Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. As of July 1, 2015, Madison’s estimated population of 249,000 made it the second largest city in Wisconsin, after Milwaukee, and the 84th largest in the United States. The city forms the core of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Dane County and neighboring Iowa, Green, and Columbia counties. Madison’s origins begin in 1829, 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, with the intention of building a city in the Four Lakes region. When the Wisconsin Territory was created in 1836 the territorial legislature convened in Belmont, Wisconsin. One of the legislature’s tasks was to select a permanent location for the territory’s capital. Doty lobbied aggressively for Madison as the new capital, offering buffalo robes to the freezing legislators and promising choice Madison lots at discount prices to undecided voters. Doty named the city Madison for James Madison, the fourth President of the U.S. who had died on June 28, 1836 and he named the streets for the other 39 signers of the U.S. Constitution. Although the city existed only 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 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.
Wisconsin state government and the University of Wisconsin–Madison remain the two largest 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 than other areas of the state. 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 UW–Madison working with local businesses and entrepreneurs to transfer the results of academic research into real-world applications, especially bio-tech applications. Many businesses are attracted to Madison’s skill base, taking advantage of the area’s high level of education. 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 2006, the same magazine listed Madison as number 31 in the top 200 metro areas for “Best Places for Business and Careers.” Madison has also been named in Forbes 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”.
In 1996 Money magazine identified Madison as the best place to live in the United States. It has consistently ranked near the top of the best-places list in subsequent years, with the city’s low unemployment rate a major contributor. The main downtown thoroughfare is State Street, which links the University of Wisconsin campus with the 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 Saturday mornings in the summer, the Dane County Farmers’ Market is held around the Capitol Square, the largest producer-only farmers’ market in the country. This market attracts numerous vendors who sell fresh produce, meat, cheese, and other products. 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 held the second Saturday in August. The highly coveted tickets sell out within an hour of going on sale in May. Madison was host to Rhythm and Booms, a massive fireworks celebration coordinated to music. It began with a fly-over by F-16s from the local Wisconsin Air National Guard. This celebration was the largest fireworks display in the Midwest in length, number of shells fired and the size of its annual budget. Effective 2015, the event location was changed to downtown and renamed Shake the Lake. During the winter months, sports enthusiasts enjoy ice-boating, ice skating, ice hockey, ice fishing, cross-country skiing, and snowkiting. During the rest of the year, outdoor recreation includes sailing on the local lakes, bicycling, and hiking. Madison was named the number one college sports town by Sports Illustrated in 2003. In 2004 it 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. 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 an engineering firm, a wholesale organic bakery and a cab company). In 2005, Madison was included in Gregory A. Kompes’ book, 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live. The Madison metro area has a higher percentage of gay couples than any other city in the area outside of Chicago and Minneapolis. Among the city’s 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 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. Also in 2009, Madison ranked No. 2 on Newsmax magazine’s list of the “Top 25 Most Uniquely American Cities and Towns,” a piece written by current CBS News travel editor Peter Greenberg. Every April, the Wisconsin Film Festival is held in Madison. This five-day event features a films from a variety of genres shown in theaters across the city. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Arts Institute sponsors the Film Festival.
The Wisconsin State Capitol dome was modeled after the dome of the U.S. Capitol, and was erected on the high point of the isthmus. Visible throughout the Madison area, a state law limits building heights within one mile (1.6 km) of the structure to 1,032.8 feet (314.8 meters) above sea level to preserve the view of the building in most areas of the city. Capitol Square is located in Madison’s urban core, and is well-integrated with everyday pedestrian traffic and commerce. State Street and East Washington offer excellent views of the capitol. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright spent much of his childhood in Madison and studied briefly at the university. Buildings in Madison designed by Wright include Usonian House, and the Unitarian Meeting House. Monona Terrace, now a convention and community center overlooking Lake Monona, was created by Anthony Puttnam—a student of Wright’s—based on a 1957 Wright design. The Harold C. Bradley House in the University Heights neighborhood was designed collaboratively by Louis H. Sullivan and George Grant Elmslie in 1908–10, and now serves as the Sigma Phi Fraternity. The Overture Center for the Arts, opened 2004, and the adjacent Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, opened 2006, on State Street near the capitol were designed by architect César Pelli. Located within the Overture Center are Overture Hall, Capitol Theater, and The Playhouse. Its modernist style, with simple expanses of glass framed by stone, was designed to complement nearby historic building facades. The architectural firm Claude and Starck designed over 175 Madison buildings, and many are still standing, including Breese Stevens Field, Doty School (now condominiums), and many private residences. Architecture on the University of Wisconsin campus includes many buildings designed or supervised by the firm J. T. W. Jennings, such as the Dairy Barn and Agricultural Hall, or by architect Arthur Peabody, such as the Memorial Union and Carillon Tower. Several campus buildings erected in the 1960s followed the brutalist style. In 2005 the university embarked on a major redevelopment at the east end of its campus. The plan called for the razing of nearly a dozen 1950s to 1970s vintage buildings; the construction of new dormitories, administration, and classroom buildings; as well as the development of a new pedestrian mall extending to Lake Mendota. The campus now includes 12 to 14-story buildings.
