1996 MoneyMoney (magazine)
Money is published by Time Inc. Its first issue was published in October 1972. Its articles cover the gamut of personal finance topics ranging from investing, saving, retirement and taxes to family finance issues like paying for college, credit, career and home improvement...
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
State Street (Madison)
State Street is a pedestrian mall located in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, United States, near the Wisconsin State Capitol. The road proper extends from the west corner of land comprising the Capitol westward to Lake Street, adjoining the campus of the University of Wisconsin - Madison at Library...
, 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.
On the other side of Capitol Square is King Street, which is developing along State Street, but with less of a student character and more appeal to the growing young white-collar high-tech population in Madison. King Street has more upper-end restaurants and cafes than are found on the more student-budget State Street.
Dane County Farmers' Market
The Dane County Farmers' Market is America's largest producers-only farmers' market and is held every Saturday morning in Madison, Wisconsin. From April to November, it is held from 6am-2pm on the Capitol Square, as well as on Wednesday mornings from 8:30am-2pm on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd...
is held around the Capitol Square,. This market attracts countless of vendors who sell fresh produce, meat and cheese among other products. This market is also notable for offering spicy cheese bread produced by Stella’s Bakery. In addition, on Wednesday evenings, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra
Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra is a professional chamber orchestra in Madison, Wisconsin. Its current conductor, Andrew Sewell, began his tenure with the orchestra in 2000. It was founded in 1960 by Gordon B. Wright...
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
Rhythm and Booms
Rhythm and Booms is an annual Independence Day fireworks show in Madison, Wisconsin at Warner Park on the city's northeast side. The show, which began in 1993, is held on the Saturday before Independence Day. Madison claims it is the largest fireworks presentation in the Midwest...
, a massive fireworks celebration (coordinated to music) that begins with a fly-over by several F-16s from the local Wisconsin Air National Guard
Wisconsin Air National Guard
The Wisconsin Air National Guard is the air force militia of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is, along with the Wisconsin Army National Guard, an element of the Wisconsin National Guard...
. This celebration is the largest fireworks display in the Midwest in length, number of shells fired and the size of its annual budget.
Ice fishing
Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice anglers may sit on the stool in the open on a frozen lake, or in a heated cabin on the ice, some with bunks and amenities.-Locations:It is a popular pastime...
, cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles...
, playing ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
and snowkiting
Snowkiting
Snowkiting is an outdoor winter sport where people use kite power to glide on snow or ice. The sport is similar to kitesurfing, but with the footwear used in snowboarding or skiing. In the early days of snowkiting, foil kites were the most common type; nowadays some kitesurfers use their water gear...
. 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
Men's Journal
Men's Journal is an American men's lifestyle magazine focused on outdoor recreation and comprising editorials on the outdoors, environmental issues, health and fitness, style and fashion, and "gear". It is owned by Jann Wenner of Wenner Media....
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. Madison has an active cyclist culture and it is commonplace to see groups of bicyclists in 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 many cooperative organizations in the Madison area, ranging from grocery stores (such as the Willy Street Cooperative
Willy Street Cooperative
The Willy Street Cooperative is a food cooperative located in Madison, Wisconsin that specializes in natural, organic and locally produced foods. The co-op offers products from over 180 local farmers and vendors...
) to housing co-ops (such as Madison Community Cooperative
Madison Community Cooperative
Madison Community Cooperative, or MCC, is an umbrella organization composed of 11 housing cooperatives in Madison, Wisconsin with around 200 residents and food co-opers. MCC is a member of North American Students of Cooperation as well as the Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund ....
and Nottingham Housing Cooperative) to worker cooperatives (including and engineering firm and a cab company). In addition, there are several credit unions.
In 2005, Madison was included in Gregory A. Kompes' book, 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places 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
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
in 2003.
Among the city's various neighborhood fairs and celebrations are two large student-driven gatherings, the Mifflin Street Block Party
Mifflin Street Block Party
The Mifflin Street Block Party is an annual celebration held on Mifflin Street in Madison, Wisconsin on the first Saturday of May. The 2011 Mifflin Block Party is scheduled for April 30th. It is one of two large parties held in Madison, the other being the Halloween party on State Street. In 2005,...
and the State Street Halloween Party
State Street Halloween Party
The State Street Halloween Party is an annual Halloween party in Madison, Wisconsin.State Street has gained recognition as a gathering place for tens of thousands of party-goers from several states on Halloween...
. Rioting and vandalism at the State Street gathering in 2004 and 2005 led the city to institute a cover charge for the 2006 celebration. 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." Events such as these have helped contribute to the city's nickname of "Madtown."
In 2009, the Madison Common Council voted to name the plastic pink flamingo as the official city bird.
Music
Madison's vibrant music scene covers a wide spectrum of living musical culture.Several venues offer live music every night of the week, spreading from the historic Barrymore Theatre and High Noon Saloon on the eastside. Several small coffee houses and wine bars offer live music every night in all formats. Closer to downtown, the High Noon Saloon
High Noon Saloon
The High-Noon Saloon is a live music venue located in Madison, Wisconsin, built to replace O'Cayz Corral.-History:The High Noon Saloon opened on May 5, 2004 , at 701 E. Washington Avenue, Madison Wisconsin...
is developing a national reputation for developing and breaking indie rock and local acts. The biggest headliners generally perform at the Orpheum Theatre, the Overture Center
Overture Center
Overture Center for the Arts is a performing arts center and art gallery in Madison, Wisconsin, which replaced the Civic Center. The center was commissioned by Jerome Frautschi, designed by Cesar Pelli, and built by J.H. Findorff and Son. Flad Architects and Potter Lawson led the project as...
or at the UW Theatre on campus. Other popular rock and pop venues include the Majestic Theater, the Frequency, and as of late, the Great Dane Pub or check out a busker on State Street. During the summer, the Memorial Union Terrace on the University of Wisconsin campus, offers live music five nights a week. The Union is located on the shores of Lake Mendota and offers beautiful scenery and sunsets.
The Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps
Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps
The Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps is a summer youth drum corps based in Madison, Wisconsin that competes in the Drum Corps International circuit. Founded in 1938, it is the third oldest corps in the DCI circuit, after the Cadets, and the Racine Scouts, founded in 1934 and 1927, respectively....
has provided youth aged 16–22 opportunities to perform across North America every summer since 1938. The University of Wisconsin Marching Band
University of Wisconsin Marching Band
The University of Wisconsin Marching Band is the marching band for the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It was formed with 11 members in the fall of 1885 to support the military battalion. Today, it has grown to over 300 members and performs at all Badger home football games.-History:The...
is a popular marching band
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
.
Popular bands and musicians
GarbageGarbage (band)
Garbage are an alternative rock band formed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1994. The group consists of Scottish singer Shirley Manson and American musicians Duke Erikson , Steve Marker and Butch Vig . All four members are involved in songwriting and production...
is the city's most recognized contemporary contribution to popular music. The multi-million album selling alternative-rock band has been based out of Madison since formation in 1994 by producer-musician Butch Vig
Butch Vig
Butch Vig is an American musician and record producer, best known internationally as the drummer of the Madison, Wisconsin-based alternative rock band Garbage and the producer of multi-platinum selling album Nevermind by Nirvana....
of Viroqua
Viroqua, Wisconsin
Viroqua is the county seat of Vernon County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,079 at the 2010 census. The city is located within the Town of Viroqua.-History:...
. Vig is well known for producing albums for such highly regarded bands as Bongzilla
Bongzilla
Bongzilla is a stoner metal band from Madison, Wisconsin. As their name suggests, most of their material is related to marijuana and promotes its legalization. The band formed in 1995, and over the next three years recorded and released a dozen songs on EPs and split singles...
, The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
, Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
, Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of vocalist, guitarist and composer Patrick Stump, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band released five studio albums from 2003–2008...
, Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
and Against Me!
Against Me!
Against Me! is an American punk rock band formed in 1997 in Naples, Florida and relocated to Gainesville, Florida in 1999. Their first full-length album, released on No Idea Records in 2002, was Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose. They have released music on Misanthrope Records, Crasshole Records,...
.
Madison has a lively independent rock scene, and local independent record labels include Crustacean Records
Crustacean Records
Crustacean Records is a record company from Wisconsin, United States, founded in 1994.-History:The label was founded by current majority owner Chris Langkamp. The debut release was Fetus by Crab Shack, the band Chris Langkamp played bass with, and was cassette only...
, Science of Sound, Kind Turkey Records
Kind Turkey Records
Kind Turkey Records is an American independent record label based in Madison, WI. It was first started on January 1, 2010 by Robert Rice and Bobby Hussy as a music blog. Their first release, a split cassette by Black Mamba Beat and Wake Up Dead came in Fall 2010. It was followed by Kind Turkey's...
, and Art Paul Schlosser Inc which is the label for Art Paul Schlosser
Art Paul Schlosser
Art Paul Schlosser is a street musician in Madison, Wisconsin, who plays humorous novelty songs.- Childhood :Art Paul Schlosser was born born in Chicago, January 4, 1960. He grew up listening to novelty music like Allen Sherman and Tiny Tim as well as funny songs by The Beatles and The Monkees...
who has been on the WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
news in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and has had his songs played on the Dr Demento radio show. Another Dr. Demento and weekly live karaoke
Karaoke
is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...
favorite is The Gomers
The Gomers
The Gomers are a Madison, Wisconsin based comedy rock/experimental music/progressive rock band. Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, and former Mayor Sue Baumann both proclaimed February 1 as "Gomer Day" in Madison...
, who have a Madison Mayoral Proclamation named after them and have performed with fellow Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
residents Les Paul
Les Paul
Lester William Polsfuss —known as Les Paul—was an American jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible. He is credited with many recording innovations...
and Steve Miller
Steve Miller (musician)
Steven H. "Steve" Miller is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter who began his career in blues and blues rock and evolved to a more popular-oriented sound which, from the mid 1970s through the early 1980s, resulted in a series of successful singles and albums.-Early years:Born in Milwaukee,...
.
Madison is also home to Paul Kowert of Punch Brothers
Punch Brothers
Punch Brothers are a progressive bluegrass band. The band consists of Chris Thile , Gabe Witcher , Noam Pikelny , Chris Eldridge , and Paul Kowert...
, Mama Digdown's Brass Band
Mama Digdown's Brass Band
Mama Digdown's Brass Band is an eight-piece American brass band from Madison, Wisconsin.-History:Mama Digdown's Brass Band was formed by two former University of Wisconsin-Madison music students, Eric Jacobson and Christopher Ohly. The group played its first shows in Madison, Wisconsin in 1993, at...
, Clyde Stubblefield
Clyde Stubblefield
Clyde Stubblefield is a drummer best known for his work with James Brown.Stubblefield's recordings with James Brown are considered to be some of the standard-bearers for funk drumming, including the singles "Cold Sweat", "There Was A Time", "I Got The Feelin'", "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm...
of Funky Drummer
Funky drummer
"Funky Drummer" is a funk song recorded by James Brown and his band. The recording's drum break, performed by drummer Clyde Stubblefield, is one of the most frequently sampled rhythmic breaks in hip hop and popular music; indeed, it lays a strong claim to being the most sampled recording ever,...
fame, and musicians Roscoe Mitchell
Roscoe Mitchell
Roscoe Mitchell is an African American composer, jazz instrumentalist and educator, mostly known for being "a technically superb—if idiosyncratic—saxophonist." He has been called "one of the key figures" in avant-garde jazz who has been "at the forefront of modern music" for the past...
, Richard Davis, Ben Sidran
Ben Sidran
Ben Sidran is an American jazz and rock pianist, organist, vocalist and writer born in Chicago, noted for his work with the early Steve Miller Band.-Biography:...
, Reptile Palace Orchestra
Reptile Palace Orchestra
The Reptile Palace Orchestra is an eclectic worldbeat band based in Madison, Wisconsin which specializes in lounge, klezmer and other Eastern European music. It began in 1994 with a gig at the Club de Wash, and since that time has become a notable fixture in the Madison music scene...
, Killdozer
Killdozer (band)
Killdozer was an American noise-rock band, formed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1983, with members Bill Hobson, Dan Hobson and Michael Gerald. They took their name from the 1974 TV movie, directed by Jerry London, itself based on a Theodore Sturgeon short story. They released their first album,...
, Polydream
Polydream
Polydream is an alternative rock band hailing from Madison, Wisconsin. Formed in 2003, the band has released an EP, titled A Rigid Shard of Balance: 1, and released its first full-length album, titled Send Me to the Sun, on December 15, 2007...
, and Harmonious Wail
Waterbug Records
Waterbug Records is a small independent record label based in Glen Ellyn, Illinois specializing in singer-songwriters and traditional folk musicians who do original research. The label was founded as an artist cooperative label in 1992 by singer-songwriter Andrew Calhoun. Calhoun described the...
.
Music festivals
In the summer months Madison hosts many music festivalsFestival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
, most notably the Waterfront Festival, the Willy St. Fair, Atwood Summerfest, Isthmus Jazz Festival, The Orton Park Festival, Forward Music Festival, 94.1 WJJO's Band Camp, Greekfest, Madison Pop Festival, the WORT Block Party and the Sugar Maple Traditional Music 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
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
festival, Reverence
Reverence (music festival)
Reverence was an electronic music festival, held annually in Madison, Wisconsin, United States 2003-2009. Showcasing primarily aggrotech, electro-industrial and synthpop bands, it has included other electronic dance music genres as well...
and Folkball, a world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
and Folk dance
Folk dance
The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....
festival held annually in January. More recently Madison is home to the LBGTQA festival Fruit Fest, celebrating queer culture and LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
allies. The second annual Fruit Fest was June 18, 2011 and featured Tiffany
Tiffany (singer)
Tiffany Renee Darwish , known popularly as Tiffany, is an American singer and former teen icon. She is most notable for her 1987 cover version of "I Think We're Alone Now", originally recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells in 1967. Released as the second single from her eponymous album, Tiffany,...
, Erin McKeown
Erin McKeown
Erin McKeown is an American multi-instrumentalist and folk-rock singer/songwriter.McKeown began her career in the folk scene. She released her first album, Monday Morning Cold, on her own label , travelling throughout New England while still a student at Brown University in order to promote the...
, Bitch
Bitch (band)
Bitch is a female-fronted American heavy metal band, formed in Los Angeles in December 1980. They gained notoriety as a result of their theatrical live performances inspired by Alice Cooper, which featured tongue-in-cheek sadomasochistic themes...
, Athens Boys Choir
Athens Boys Choir
Athens Boys Choir is a transgender spoken word performer based in Athens, Georgia. Athens Boys Choir signed with Daemon Records in 2004 and subsequently released the debut album Rhapsody in T...
, and local Madison group Little Red Wolf
Little Red Wolf
Little Red Wolf are a Madison, Wisconsin-based band with styles ranging from alt-country to folk-rock and traditional pop. The four-piece is known for being multi-instrumentalist with female-led vocals and harmonies. Little Red Wolf members with primary instruments: Emily Mills , Kelly Maxwell ,...
.
Art
Museums include the UW–Madison's Chazen Museum of ArtChazen Museum of Art
The Chazen Museum of Art is an art museum accredited by the American Association of Museums located at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. It was known as the Elvehjem Museum of Art until 2005...
(formerly the Elvehjem Museum), the Wisconsin Historical Museum
Wisconsin Historical Museum
The Wisconsin Historical Museum is a museum located on the Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin. The museum, which features information about the history of Wisconsin, is operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society...
(run by the Wisconsin Historical Society
Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society is simultaneously a private membership and a state-funded organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of North America, with an emphasis on the state of Wisconsin and the trans-Allegheny West...
), the Wisconsin Veterans Museum
Wisconsin Veterans Museum
The Wisconsin Veterans Museum, located on Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, is dedicated to the soldiers of the state of Wisconsin. The museum is composed of two award-winning galleries that chronicle the history of Wisconsin citizens who served in their nation's wars from the American...
, the Madison Children's Museum
Madison Children's Museum
- History :Madison Children’s Museum was founded in 1980 as the vision of a group of early childhood specialists. The founding board of directors and volunteers built traveling exhibits that were displayed at neighborhood centers, parks and playgrounds. They also operated a pilot museum in the...
, and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art — MMoCA, formerly known as the Madison Art Center, is an art museum located in Madison, Wisconsin. A three-story glass facade "icon" on the corner of State and Henry Streets serves as the museum's main staircase, as well as its architectural...
. 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 OperaMadison Opera
Madison Opera is a regional opera company based in Madison, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1961 as an extension of the and came to national prominence with the commissioning and premiering of Shining Brow, the opera about Frank Lloyd Wright by composer Daron Hagen and librettist Paul Muldoon. The...
, the Madison Symphony Orchestra
Madison Symphony Orchestra
The Madison Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Its conductor is John DeMain, who began his 14th season with the orchestra in the fall of 2007...
, Forward Theatre Company, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra
Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra is a professional chamber orchestra in Madison, Wisconsin. Its current conductor, Andrew Sewell, began his tenure with the orchestra in 2000. It was founded in 1960 by Gordon B. Wright...
, and the Madison Ballet
Madison Ballet
The Madison Ballet was founded in 1981 as the Wisconsin Dance Ensemble in Madison, Wisconsin.-School of Madison Ballet:In addition to its professional performances, Madison Ballet has run the School of Madison Ballet since 2005...
are some of the professional resident companies of the Overture Center for the Arts
Overture Center
Overture Center for the Arts is a performing arts center and art gallery in Madison, Wisconsin, which replaced the Civic Center. The center was commissioned by Jerome Frautschi, designed by Cesar Pelli, and built by J.H. Findorff and Son. Flad Architects and Potter Lawson led the project as...
. The city is also 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 was renovated into live theater spaces, and Opera for the Young
Opera for the Young
Opera for the Young is a professional, touring opera company based in Madison, WI. Founded in 1970, it brings professional opera programs to elementary schools throughout the Midwest during its spring and fall tours...
, an opera company that performs for elementary school students across the Midwest. The Wisconsin Union Theater (a 1300 seat theater) is home to many seasonal attractions and is the main stage for Four Seasons Theatre, a community theater company specializing in musical theater, and other groups. Madison is also home to the Young Shakespeare Players, a theater group for young people that performs uncut Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
plays.
Community-based theater groups abound in many neighborhoods of Madison including the Broom Street Theater which is not on Broom Street. Past productions have included comic-style riffs on regional and local news stories such as Audrey Seiler, a University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
student who faked her own kidnapping, causing a county-wide search that gained national attention for several weeks. Other groups include Children's Theatre of Madison, Strollers Theatre, Madison Theatre Guild and the Mercury Players.
Madison offers one comedy club
Comedy club
A comedy club is a venue, typically a nightclub, bar, or restaurant where people watch or listen to performances, including stand-up comedians, improvisational comedians, impersonators, magicians, ventriloquists and other comedy acts...
, 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 Co.
Atlas Improv Co.
Atlas Improv Co.is a professional improvisational theatre company located in Madison, WI. Atlas Improv Co. was formed in 2004 by a group of former ComedySportz Madison players seeking greater creative opportunities...
, The Monkey Business Institute, the now defunct ARC Improv and Comedy Sportz, and sketch comedy groups The Public Drunkards and The Rabid Badger Theatre Company. A spearheading organization called the WiSUC Project 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 noted was the documentary The War at Home
The War at Home (1979 film)
The War at Home is a documentary film about the anti-war movement in the Madison, Wisconsin area during the time of the Vietnam War. It combines archival footage and interviews with participants that explore the events of the period on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus...
, which chronicled the anti-Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
movement in Madison. Another film that made extensive use of the city as a backdrop was the 1986 comedy Back to School, starring Rodney Dangerfield
Rodney Dangerfield
Rodney Dangerfield , was an American comedian, and actor, known for the catchphrases "I don't get no respect!," "No respect, no respect at all... that's the story of my life" or "I get no respect, I tell ya" and his monologues on that theme...
. The University's Bascom Hill was used extensively, as was the University Bookstore. The film also showed many campus dormitories, and various outdoor locales, including the Union terrace
Memorial Union (Wisconsin)
The Memorial Union, known locally as simply "the Union", is located on the shore of Lake Mendota on the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. Between the building and the lake is the Terrace, a highly-popular outdoor space....
and Library Mall. More recently, the 2006 film The Last Kiss
The Last Kiss
The Last Kiss is a 2006 American romantic comedy-drama film which is based on the 2001 Italian film L'ultimo bacio, directed by Gabriele Muccino. The plot revolves around a young couple and their friends struggling with adulthood and issues of relationships and commitment.The film stars Zach Braff,...
used Madison and the university as a back-drop. One early scene in the film was also shot on the Union terrace. In 2008, scenes were shot at the state capitol and surrounding area for use in the 2009 film Public Enemies featuring Christian Bale
Christian Bale
Christian Charles Philip Bale is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses....
and Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
.
Madison is also home to one of the largest film archives in the nation at the Wisconsin Historical Society
Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society is simultaneously a private membership and a state-funded organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of North America, with an emphasis on the state of Wisconsin and the trans-Allegheny West...
.
Architecture
Wisconsin State Capitol
The Wisconsin State Capitol, in Madison, Wisconsin, houses both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature along with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor. Completed during 1917, the building is the fifth to serve as the Wisconsin capitol since the first territorial legislature...
dome, closely based on the dome of the U.S. Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
, is the jewel of the Madison skyline, and is visible throughout the Madison area because of its position on the high point of the isthmus (and a state law that limits building heights within one mile (1.6 km) of the structure). The Wisconsin capitol's dome is the second tallest in the nation, after that of the capitol in Washington D.C. 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
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
spent much of his childhood in Madison and studied briefly at the University, and is responsible for several Madison buildings. Monona Terrace
Monona Terrace
Monona Terrace is a convention center on the shores of Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin.-Controversy:...
, 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
Usonia
Usonia was a word used by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright to refer to his vision for the landscape of the United States, including the planning of cities and the architecture of buildings...
, which is located here. (Another key Wright building, the Unitarian Meeting House, is in the adjacent suburb of Shorewood Hills
Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin
Shorewood Hills is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. Established in 1927, the population was 1,732 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Madison and part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
.) The Harold C. Bradley House
Harold C. Bradley House
Harold C. Bradley House, also known as Mrs. Josephine Crane Bradley Residence, is a Prairie School home designed by Louis H. Sullivan and George Grant Elmslie, located in Madison, Wisconsin....
, designed collaboratively by Louis H. Sullivan
Louis Sullivan
Louis Henri Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism" He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an...
and George Grant Elmslie
George Grant Elmslie
George Grant Elmslie was an American, though born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Prairie School architect whose work is mostly found in the Midwestern United States...
in 1908–1910 now serves as the Sigma Phi Fraternity in the University Heights neighborhood, along with many well-maintained early 20th-century residences.
Overture Center
Overture Center for the Arts is a performing arts center and art gallery in Madison, Wisconsin, which replaced the Civic Center. The center was commissioned by Jerome Frautschi, designed by Cesar Pelli, and built by J.H. Findorff and Son. Flad Architects and Potter Lawson led the project as...
, designed by Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
-born architect César Pelli
César Pelli
César Pelli is an Argentine architect known for designing some of the world's tallest buildings and other major urban landmarks. In 1991, the American Institute of Architects listed Pelli among the ten most influential living American architects...
, and led by Flad Architects
Flad Architects
Flad Architects is an employee-owned, national architectural firm headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, with additional offices in Atlanta, Georgia; Gainesville, Florida; Raleigh, North Carolina; San Francisco, California; Stamford, Connecticut; and Tampa, Florida...
and Potter Lawson (Madison-based firms) as executive architect, 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. The center, also including smaller performance spaces, also houses the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art — MMoCA, formerly known as the Madison Art Center, is an art museum located in Madison, Wisconsin. A three-story glass facade "icon" on the corner of State and Henry Streets serves as the museum's main staircase, as well as its architectural...
. The style, unlike Pelli's Petronas Towers, leans toward sleek modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
, 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
Claude and Starck
Claude and Starck was an architectural firm in Madison, Wisconsin, at the turn of the twentieth century. The firm was a partnership of Louis W. Claude and Edward F. Starck . Established in 1896, the firm dissolved in 1928...
are still standing, including Breese Stevens Field
Breese Stevens Field
Breese Stevens Field is the oldest playing field in Madison, Wisconsin, located northeast of the Wisconsin State Capitol. Until the mid-1960s, this was the only city park with lights. Almost all major outdoor athletic events took place here, including all Madison high school football games...
, 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
Arthur Peabody
Arthur Peabody was campus architect for the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1905 to 1915. He became state architect of Wisconsin in 1915...
(the Memorial Union and the Carillon Tower). The UW administration building Bascom Hall sits atop a steep 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
Brutalist architecture
Brutalist architecture is a style of architecture which flourished from the 1950s to the mid 1970s, spawned from the modernist architectural movement.-The term "brutalism":...
, 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.
Nicknames
Over the years, Madison has acquired nicknames and slogans that include:- Mad City
- Madtown
- The BerkeleyBerkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
of the Midwest - 78 square miles surrounded by reality
- The Athens of the Midwest
- The People's Republic of Madison
- Four Lakes City
- Lake City
In popular culture
- The character Donna MossDonna MossDonnatella "Donna" Moss is a fictional character played by Janel Moloney on the television serial drama The West Wing. Donna is a recurring character during the first season, although she appears in every episode, making her a de facto regular...
from The West Wing was attending UW when she dropped out and left Madison to join the Bartlet campaignJosiah BartletJosiah Edward "Jed" Bartlet is a fictional character played by Martin Sheen on the television serial drama The West Wing. He is President of the United States for the entire series until the last episode, when his successor is inaugurated...
. - The comic book series The BadgerBadger (comics)The Badger is a comic book character and series created by writer Mike Baron in 1983. The series began publication with the short-lived Capital Comics company before First Comics acquired the title and continued publshing it through the 1980s and early 1990s. The series ended when First Comics also...
is set in Madison and environs. - Neil Gaiman's American GodsAmerican GodsAmerican Gods is a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel by Neil Gaiman. The novel is a blend of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on a mysterious and taciturn protagonist, Shadow. It is Gaiman's fourth prose novel, being preceded by Good Omens ,...
is partially set in Madison. - The character Will Hayes in Definitely, MaybeDefinitely, MaybeDefinitely, Maybe is a 2008 romantic comedy film directed by Adam Brooks, and starring Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Rachel Weisz, Elizabeth Banks, Abigail Breslin and Kevin Kline.-Plot:...
is from Madison. - Madison is referenced in the novel Master of the World by Jules VerneJules VerneJules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
. - The character Larry AppletonLarry AppletonLarry Appleton is a fictional character on the television show Perfect Strangers, played by Mark Linn-Baker. Larry was often called Cousin Larry or just Cousin normally pronouncing cousin "cosin" by his cousin Balki...
from Perfect StrangersPerfect Strangers (TV series)Perfect Strangers is an American sitcom that ran for eight seasons from March 25, 1986, to August 6, 1993, on the ABC television network. Created by Dale McRaven, the series chronicles the rocky coexistence of midwestern American Larry Appleton and his distant cousin from eastern Mediterranean...
is from Madison. - Much of the 2006 film The Last KissThe Last KissThe Last Kiss is a 2006 American romantic comedy-drama film which is based on the 2001 Italian film L'ultimo bacio, directed by Gabriele Muccino. The plot revolves around a young couple and their friends struggling with adulthood and issues of relationships and commitment.The film stars Zach Braff,...
takes place in Madison; the character played by Zach BraffZach BraffZachary Israel "Zach" Braff is an American actor, screenwriter, producer, comedian, and director. Braff first became known in 2001 for his role as Dr. John Dorian on the television series Scrubs, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award and three Golden Globe Awards.In 2004, Braff made his...
in The Last Kiss is from Madison. - Maggie Gyllenhaal's character, "LN" in Away We Go plays a UW-Madison professor with an eccentric lifestyle.
- In the 1985 movie American FlyersAmerican FlyersAmerican Flyers is a 1985 film starring Kevin Costner, David Marshall Grant, Rae Dawn Chong, Alexandra Paul and Janice Rule about bicycle racing....
, Kevin CostnerKevin CostnerKevin Michael Costner is an American actor, singer, musician, producer, director, and businessman. He has been nominated for three BAFTA Awards, won two Academy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Costner's roles include Lt. John J...
's character lives in Madison. - The short-lived CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
sitcom The George Wendt ShowThe George Wendt ShowThe George Wendt Show is an American television sitcom that aired on on CBS from March 8, to April 12, 1995. Based on the radio show Car Talk, the series was a star vehicle for George Wendt after co-starring in the NBC sitcom Cheers throughout its run...
was set in Madison. - Madison is included as a premade city in SimCity 3000SimCity 3000SimCity 3000 is a city building simulation personal computer game and the third major installment in the SimCity series. It was published by Electronic Arts and developed by series creator Maxis, a wholly owned subsidiary of EA...
Films shot in Madison
- StroszekStroszekStroszek is a 1977 film by German director Werner Herzog. It was written in four days specifically for Bruno S. and was shot in Berlin, two towns in Wisconsin, and in North Carolina. Most of the lead roles are played by non-actors.-Plot:...
(1977) - Back to School (1986)
- For Keeps (1988)
- I Love Trouble (1994)
- Chain ReactionChain Reaction (film)Chain Reaction is a 1996 American film starring Keanu Reeves, Morgan Freeman, Rachel Weisz, Brian Cox, Kevin Dunn and Fred Ward. It presents a fictional account of the invention of bubble fusion using sonoluminescence and the attempts by the United States Government to prevent the spreading of this...
(1996) - The Big OneThe Big One (film)The Big One is a movie filmed in 1996—and released in 1998 by Miramax Films—by Michael Moore during his promotion tour around the United States for his book Downsize This!...
(1997) - The Deep End of the OceanThe Deep End of the Ocean (film)The Deep End of the Ocean is an American motion picture drama directed by Ulu Grosbard, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Treat Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Jonathan Jackson and Ryan Merriman...
(1999) - Side Effects (2005)
- The Last KissThe Last KissThe Last Kiss is a 2006 American romantic comedy-drama film which is based on the 2001 Italian film L'ultimo bacio, directed by Gabriele Muccino. The plot revolves around a young couple and their friends struggling with adulthood and issues of relationships and commitment.The film stars Zach Braff,...
(2006) - Barefoot to JerusalemBarefoot to JerusalemBarefoot to Jerusalem is a 2008 American drama film directed by Nietzchka Keene. It is a story of a woman's journey, after her lover's suicide, through a solitary landscape which brings her into battle with the devil...
(2008) - Madison (2008)
- Public Enemies (2009)
Crime
In 1996, Madison was rated #3 in "Safest of Nation's 100 Largest Cities" by Morgan Quinto Press and #9 in "America's Safest Cities" by MoneyMoney (magazine)
Money is published by Time Inc. Its first issue was published in October 1972. Its articles cover the gamut of personal finance topics ranging from investing, saving, retirement and taxes to family finance issues like paying for college, credit, career and home improvement...
. In 2008, Men's Health magazine ranked Madison as the "Least Armed and Dangerous" city in an article about "Where Men Are Targets" throughout the US. Between 2004 and 2007, 17 murders were reported. In 2008, Madison Police reported 10 homicides
Sports
Scott Van Pelt
Scott Van Pelt is an American sportscaster. He is an anchor for the 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter on ESPN, the host of The Scott Van Pelt Show on ESPN Radio and has also covered various golf events for the network.-Early life:...
in July 2010 on Dan Patrick
Dan Patrick
Daniel Patrick Pugh , professionally known as Dan Patrick, is an American sportscaster, radio personality, and actor from Mason, Ohio...
's ESPN radio show when he proclaimed Madison the best college sports town in America.
The UW–Madison teams play their home-field sporting events in venues in and around Madison. The football team plays at Camp Randall Stadium
Camp Randall Stadium
Camp Randall Stadium is an outdoor stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. It has been the home of the Wisconsin Badgers football team in rudimentary form since 1895, and as a complete stadium since 1917. It is located on the center-southern region of the University of Wisconsin campus. The stadium seats...
. In 2005 a renovation was completed that added 72 luxury suites and increased the stadium's 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
Kohl Center
The Kohl Center is an arena and athletic center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, United States. The building, which opened in 1998, is the home of the university's men's and women's basketball and ice hockey teams. Seating capacity is variable, as the center can be rearranged to accommodate...
. Construction on the $76 million arena was completed in 1997. In 2006, 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
Alliant Energy Center
The Alliant Energy Center of Dane County is a multi-building complex in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It comprises of greenspace and includes the Exhibition Hall, the 10,000 seat Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the Willow Island, the Arena, and nine modern agricultural exhibit buildings...
(formerly Dane County Memorial Coliseum) and the University-owned Wisconsin Field House.
Despite Madison's strong support for college sports, it has proven to be an inhospitable home for professional baseball. The Madison Muskies
Madison Muskies
The Madison Muskies were a Class A minor league baseball team that played in the Midwest League from 1982 to 1993 in Madison, Wisconsin. They were an affiliate of the Oakland Athletics...
, a Class A, Midwest League
Midwest League
The Midwest League is a Class-A minor league baseball league which operates in the Midwestern United States.-History:Six teams – the Belleville Stags, the Centralia Cubs, the Marion Indians, the Mattoon Indians or East Frankfort White Sox, the Mount Vernon Braves, and the West Frankfort...
affiliate of the Oakland A's, left town in 1993 after 11 seasons. The Madison Hatters
Madison Hatters
The Madison Hatters were a minor-league baseball team based in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1994. A Class A minor league baseball affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, they were a member of the Midwest League...
, another Class A, Midwest League team, played in Madison for only the 1994 season. The Madison Black Wolf
Madison Black Wolf
The Madison Black Wolf was a Northern League baseball club located in Madison, Wisconsin from 1996 to 2000. They played their home games at Warner Park which was then nicknamed "The Wolf Den". The club was owned by Madison Baseball, LLC, which folded operations following the 2000 season...
, an independent Northern League franchise lasted five seasons, (1996–2000) before decamping for Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska
The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....
. Madison is currently home to the Madison Mallards
Madison Mallards
The Madison Mallards are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Madison, Wisconsin that plays in the Northwoods League. Warner Park on Madison’s North side is the team's home field. The 2010 season marks the Mallards' 10th anniversary season....
, a college wood-bat summer baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
league team in the Northwoods League
Northwoods League
The Northwoods League is a collegiate summer baseball league comprising teams of the top college players from North America and beyond. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate...
(not to be confused with the Minor League Baseball
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
). They play in Warner Park
Warner Park
Warner Park is a community park on the northeast side of Madison, Wisconsin near Lake Mendota. It is the annual home for the largest fireworks show in the Midwest, Rhythm and Booms....
on the city's North side from June to August.
The now defunct Indoor Football League's Madison Mad Dogs
Madison Mad Dogs
The Madison Mad Dogs was an indoor football team that played in the Professional Indoor Football League in 1998, and in the Indoor Football League in 1999 & 2000. The Mad Dogs franchise was owned by Keary Ecklund. The team office was based in Madison, Wisconsin, and played their games at the Dane...
were once located in the city. In 2009 indoor football returned to Madison as the Continental Indoor Football League's Wisconsin Wolfpack
Wisconsin Wolfpack
The Wisconsin Wolfpack was an American football franchise based in Wisconsin. The Wolfpack name and brand has been used for two teams: an indoor football team in the Continental Indoor Football League and a traditional football team in the Mid Continental Football League.The indoor and outdoor...
, who call the Alliant Energy Center home.
Madison is home to a new football team called the Madison Mustangs
Madison Mustangs
The Madison Mustangs are a Madison, Wisconsin-based semi-professional football team playing in the Ironman Football League. They were founded in 1998 and play their games at Middleton High School. They won the Iron Bowl in 2008 and 2009....
, a semi-pro football team that is part of the Ironman Football League 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.
The Wisconsin Wolves
Wisconsin Wolves
The Wisconsin Wolves are an Women's Football Alliance team based in Wausau, Wisconsin. The team was founded in 2006 and play their home games at Lussier Stadium on the campus of Madison LaFollette High School. The Wolves were the third Wisconsin WPFL franchise founded in the state but have...
is a women's semi-pro football team based in Madison that plays in the IWFL Independent Women's Football League
Independent Women's Football League
The Independent Women's Football League was founded in 2000, and began play in 2001.IWFL founders began with the goal to establish a quality women's football league that would be respected as the top level of women's tackle football in the world....
. The Wolves home field is located at Middleton High School.
The Blackhawk Ski Club, formed in 1947, provides ski jumping, cross country skiing and alpine skiing. The club's programs have produced multiple Olympic ski jumpers, two Olympic ski jumping coaches and one Olympic ski-jumping director. The club had the first Nordic ski facility with lighted night jumping.
The Madison 56ers is a Madison amateur soccer team in the National Premier Soccer League
National Premier Soccer League
The National Premier Soccer League is a United States soccer league recognized by the United States Soccer Federation and FIFA as a Division IV league...
. They play in Breese Stevens Field
Breese Stevens Field
Breese Stevens Field is the oldest playing field in Madison, Wisconsin, located northeast of the Wisconsin State Capitol. Until the mid-1960s, this was the only city park with lights. Almost all major outdoor athletic events took place here, including all Madison high school football games...
on East Washington Avenue.
Madison is home to the Wisconsin Rugby Club, the 1998 USA Rugby Division II National Champions, and the Wisconsin Women's Rugby Football Club
Wisconsin Women's Rugby Football Club
The Wisconsin Women's Rugby Football Club is an amateur Division I women's rugby team in Madison, Wisconsin. The team is the only Division I women's rugby club in the state....
, 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 Rugby Club, is composed largely of gay players and is Wisconsin's first and only IGRAB team, 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 popular Madison Gay Hockey Association is also in Madison.
Madison is also one of the growing number of cities in the country with a hurling
Hurling
Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. Hurling is the national game of Ireland. The game has prehistoric origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and...
team organized as The Hurling Club of Madison.
The All-Girl Roller Derby League, Mad Rollin' Dolls
Mad Rollin' Dolls
Mad Rollin' Dolls is an all-women flat-track roller derby league based in Madison, Wisconsin.-League:As a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association , the Mad Rollin' Dolls compete as part of the WFTDA North Central region....
, was formed in Madison in 2004. Mad Rollin' Dolls LLC, is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association
Women's Flat Track Derby Association
The Women's Flat Track Derby Association is an association of women's flat track roller derby leagues in the United States. The organization was founded in April 2004 as the United Leagues Coalition but was renamed in November 2005. It is registered in Raleigh, North Carolina as a 501 business...
.
Madison is home to several endurance sports racing events, such as the Crazylegs Classic
Crazylegs Classic
The Crazylegs Classic is an annual eight kilometer running race and two mile walk held each spring in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. The course starts at the Wisconsin State Capitol and ends at Camp Randall Stadium. The race was first held in 1982 in honor of Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch...
, Paddle and Portage, the Mad City Marathon
Mad City Marathon
The Madison Marathon is an annual marathon foot-race run over a course through the city of Madison on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.Race day events also include a half marathon, a quarter marathon and a Kids Race.-2006:...
, and Ironman
Ironman Triathlon
An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation consisting of a swim, a bike and a marathon run, raced in that order and without a break...
Wisconsin, which attracts over 45,000 spectators.
Madison was part of Chicago's 2016 Olympics bid. If the Chicago 2016 bid had been successful, 80,000-seat Camp Randall Stadium would have served as one of Chicago's stadiums during the Games.
Current teams
| Club | League | Sport | Venue | Established | Championships |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison Mustangs Madison Mustangs The Madison Mustangs are a Madison, Wisconsin-based semi-professional football team playing in the Ironman Football League. They were founded in 1998 and play their games at Middleton High School. They won the Iron Bowl in 2008 and 2009.... |
IFL | American Football American football American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by... |
Brentbach Stadium Middleton High School (Middleton, Wisconsin) Middleton High School is a comprehensive public secondary school in the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District. Established in 1879, it is located in the city of Middleton, Wisconsin. The school serves more than 2,000 students in grades 9-12 from the Middleton and Cross Plains areas. Middleton... |
1997 | 4 Consecutive Ironbowls |
| Madison Mallards Madison Mallards The Madison Mallards are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Madison, Wisconsin that plays in the Northwoods League. Warner Park on Madison’s North side is the team's home field. The 2010 season marks the Mallards' 10th anniversary season.... |
NL Northwoods League The Northwoods League is a collegiate summer baseball league comprising teams of the top college players from North America and beyond. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate... |
Baseball Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond... |
Warner Park Warner Park Warner Park is a community park on the northeast side of Madison, Wisconsin near Lake Mendota. It is the annual home for the largest fireworks show in the Midwest, Rhythm and Booms.... |
2001 | 1 Championship |
| Madison 56ers | NPSL National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League is a United States soccer league recognized by the United States Soccer Federation and FIFA as a Division IV league... |
Soccer | Breese Stevens Field Breese Stevens Field Breese Stevens Field is the oldest playing field in Madison, Wisconsin, located northeast of the Wisconsin State Capitol. Until the mid-1960s, this was the only city park with lights. Almost all major outdoor athletic events took place here, including all Madison high school football games... |
2005 | 0 Championships |
| Madison Minotaurs | WRFU Wisconsin Rugby Football Union The Wisconsin Rugby Football Union is the Local Area Union for Rugby Union teams in the state of Wisconsin. The WRFU is part of the Midwest Rugby Football Union , one of the seven Territorial Area Unions that comprise USA Rugby.... |
Rugby Rugby football Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:... |
Yahara Rugby Field | 2007 | 0 Bingham Cups |
| Wisconsin Badgers Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the collegiate athletic teams from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This NCAA Division I athletic program has teams in football, basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, soccer, cross country, tennis, swimming, wrestling, track and field, rowing, golf, and softball... |
Big Ten, NCAA Div.1 | 23 Varsity Teams | Camp Randall Camp Randall Camp Randall is a historic U.S. Army site in Madison, Wisconsin, named after Wisconsin Governor Alexander Randall. It was a training facility of the Union Army during the Civil War, with more than 70,000 recruits receiving training there. Later, a hospital and a stockade for Confederate prisoners... , Kohl Center Kohl Center The Kohl Center is an arena and athletic center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, United States. The building, which opened in 1998, is the home of the university's men's and women's basketball and ice hockey teams. Seating capacity is variable, as the center can be rearranged to accommodate... |
1849 | 27 Championships |
| Edgewood Eagles Edgewood College Edgewood College is a Dominican Catholic liberal arts college in Madison, Wisconsin, in the Diocese of Madison. Overlooking the shores of Lake Wingra, it occupies on Madison's near west side.... |
NAC Northern Athletics Conference The Northern Athletics Conference is a college athletic conference. It participates in the NCAA's Division III and began its first season in the fall of 2006.-Member schools:-History:... , NCAA Div.3 |
16 Varsity Teams | Edgedome Edgewood College Edgewood College is a Dominican Catholic liberal arts college in Madison, Wisconsin, in the Diocese of Madison. Overlooking the shores of Lake Wingra, it occupies on Madison's near west side.... |
1974 | 35 Championships |
| Madison College Wolfpack Madison Area Technical College Madison Area Technical College is a technical and community college headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. It serves parts of 12 counties in south-central Wisconsin: Adams, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Juneau, Marquette, Richland, Rock, and Sauk... |
N4C, NJCAA Div.3 | 8 Varsity Teams | Redsten Gymnasium Madison Area Technical College Madison Area Technical College is a technical and community college headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. It serves parts of 12 counties in south-central Wisconsin: Adams, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Juneau, Marquette, Richland, Rock, and Sauk... , Roberts Field Madison Area Technical College Madison Area Technical College is a technical and community college headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. It serves parts of 12 counties in south-central Wisconsin: Adams, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Juneau, Marquette, Richland, Rock, and Sauk... |
1912 | 21 Championships |
| Mad Rollin' Dolls Mad Rollin' Dolls Mad Rollin' Dolls is an all-women flat-track roller derby league based in Madison, Wisconsin.-League:As a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association , the Mad Rollin' Dolls compete as part of the WFTDA North Central region.... |
WFTDA Women's Flat Track Derby Association The Women's Flat Track Derby Association is an association of women's flat track roller derby leagues in the United States. The organization was founded in April 2004 as the United Leagues Coalition but was renamed in November 2005. It is registered in Raleigh, North Carolina as a 501 business... |
Roller Derby Roller derby Roller derby is a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction around a track. Game play consists of a series of short matchups in which both teams designate a scoring player who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team... |
Alliant Energy Center Alliant Energy Center The Alliant Energy Center of Dane County is a multi-building complex in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It comprises of greenspace and includes the Exhibition Hall, the 10,000 seat Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the Willow Island, the Arena, and nine modern agricultural exhibit buildings... |
2005 | 0 Championships |
| Madison Blues | GLHL Great Lakes Hockey League The Great Lakes Hockey League is an elite amateur adult men’s full contact ice hockey league that is affiliated with USA Hockey. Players must be at least 18 years of age and most have previous college, Junior or semi-pro hockey experience. There are currently ten teams in the league in two... |
Hockey Hockey Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:... |
Capitol Ice Arena | 2010 | 0 Championships |
Points of interest
- Alliant Energy CenterAlliant Energy CenterThe Alliant Energy Center of Dane County is a multi-building complex in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It comprises of greenspace and includes the Exhibition Hall, the 10,000 seat Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the Willow Island, the Arena, and nine modern agricultural exhibit buildings...
The Veteran's Memorial Coliseum and Exhibition Hall - Babcock Hall Dairy Store
- Camp Randall StadiumCamp Randall StadiumCamp Randall Stadium is an outdoor stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. It has been the home of the Wisconsin Badgers football team in rudimentary form since 1895, and as a complete stadium since 1917. It is located on the center-southern region of the University of Wisconsin campus. The stadium seats...
- Chazen Museum of ArtChazen Museum of ArtThe Chazen Museum of Art is an art museum accredited by the American Association of Museums located at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. It was known as the Elvehjem Museum of Art until 2005...
- East Towne Mall
- Henry Vilas ZooHenry Vilas ZooHenry Vilas Zoo is a public zoo in Madison, Wisconsin, United States.The Henry Vilas Zoo receives over 500,000 visitors annually. It charges no admission or parking fees, and is one of a few free zoos in the world accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums...
- The Kohl CenterKohl CenterThe Kohl Center is an arena and athletic center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, United States. The building, which opened in 1998, is the home of the university's men's and women's basketball and ice hockey teams. Seating capacity is variable, as the center can be rearranged to accommodate...
- Mifflin Street
- Monona TerraceMonona TerraceMonona Terrace is a convention center on the shores of Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin.-Controversy:...
Community and Convention Center - Memorial UnionMemorial Union (Wisconsin)The Memorial Union, known locally as simply "the Union", is located on the shore of Lake Mendota on the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. Between the building and the lake is the Terrace, a highly-popular outdoor space....
- Nakoma
- Olbrich Botanical GardensOlbrich Botanical GardensOlbrich Botanical Gardens is located in Madison, Wisconsin. Named for its founder, Michael Olbrich, the gardens are owned and operated jointly by the City of Madison Parks and the non-profit Olbrich Botanical Society...
- Overture Center for the ArtsOverture CenterOverture Center for the Arts is a performing arts center and art gallery in Madison, Wisconsin, which replaced the Civic Center. The center was commissioned by Jerome Frautschi, designed by Cesar Pelli, and built by J.H. Findorff and Son. Flad Architects and Potter Lawson led the project as...
- Shaarei Shamayim (Madison,Wisconsin), now removed to James Madison ParkJames Madison ParkJames Madison Park is a waterfront park located on Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin. It is owned by the city of Madison.-Gates of Heaven Synagogue:...
is the eighth-oldestOldest synagogues in the United StatesThe designation of the oldest synagogue in the United States requires careful use of definitions, and must be divided into two parts, the oldest in the sense of oldest surviving building, and the oldest in the sense of oldest congregation...
, synagogue building still standing in the United States. - State StreetState Street (Madison)State Street is a pedestrian mall located in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, United States, near the Wisconsin State Capitol. The road proper extends from the west corner of land comprising the Capitol westward to Lake Street, adjoining the campus of the University of Wisconsin - Madison at Library...
- Tenney Park
- Unitarian Meeting House
- University of Wisconsin–MadisonUniversity of Wisconsin–MadisonThe University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
- University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum
- University of Wisconsin Field HouseUniversity of Wisconsin Field HouseThe Wisconsin Field House is an 11,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Madison, Wisconsin, directly south of and abutting Camp Randall Stadium. Designed by Wisconsin State Architect Arthur Peabody in consultation with Paul Cret of the firm of Laird and Cret, the arena opened in 1930...
- UW–Madison Geology Museum
- West Towne Mall
- Wisconsin Historical SocietyWisconsin Historical SocietyThe Wisconsin Historical Society is simultaneously a private membership and a state-funded organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of North America, with an emphasis on the state of Wisconsin and the trans-Allegheny West...
- Wisconsin State CapitolWisconsin State CapitolThe Wisconsin State Capitol, in Madison, Wisconsin, houses both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature along with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor. Completed during 1917, the building is the fifth to serve as the Wisconsin capitol since the first territorial legislature...
Sister cities
-
AinaroAinaroAinaro is a town in East Timor, the capital of the Ainaro District, and is located in the southwest part of the country. The subdistrict has a population of approximately 12,000 people. It contains the small mountain town of Ainaro, the district capital, along with the villages of Soro, Maununo,...
in East TimorEast TimorThe Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
, since 2001 -
ArcataoArcatao-Geography:Arcatao is located 32 km east from Chalatenango at the border with the Republic of Honduras in a small valley between the mountains: La Cañada and Caracol. Rivers include the Sumpul River, Lempa River, Zazalapa River and the Guayampoque River...
in El SalvadorEl SalvadorEl Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America... -
CuzcoCuscoCusco , often spelled Cuzco , is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region as well as the Cuzco Province. In 2007, the city had a population of 358,935 which was triple the figure of 20 years ago...
in PeruPeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.... -
CamagüeyCamagüeyCamagüey is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third largest city. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province.After almost continuous attacks from pirates the original city was moved inland in 1528.The new city was built with a confusing lay-out of winding alleys that made...
in CubaCubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, since 1988 -
Freiburg im Breisgau in GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, since 1986 -
ManaguaManaguaManagua is the capital city of Nicaragua as well as the department and municipality by the same name. It is the largest city in Nicaragua in terms of population and geographic size. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Xolotlán or Lake Managua, the city was declared the national capital in...
in NicaraguaNicaraguaNicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
, since 1987 -
MantuaMantuaMantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
in ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, since 2001 -
Obihiro in JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, since 2006 -
GoianiaGoiânia-Climate:The city has a tropical wet and dry climate with an average temperature of . There's a wet season, from October to April, and a dry one, from May to September. Annual rainfall is around 1,520 mm....
in BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, since 1983
Former sister cities include:
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Bac GiangBac GiangBắc Giang is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of the Bac Giang province. Its name, deriving from Sino-Vietnamese, means "north of the river." Bac Giang was formerly a sister city with Madison, Wisconsin, United States....
in VietnamVietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –... -
OsloOsloOslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
in NorwayNorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
See also
- Madison Fire DepartmentMadison Fire DepartmentThe Madison Fire Department is the chief fire and Emergency medical services protection service in Madison, Wisconsin. They also provide mutual aid to surrounding communities...
- Madison Police Department
- List of tallest buildings in Madison
External links
- Madison Japan Association HP - MJA Madison Japan Association
- City of Madison website
- Greater Madison Convention & Visitors Bureau
- Local Madison Videos
- Lake Mendota and the other Yahara River lakes
- The State of Wisconsin Collection presented by the UW Digital Collections Center includes digital resources on Madison, including:
- The Story of Madison, by Reuben Gold ThwaitesReuben Gold ThwaitesReuben Gold Thwaites was an American historical writer.-Biography:Thwaites was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He moved to Wisconsin in 1866 where, from 1876 to 1886, he was managing editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, at Madison...
- Madison: a Model City, by John Nolen
- Madison, Dane County and Surrounding Towns; Being a History and Guide to Places of Scenic Beauty and Historical Note...(1877)
- A History of Madison, the Capital of Wisconsin; Including the Four Lake Country (1874) by Daniel S. Durrie
- Historical County Plat Maps from South Central Wisconsin and Early Madison City Directories
- The Story of Madison, by Reuben Gold Thwaites